Every year Glastonbury-goers return to the grind of every day existence refusing to believe that the festival has ended.
Celebrating its 40th, it's hard to recall another time when a resounding thump back to reality was greeted with such a heavy heart.
The party atmosphere was epitomised by founder and Glastonbury stalwart Michael Eavis who joined legendary performer Stevie Wonder on stage for the most special of 'Happy Birthday' send-offs.
Reluctantly grabbing a mic from the soul-superstar, Eavis tried and failed to find his range in front of the Glastonbury faithful, but did deliver a heartwarming moment for the nostalgics.
Steering the exuberant Wonder from the stage, the man who has steered the festival through four decades of triumph and an unfathomable amount of priceless celebration, pulled down the curtain on the festival for another year as it continues its lessons in maturity.
Multi-instrumentalist Stevland Hardaway Judkins had earlier wowed crowds with an effortless display which shifted from first to fifth gear in the blink of an eye.
Blending renditions of upbeat Uptight, Higher Ground and Superstition with singalong favourites like I Just Called To Say I Love You, the 60-year-old left the jubilant crowd with a glorious blur of positivity in their eyes as he encouraged everyone to provide access to the world, which many with disabilities cannot.
It was only 24 hours earlier that Matt Bellamy, accompanied by an energetic set of space age lasers was wowing crowds with Muse's dystopian pop hymns. There was even time for a guest appearance from one of this year's fallen heroes, The Edge, to join the trio on stage for the iconic Where The Streets Have No Name, which from a personal view was greeted with some ambivalence as it strangely seemed to signal the end of the world but also the stimulus to party like there was no tomorrow.
Signing off with Knights of Cydonia in huge plumes of smoke that were pierced by green lasers, the spellbound crowd were left feeling like they had been blown away by a vuvuzela at close proximity.
Crowds at the Pyramid stage for Friday's offerings seemed to be absolutely nonplussed by Damon Albarn's musical vision. Even drafting in collaborators Bobby Womack, The Fall's Mark E Smith, Shaun Ryder, the legendary Lou Reed and an impromptu involvement in the powerful encore by Snoop Dogg, couldn't stop those who turned their back headed elsewhere.
Although firm favourites Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry and Feel Good Inc threatened to keep a wandering audience glued, perhaps the diffuse and downbeat appearance of some Syrian bongo players just after the halfway point of the set made the mind up of an undecided group of torn followers.
This was not to deter an impassioned Albarn who put his name in the record books for being the only artist to headline the coveted Pyramid stage three times.
Move away from the weekend's crowd-pulling main attractions and you will find some hidden gems. Snoop Dogg's Tupac loving, lady worshiping performance pulled in a vast mid-afternoon crowd, which onlookers of “different flavours” as the charming rapper puts it, duly lapped up.
Word got round pretty quickly that the “special guest” slot up at The Park for Friday's session was set to be none other than Thom Yorke.
The folk who had traipsed up the hill were not to be disappointed as the casually dressed and awkward Yorke shuffled onto the stage to kick things off with handful of tracks from his solo album The Eraser.
Just as the shock of seeing Mr Yorke died down, the crowd had another Glastonbury heart attack as pal Johnny Greenwood wanders out to go through a selection of the pair's back catalogue.
As the baking sun set on another magical year, let's hope that Glastonbury's propulsion into middle aged territory will mean the festival gets better and better and better with experience.
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