Not something that you would normally associate with the festival of "contemporary performing arts" but this year the Rock & Metal community were treated to something special at this year's Glastonbury Festival. A safe haven for all...

Actually not a safe haven for two reasons. Firstly Rock & Metal popped up all over the site last weekend, from the Pyramid with Foo Fighters to the John Peel Stage with Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, right back to Shangri-La where Earache Records set their base in a retired tube carriage. The second reason is that if you visited this retired tube carriage in the early hours, there was nothing safe about it, especially when bands like Heck & Hacktivist took to the stage (or floor).

Thursday night saw a set in Shangri-La from Metal royalty Napalm Death, with a huge turnout, not just from Metalheads but people who were genuinely interested in seeing a different art form outside its normal home. Speak to people over the weekend and everyone knows that it happened; this was a thing that took place at Worthy Farm. As fists pumped and pits opened, it was obvious that this was something that could attract new fans.

Fast forward to Sunday night; midnight to be precise. The festival is essentially over, just people clinging on to the last precious hours in this hedonistic wonderland. But in the depths of the Earache Express, the sweatiest 15/20 people just about squeeze into a tube carriage. Everyone in the carriage knows Heck, understands what Heck is and is ready to lose their mind in the stage suspended in the air in the centre of the late night Mecca. The set can be summarised by its conclusion: vocalist on top of the outside of the carriage, guitarist bent over the scaffolding surrounding the stage, hanging on for dear life, and the tinnitus-inducing feedback squeal which marks the end of this intimate meeting. You want to say to people “You should have seen this!” but you wouldn’t be able to secure their safety nor would you be able to secure them a spot in the carriage.

But it’s not just the intimate gatherings of the hardcore fans, it’s the chance encounters that really puts Rock & Metal on the map at Glastonbury. The poorly kept secret that The Killers were to play a set shortly after Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes decimated the John Peel tent meant that The Rattlesnakes got one of the largest crowds of their career (whether or not they were there to see them is a different question). Carter made copious remarks to this during the set but he took it all in his stride and as the last waves of ‘I Hate You’ trickled through the packed out tent, it was obvious that they had recruited a few new fans.

So what needs to happen to cement Rock, Punk and Metal representation at Glastonbury Festival? Accessibility is crucial. Enter Shikari, Frank Turner and Metallica have all played notable sets in the past and they’ve always gone down well. What do these bands have in common? They’re accessible to a mainstream audience. Let them become a gateway to the Spotify rabbit hole and before you know it, bands like Biffy Clyro, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Hacktivist will become the norm.

While the BBC coverage of the stage might have been extremely condescending, let’s just hope that the Earache Express makes a return in 2019 and with it, let’s hope the likes of Madball, Sick Of It All and Stray From The Path can have a go at converting these massive audiences into fans willing to spend their Tuesday nights at The Underworld.