Tent-slashers mar fun at Glastonbury

GANGS OF teenage boys slashing tents and stealing money and mobile phones were the only cloud at the end of the most successful Glastonbury festival for years.

The Somerset and Avon Constabulary had 1,130 crimes reported to them, almost all thefts from tents. Police said the good weather contributed to the crime problem, because people left tents unattended. Last year, which was wet and muddy, there were 300 fewer crimes. Police made 244 arrests, 87 for drug offences and 93 for theft.

Michael Eavis, the festival organiser, said the thefts were a "bummer" but, given that 100,000 people attended, they only marred the enjoyment of a small number of festival-goers.

One of the more unique sights of the last day yesterday was several thousand young women who went to the second stage to see the Thrash Rock Band Dogstar. Despite playing music that usually appeals to teenage boys in black T-shirts, Dogstar have as bassist Keanu Reeves and so attracted a crowd more interested in the actor's floppy fringe than his musical talent.

The biggest event of the day had a closer connection with the real Glastonbury Festival. Almost the entire site was silent for a minute at 11.30am as a mark of respect for Jean Eavis, Mr Eavis's wife, who died of cancer a month ago. Festival workers and stage crews who knew her cried as the vast tent city fell silent. It was a gesture of gratitude to the Eavis family from festival-goers who owe them for yet another happy summer weekend.

Glastonbury or bust,

Review, page 8