Glastonbury 2023: Hair salons and beauty bars – how festival has gone from grime to glam
There once was a time, not so long ago, that the only type of bath you’d get at Glastonbury would be a mud bath.
Over five or six days, the best the average hygienic camper might hope for was a tap rinse or wet-wipe wash and a hide-all bucket hat – but really, anyone getting the true Worthy Farm festival experience had to leave grand notions of looking glamorous back at home.
Photographs of particularly wet and grimy years – such as 2005, when some tents were submerged – were part and parcel of the Glastonbury experience, as were sensible waterproofs, sturdy boots, and long-drop toilet horror stories.
We don’t want to jinx it, but it’s been a long time since Glastonbury-goers spent their weekend drenched in mud, like in 1998…
Now, however, while the toilets might still be an ordeal, the festival looks very different. Thank Kate Moss and her micro shorts. And Sienna Miller and her boho belts, Alexa Chung and her PVC skinnies. It started with the celebs, and filtered out to the 200,000-ish non-famouses who now attend each year.
Glastonbury has moved with the times, and it’s not just about the outfits. In 2023, festival-goers might be sleeping in tents, but are able to look like they just stepped out of a salon, thanks to hairdressing and beauty pop-ups on site.
At the Blowfest stall, not far from the Pyramid stage, you can treat yourself to anything from a simple hair wash for £15 to a creative blow-dry and styling for £60. Bookings opened in March – and just like the sale for tickets for the festival itself, demand was so high that the website crashed.
On site, the queue had started to build by 8.30am on Friday.
Natalie Walton, 29, from Kent, joined the line snaking outside to get her hair washed.
“There’s no better feeling as a girl,” she told Sky News. “I just hate the feeling of sweat in my hair… there should be more tents [like this], I think, personally. There’s so many girls here that need their hair done.”
At home, Natalie straightens her hair every day – and sleeping in a tent means too many kinks.
“I’ve been once before and I got it last year as well,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
Elton John and Lizzo (below) are among the glam stars playing this year. Pic: AP
Because of social media, festival-goers want to look their best. Gone are the mobile phone-less days, when what went on at Glastonbury stayed at Glastonbury.
But it’s partly down to the changing weather, too. It’s been a few years since Glastonbury has seen the torrential downpours and mud-wading of particularly rain years such as 1997 and 2005. Sunshine equals summer clothes and, for most, better hair.
For Amy Roberts, 27, from Liverpool, this is her fifth time at the festival. At home, she only washes her hair once a week – but Glastonbury requires more effort.
“I woke up this morning and there were spiders in it and everything,” she said. “I’m not really a glamour person, but… I want to look nice. I don’t want to look a mess.
“The first time I came here I was only 19, I didn’t wash my hair… it was on and off raining, [my hair] was awful.”
Other Glastonbury-goers choose to get clean without the help of the experts
Rachel Bacon, who runs the stall, is here for the second year after huge demand in 2022. The salon offers mainly washes and blow-drying, but can include trims as well and a barber’s service.
“Friday and Saturday will always be fairly busy,” she said. “I think last Saturday [in 2022], people waited about up to three hours just to get a hair wash.
“I think with the way that life is changing, with social media and camera phones and the technology that we’ve got now, everybody wants to look good all the time to be able to take photos and post them online. So if that includes being at a festival and having fabulous hair you just just go with it.”
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Blowfest even had clients on the first official day of the festival on Wednesday – when music fans had only just left their homes and clean bathrooms – after rain earlier in the day.
“People just wanted to come in and dry their hair off or restraighten it,” Rachel said, “even on Wednesday”.
While some may say hair washing and blow-dries are a world away from the Glastonbury of old, the demand is there – and what’s wrong with looking your best?
“There’s a bit of a mixed feeling towards, you know, ‘oh, it’s not a hippie festival anymore if people are going to get hair washed’,” Rachel said. “But everybody’s individual and everybody wants their own thing.”
Entertainment
Doug Ingle: Iron Butterfly lead vocalist who sang rock classic In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida dies
Doug Ingle, the last surviving member of the original line-up of heavy rock band Iron Butterfly, has died aged 78.
Ingle was the lead vocalist and organist in the band he co-founded in 1966 – singing their 17-minute long signature hit In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, which featured in a 1995 episode of The Simpsons.
The musician’s son announced his father’s passing on social media but did not give a cause of death.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida featured on Iron Butterfly’s 1968 album of the same name, which spent 81 weeks in the top 10 in the US.
The record was eventually certified quadruple-platinum, meaning it sold at least 400,000 copies.
The title track became legendary and something of a running joke in rock circles, with its length meaning late-night disc jockeys could put it on while going for a cigarette or toilet break.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is a slurred version of “in the Garden of Eden” – as allegedly misheard by the band’s drummer Ron Bushy when Ingle was first presenting the song to the band.
In The Simpsons episode Bart Sells His Soul, the skateboarding mischief-maker sneaks a version of the song into his church’s worship service under the title “In The Garden Of Eden”.
“Hey, Marge, remember when we used to make out to this hymn?” Homer whispers in the episode.
The song was also covered by other bands, including Slayer, The Residents, Boney M and the Incredible Bongo Band, whose version was twice-sampled by the rapper Nas. It also appeared memorably in Michael Mann’s 1986 thriller movie Manhunter.
The track ended up being 17 minutes long partly due to Iron Butterfly’s studio engineer Don Casale asking the band to play through the song so he could set his levels and him hitting record without the band members realising.
The extended practice run ended up being the master take.
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Ingle’s son, Doug Ingle Jr, said in a statement confirming his father’s death: “It’s with a heavy heart and great sadness to announce the passing of my father Doug Ingle.
“Dad passed away peacefully this evening in the presence of family. Thank you dad for being a father, teacher and friend. Cherished loving memories I will carry the rest of my days moving forward in this journey of life. Love you Dad.”
Ingle was the last-surviving member of the original line-up of the band, following the deaths of guitarist Erik Brann in 2003, bassist Lee Dornan in 2012 and drummer Ron Bushy in 2021.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Dozens of musicians have been part of the group in its various incarnations over the decades.
That’s not including the four musicians who tour as Iron Butterfly today – none of whom go further back with the band further than 1995.
Bruce Springsteen has cancelled a series of dates due to “vocal issues”, days after performing in what he described as “hellacious” weather in Sunderland.
The US star, 74, postponed shows in Marseille, Prague and Milan over the next fortnight, with his European tour set to resume in Madrid on 12 June.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, he said he was “recuperating comfortably” and he and the E Street Band “look forward to resuming their hugely successful European stadium tour”.
With “further examination” and “consulting”, the statement also said, doctors determined Bruce “should not perform for the next 10 days”.
Springsteen had played at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on Wednesday, where he admitted the weather was particularly wet.
As he was honoured at London’s Ivor Novello Awards on Thursday, he said: “We just… came out of the plane in Sunderland last night, (it was) hellacious weather.
Sir Paul McCartney presented Bruce Springsteen with the Fellowship of The Ivors Academy. Pic: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock
“Driving rain storm, the wind blowing, blowing, blowing, and standing… in front of me, in the rain, I realised: these are my people.”
Springsteen also treated the audience to his song Thunder Road, after Sir Paul McCartney presented him with his Ivors Academy fellowship.
New dates for his postponed shows will be announced shortly, according to his Instagram account, and anyone seeking a refund “will be able to obtain it at their original point of purchase”.
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He rescheduled dates in August last year in the US after he was taken ill, and cancelled planned concerts in March 2023 over other issues.
His first major tour in six years saw him play a headline gig in London’s Hyde Park in July 2023.
Nicki Minaj fans who queued to see her in Manchester only for her arrest to lead to the concert being cancelled at the last minute have blamed the beleaguered venue for the fiasco.
Ticketholders queued outside the Co-op Live arena from as early as 9am on Saturday and were allowed inside at 7pm.
Minaj, however, had been arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on suspicion of possession of “soft drugs” and was not released until 9pm – when the gig was due to start.
Once inside, her fans, also known as Barbz, claim security staff told them she was already in the building. But at 9.40pm promoter Live Nation announced the event was being cancelled.
Nicki Minaj at the Met Gala in New York earlier in May. Pic: AP
Alvin Christie, 29, from Liverpool, was among those who had camped out since Saturday morning.
He said: “I would say it was very poorly managed. When we arrived… they were actively telling fans that she had arrived and that everyone was going to dance tonight.
“For a lot of people that were asking those questions, that’s obviously [keeping] people’s hopes up. I understand that maybe they wanted to get people into the arena for health and safety risks to stop people being outside.
“But I think most importantly, they maybe could have advised people as soon as they’ve known that the show was postponed and we should be turned away when we’re outside the arena, rather than holding loads of people in the arena.”
Mr Christie said he does not blame Minaj, and says fans wanted her to be “in a good place” for the show.
“Die-hard Nicki fan” Charu, who also travelled from Liverpool for the concert, said the evening was “so ridiculously disappointing”.
“My sister and I had been looking forward to this for months. I’m in the middle of taking my medical school exams and I had been working around this day and was so looking forward to it,” they said.
“People around us said they’d travelled from Ireland and Scotland, paid for hotels for the night in Manchester, which is not cheap.
“So the fact that tickets will be refunded or still valid for another concert doesn’t really put into perspective the time and money that we have all spent on this night.”
Co-Op Live arena in Manchester. Pic: PA
No toilets for those queuing for hours
Fan Eileen Allardyce also claimed there were “no toilets” while she queued outside from around 4pm.
“I’m very disappointed, more so [with] the venue because, obviously, everyone was unravelling on social media, everyone knew what the situation was and the venue completely let us down,” she said.
Dutch Police told Sky News Minaj was detained and eventually fined for “illegally exporting soft drugs from the Netherlands to another country”.
The rapper claimed she arrived at her hotel in Manchester early on Sunday after spending “5-6 hours” in a cell in Amsterdam.
She then invited fans to her hotel, where according to videos on social media, she spoke to the crowds outside.
“I wanted to honestly tell you that I love you,” she said.
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On X, the 41-year-old said the venue was “willing to go past 11pm”, but unidentified members of staff had “succeeded at their plan to not let me get on that stage tonight”.
A new date should be announced on Sunday, she added.
“One July option & one June option is currently being discussed. I’ll find a way to not only make up the date with the performance but I’m going to create an added bonus for everyone that had a [ticket] for this show. Promise,” she wrote.
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The new £365m Co-op Live arena has been plagued with problems even before it opened on 14 May.
The 23,500-capacity venue was originally due to open with two Peter Kay stand-up shows on 23 and 24 April, but that was pushed back when problems emerged at a test event headlined by Rick Astley.
The arena then planned for US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie to open the arena on 1 May, but that was called off an hour before his performance, when the ventilation system fell from the ceiling.
The ventilation issue meant scheduled performances by US pop star Olivia Rodrigo and British band Keane were also postponed, while a series of shows by Take That were moved to the AO Arena elsewhere in Manchester.
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