James Delingpole James Delingpole

The Stones at Glastonbury: the greatest show EVER

Satisfaction guaranteed: Mick Jagger. Getty Images | Shutterstock | iStock | Alamy 
issue 06 July 2013

Yes, I’m sorry, the Stones at Glastonbury really were that good and if you weren’t there I’m afraid you seriously need to consider killing yourself. You missed a piece of rock’n’roll history, one of the gigs that will likely be ranked henceforward among the greatest EVER. So again, sorry if you weren’t there to enjoy it. Boy and I were. And we did. A lot.

Perhaps it helped that so few of us were expecting much. I was hanging around the afternoon beforehand in the EE tent waiting for my phone to recharge, having one of those random Glasto conversations with strangers — an A&E nurse, a geeky kid — and we all agreed that the Stones were a band we planned to see more out of duty than pleasure.

‘It could be our last chance,’ said the nurse. ‘Oh, I dunno, they’ll be doing this well into their eighties,’ I said.

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