Events - Rain threatens festival mudbath (Glastonbury Festival)

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6229384.stm
Rain threatens festival mudbath
By Ian Youngs
Entertainment reporter, BBC News at the Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury
More rain is forecast for the weekend
Steady rain is threatening to turn the Glastonbury festival into a mudbath, as the annual extravaganza gets under way.

Rain has already transformed the site's main pathways into a couple of inches of mud, with more showers forecast across the rest of the weekend.

Most fans arrived at the site on Wednesday and Thursday, to soak up the atmosphere before the main stages open.

Amy Winehouse and Kasabian are due on the main Pyramid stage, with Lily Allen and The Who playing over the weekend.

The Killers, Bjork, Dame Shirley Bassey and The Chemical Brothers are among the other big names performing at the three-day festival.

Tight security

Tight security greeted the last ticket-holders as they took their places in the event's vast tent city.


GLASTONBURY 9AM SNAPSHOT
148,000 people on site
30,000 cars in car park
13 thefts from tents
12 people tried jumping over the fence
707 casualties

The campsites are packed after the capacity was raised to 177,500 - 27,500 more than the last festival in 2005.

Photo tickets, sniffer dogs, CCTV and bag searches are among the measures being taken to beat touts and crime.

After successfully stamping out gatecrashers, police and festival security have now turned their attention to drugs.

Sniffer dogs have been deployed at train stations and on coaches, while random bag searches are taking place at festival gates.

Glastonbury security
Security staff have been carrying out thorough checks at the gates

Police have also laid traps for tent thieves, erecting "covert capture tents" equipped with cameras.

Fans who arrived early have had the chance to check out the festival's major new addition, an area called The Park.

It boasts music stages, a tipi village, a silent disco and a 12-metre viewing tower with telescopes.

Another new feature is an installation by cult artist Banksy, a sculpture made out of portable toilets arranged in the manner of an ancient stone circle.

Fittingly for a work by Banksy - who made his name as a graffiti artist - revellers have already spray-painted all over the new creation.

Glastonbury is also known for its environmental conscience and fundraising, and Thursday also saw the launch of the I Count climate change campaign.

Banksy at Glastonbury
Fans have taken to Banksy's toilet sculpture, called Henge

Festival founder Michael Eavis launched the drive to get 100,000 people to sign up to the commitment to reduce their carbon footprints.

Laura Fishwick, 19, from Leeds, gave the festival the thumbs-up on her first visit. "This has totally blown me away," she said.

"I thought it would be smaller and more wild, but everyone's really friendly and [it is] really safe," she said.

Twenty-four-year-old Angus Vine said: "Even at this stage, you can tell it's more advanced than any other festival around.

"It's very well managed. The weather's the only thing they can't control."