You can probably already tell from the number of galleries on this page that I’m a bit of a festival nut & if it weren’t for other commitments I’d go to even more events than I actually do.

I cut my festival teeth at the hippy “earth” & “tree” fairs that we used to have all over East Anglia in the late 70’s & early 80’s. My first major event was Thin Lizzy’s appearance at the MK Bowl in 1981 and my first proper weekend festival was Reading the following summer. I returned to Reading every year that the festival was held up until 1989 when Mean Fiddler took it over & proceeded to ruin what used to be the highlight of my summer. I’ve only been back once when Nirvana played in ’92 & hated every minute of it.

Other events I went to during the 80’s included a couple of journeys to the South West where I attended the last of the amazing Elephant Fairs in 1986 & also the now legendary Treworgey in ‘89. But the arrival of the Tortlets in the early 90’s put paid to my festival going days for a while and with the exception of 3 visits to the rather soulless Phoenix Festival near Stratford-on-Avon my interests & responsibilities lay elsewhere for a number of years.

That all changed in 1999. One major omission from my previous festival exploits was of course the daddy of them all - Glastonbury. I’d been meaning to go for years but for whatever reason never made it until, at the ripe old age of 35, I persuaded a couple of mates to join me in the trek to Somerset. It’s fair to say that the experience changed my life & I simply could not imagine a summer nowadays when Glastonbury is on & I'm not at Worthy Farm. Since 1999 I’ve met literally hundreds of wonderful people through festival related internet message boards, several of whom I now consider among my best & most trusted friends. And it is through the recommendations of these like-minded souls that I have discovered a whole new world of festival fun.

You won’t find any pictures of the Leeds/Reading Weekenders or V Festival or T in the Park among these galleries. I studiously avoid those over-commercialised excuses for festivals where punters seem to accept paying through the nose to be treated like cattle. I like to think that the events I attend represent the true, eclectic festival scene that is to be found and enjoyed in every corner of the UK. Go, seek & discover.

Tort :o)

PS. I get an increasing number of requests from artists and festival organisers to use my photos for their own websites & pages on MySpace etc and also in their promotional literature for future events. I'm more than happy for this to happen. Despite the default option that appears on this website to buy the photos I only do this for a bit of fun & don't expect any payment. If there are any photos that you would like higher resolution copies of then please leave a comment with your contact details and I would be more than happy to oblige. Otherwise, a simple credit to "Tort" is all I ask. Thanks!