GLASTONBURY: Glastonbury may be best known for its music, but many of the 175,000 people gathered at Worthy Farm come for the spiritual, political and family events that this year include the Dalai Lama among the performers.

British band Florence and the Machine kicked off three days of major acts with a headline performance on the main Pyramid Stage on Friday, stepping in for the Foo Fighters who canceled after frontman Dave Grohl broke his leg.

But many of those who have been camping in this scenic corner of Somerset, southwest England, since Wednesday were by then already settled into the five-day festival that offers much more than simply music. Nathan Wason, a guitarist due to play on Saturday with British folk singer Ben Howard, brought along his wife, three-year-old daughter Esme — already a Glastonbury veteran — and ten-month-old son Bobby.

“It’s a good experience for them,” he said of bringing his children, saying they “adapt very well” — as long as they get some sleep. “It’s a bit hard when they get tired.”

Started in 1970, when a £1 ticket included free milk from the farm, Glastonbury has become a huge business where tickets cost £225 ($360) and where you can rent a posh tent for about £9,000 for the five days.

But it has retained its original friendly vibe where aging hippies, children and party animals rub along happily together, all wearing the now mandatory wellies.

Rain seems almost inevitable at Glastonbury, with this year’s festival-goers suffering their first deluge on Friday, which quickly turned parts of the 900-acre site into a sea of mud.