Despite the mud, the word from Worthy Farm is that Glastonbury 2004, was a huge success.
Heavy rainfall in the days preceding and during the event meant once again the festival's rural setting became something of a mud bath as production crews set up fourteen performance areas and 150,000 festival goers arrived on site. But the sun did shine on occasions during the weekend, and festival director Michael Eavis wasn't alone in describing this year's proceedings as "the best yet".
Production wise things seemed to go very smoothly, despite the weather. One festival goer died off site, most probably from a drugs overdose - two other festival goers have been arrested on suspicion of supplying the dead man with class A drugs. However across the board local police reported crime was down 40% on last year, with only 242 crimes reported compared with 404 last year. Providing the exodus from the site this morning goes ahead smoothly, and the site clean up operation is successful, the festival's co-producers Mean Fiddler hope to persuade local authorities to increase the capacity of the event by 30,000 next year.
Performance wise split opinion on the stand out performances of the weekend. Eavis admitted that, despite expecting to be most excited about Oasis' headline set on Friday, it was Paul McCartney's performance on Saturday that impressed him the most. "I thought [the stand out set] would be Oasis... but how about Paul Macartney?"
Other sets that seemed to particularly wow the crowds included James Brown, Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand and young British soul singer Joss Stone. Meanwhile perhaps the most risky bit of programming of the weekend - the inclusion of the English National Opera and a performance of Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' - seemed to pay off attracting a large and enthusiastic audience for its Sunday lunchtime slot.
Our man on the scene will be giving his thoughts in tomorrow's Daily, just as soon as we scrape the mud off his laptop.