[6] In a comtemprary review The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Conceived as a quasi-religious celebration rather than as yet another marathon music show-case, Glastonbury Fayre was a fiveday Midsummer festival held in 1971.

And Peter Neal (brought in to assemble footage which at one time seemed uncertain to reach the screen) has rightly chosen to relegate the music to a subsidiary but vital linking role, and to concentrate on documenting the occasion itself.

In a stunning Traffic performance of "Gimme Some Loving", for example, the cameras whimsically meander around the stage, pointing at everything but vocalist Stevie Winwood and even surveying the scene at one moment through a piece of pink cellophane.

This sort of throwaway approach is more successful when the camera catches Arthur Brown, self-styled psychedelic Satanist, relaxing like any ordinary mortal while his group knock themselves out a few feet away; though the roving lens really comes into its own when chronicling the scattered activities of the crowd, which range from saluting the dawn to riding half-naked on a motorbike pillion.

Despite Neal's efforts, the film remains shapeless and never really gets to grips with the Fayre as a phenomenon; it is, however, an interesting record of what was possibly the last collective flowering of the Beautiful People.

"[7] In 2009 Uncut said, "The live footage does include some dreck... but there are actually a few cracking musical performances: Terry Reid opens the film with an incendiary version of "Dean", while Traffic close it with a pulsating Brazilian-tinged "Gimme Some Lovin'".

The music was somewhat muddy-sounding too, but well-played enough to get the spirit of the tunes, ranging from Melanie belting out her anthem to the finale with Steve Winwood and Traffic getting the audience going in the darkness..."[11] In 2021 Diabolique Magazine said, "Although Glastonbury Fayre does not feature all of the performers who participated onstage that year (notably headliners Joan Baez, Hawkwind, and a young David Bowie are missing), nonetheless it remains a fascinating record of a place in time.... As integral a part the musical performances are within the film, they are not the sole raison d’être for Glastonbury Fayre.