Críticas

The third day of Glastonbury 2009. I started the day at the Other Stage watching The Broken Family Band who were right up my alley - an awesome alt.country band then I saw a bit of Eagles of Death Metal - before I moved on to the Pyramid stage and saw VV Brown (who wasn't half bad). I saw a little of Rolf Harris perform at the Jazz World stage. Yes, noone in the US has probably ever heard of him (nor had I), but at Glasto he's a legend, nay a God. I also saw a song or two from Spinal Tap (so not great). I then progressed to the Other stage again to see Jason Mraz, The Script, & Peter Doherty just after that I decided to charge my phone (and myself) and was happily serenaded by Marina & the Diamonds.

I got to see Dizzee Rascal playing on the Pyramid stage on the way to the John Peel stage to see The Gaslight Anthem, and Bruce Springsteen made an appearance to play guitar with them for The '59 Sound. On my next walk I saw La Roux on the East Dance and Timo Maas West Dance stage and then Paolo Nutini on the Other stage. I then saw The Wombats at the Queens Head before I ended the evening with Kasabian on the Pyramid and Franz Ferdinand on the Other stage.

Wed 24 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

It’s taken me bloody ages to write this. Not because I’ve spent a lot of time on it, but because I’ve spent very little time on it over a long period. The result is that as I complete it my memory and enthusiasm have both waned slightly, but I hope you still enjoy it anyway (I’m currently completing this section at 2 in the morning as I can’t sleep. My creativity and grammar is not at its strongest level). If I’ve tagged you it’s because I’ve mentioned you or you’ve expressed interest in reading it. Here’s a guide to the review system I’ll be using:

* Shite
** A Bit Meh
*** Good Stuff
**** Excellent
***** Legendary

Important Appreciation for all the “John Doe”s.

Everyone bangs on about the sheer scale and size of Glastonbury and they’re not wrong. The place is friggin’ huge. But what the BBC coverage of Glastonbury doesn’t get across is the importance of the little tents. Scattered across the site are tens of venues, all housing band and artists that you may not have heard of but are probably much better than household names over on the main stages.

Over the course of my time I saw a lot of bands whose names I never found out, yet most of them dazzled me and were easily the highlights of my weekend. So credit to that great funk band I saw on Thursday in a marquee I never saw again. Or the modern Ska band that were so energetic I thought the lead singer might explode. I’ll forgive them for their blatant rip off of Immortal Techniques’ “Dance With The Devil”, as they produced a set that made Madness seem moribund (in fact I didn’t bother seeing Madness the next day because I knew they’d seem stale in comparison). And props to the psychedelic folk band that provided the perfect soundtrack when I started having “flu-esq”, dreamy semi-hallucinations that I was a flea on Lee Morris’ beard.

However the top prize goes to the jazz/fusion/dance/techno outfit I saw after Blur. After Damon and Co’s epic set I was determined to keep of dancing, and this unknown band was fucking unbelievably tight and intense. When I entered the tent nobody was grooving, but by the time I left there was a dance floor of love. The perfect end to my first Glastonbury experience! But hang on… I haven’t even talked about the beginning yet…

WEDNESDAY (aka The Big Queue)

The party atmosphere kicked off on the train. A load of mouthy Londoners proceeded to shout at platform dwellers on every station that “*insert city here* was a shit hole”. This was accompanied by a live soundtrack as two DJ’s performing at the festival were sat opposite me, deciding what tunes to play by blasting them on their mobile phones.

Arriving at the tiny, two-platform station of Castle Cary we were informed that disaster had struck on both the M4 and M5, with diversions sent via the Glastonbury road. The coachers were backlogged, chaos everywhere, a 3 hour wait for the coach. Fitzy and I killed the time by playing a sad Dream Theater based game, and the crowd pleasing A-Z game (If you can’t think of a “U” for foods, sweets, snacks etc – always go with Umbongo). The atmosphere in the queue was grand, a band set up and starting blasting out various jazzed-up cover versions, and we started playing trivia games with a lovely middle ages woman.

By the time we arrived the sun had set. Once we finally found a spot (although it involved kicking somebody’s fire away) pitching a tent in the pitch black (ho!) was actually a lot easier than I’d dreaded. This gave us time to skin up and have a (relatively) quick tour of the festival site (a lot of the main areas and stages were closed off). This is when the size of the place really hit me. Along our travels I noticed a loud woman pushing a pram exclaiming “come on – out of my way!” As I glanced down I saw a small 4 year old girl with a handlebar moustache. This was my first official Glastonbury “did I just see that?” moment. Later on I used common sense to figure out it must have been a stick-on moustache, but by God did it throw me at the time.

We eventually ended up at the Stone Circle where a band had struck up and were covering the “Thomas The Tank Engine” theme tune in a gypsy punk fashion. 5 stars to them.

Sleepy time came early as I was exhausted after a long day of travelling. Just as I was about to drop off I was awoken by a torrent of abuse. “Which CUNT has pitched his tent where I planned to have my fire!? Right that’s it I’ll start a fire out the front of his tent, I don’t care if it catches fire. He hasn’t even pegged it in properly, I could rip it all off”.

Oh great. I was camped by a nutter.

THURSDAY (aka Stoned in the Stone Circle)

With a whole day to kill before the music kicked off Fitzy used his noggin and suggested going into Glastonbury town to pick up some cheap alcohol. A wise idea I’d recommend to anybody (I got to buy some cheap food, use a decent toilet and have a reasonably priced White Russian in the warm comfort of a pub).

On returning back I was confronted by my nutter. “Why the fuck have you put your tent there?” I’ll be honest with you all, I was slightly petrified. I calmly explained the situation of how we’d arrived extremely late, had searched for a camping space for ages and we’re generally fed up and wanted to make camp.

“Oh well that’s alright then, you seem like nice lads. I understand. Sorry about last night”.

It was that simple. His name was Arin and he slowly became our festival legend. But more on him later.

We plodded on over to the Stone Circle to meet up with Lee and Natasha, two lovely people I’d met at Zappa Plays Zappa. The Stone Circle in the day is a lovely place to relax and many spliffs were shared as we discussed wrestling, music and the amount of coprophiliacs at Glastonbury. Lee discussed his upcoming evening/gig called “Night of the Living Ched” that was going to feature S&M Karaoke, Musical Unstatues and an entire band of people miming to Frank Zappa songs. It sounded like heaven (why don’t we have anything remotely interesting like that in York? I think it’s up to Lee and I to provide at Kaptain’s Komedy Klub – coming to you this October!). Unfortunately I ended up getting too stoned (it has been a while since I smoked that much) and it made me all introverted and slightly paranoid. Still a very enjoyable afternoon… if only life could be like that all the time.

Night came and the music began. Proceedings commenced with a bit of dub step in the form of Raffertie (*** - Dance Lounge). Surprisingly this was the only dub step of the festival I witnessed which is strange due to its ever growing popularity. The “yoot” fucking love dub step, myself included. It’s interesting because I remember being played some dub step a few years back and found it lacklustre and repetitive. The genre really seems to have progressed at an extraordinary rate. Raffertie was your standard dub step affair but got myself and everyone moving.

We were really here for Beardyman (** - Dance Lounge) though. I’d seen the cheeky beatboxer a couple of months ago in York and he’d put on a belter of a show. That gig lacked atmosphere but the Glastonbury crowd exploded when he started dropping his beats. However it soon became apparent that he was doing a (dare I say it?) “commercial” set for the masses. The structure basically went: beatboxing dnb – chart song – beatboxing dub step – chart song – beatboxing trance – chart song. It’s fucking cool what he does, but all the really special elements of the York gig were dropped (cleverly looped songs about cheese, Dougal & Gammer style rave sections and improvised songs based on audience requests – in York he did “Once In A Livetime” by Talking Heads over Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” completely off the cuff).

After that we did some tent strolling and saw John Doe(s) before settling on Deathray Trebuchay (**** - Club Dada). Now I wish I could tell you more about this band, but this is one of the surprisingly few Glastonbury occasions where my memory betrays me. All I remember is that they were bat-shit mental, completely all over the place but consistently rocking and danceable. The audience loved them and they official started the moment where the party REALLY kicked off…


FRIDAY (aka Mal Webb Raises the Bar)

If you told me my first official day at Glastonbury would have started by watching Bjorn Again (*** - Pyramid Stage) in the drizzling rain and actually quite enjoying it, I would have laughed you off the face of Pilton. Still such is the spirit of Glastonbury that is what happened. The highlight was “S.O.S” which, after much teasing, segued into The Police song of the same name. It made me remember that Abba’s music is actually quite good (but I still refuse to watch Mama Mia) Even a bizarre and pre-emptive cover of “Rocking All Over The World” couldn’t put a dampener on the proceedings.

The hybrid sounds and electric oud of Speed Caravan (*** - Jazz/World) were excellent but seemed slightly ill suited for a bright mid-afternoon spot. A lack of atmosphere forced us inside, just in time for a live stage version of BBC Radio 4’s The Early Edition (**** - Cabaret Tent) featuring Marcus Brigstocke and Phil Jupitus and two other people discussing the day’s papers. Of course there was a lot of emphasis that Farrah Fawcett had died, but this soon became a discussion of how dead Minks can be used as serviceable condoms. The big news though was that Phil Jupitus is actually funny, it seems having free range to use naughty language and discuss adult topics brings out the best in him.

Ah Regina Spektor (**** - Pyramid Stage), I was warned I would fall in love. With the sun finally breaking through the setting was perfect for Miss Spektor and her small band setup (Cello, Violin, Drums). Her voice sounded as wonderful as it does on record, yet with new arrangements that offered a unique live experience. In between songs she upped the cute factor; gushing about how happy she was to play in her adorable voice (although she got a little rude when she claimed people were “fucking next door” to her music). Back off Ollie Bucket, she’s mine.

You’ve probably heard The Egg (*** - Dance East) even if you haven’t heard of them, because one of their songs features of the Citroen C4 advert. I hope for their sake that isn’t the high point of their career as their electronic dance, funk and improve was tight and really got the crowd moving at half past two in the afternoon.

Then it happened. Strolling over for a bit of relaxation at Future Fields we stumbled across Mal Webb (***** - The Bike Powered Stage). It’s hard to capture in words how his hour long set made me feel. It’s also quite hard to describe exactly what he does. But in a tent of about 20 people, when I least expected it, I witnessed the best act I saw in Glastonbury. I will attempt to describe Mal’s set now, but I know no words can do justice to the sheer enjoyment I felt.

Mal is a bald, Australian man. He’s an extremely talented multi-instrumental and beat boxer. He uses a looping pedal to maximum effect to create an entire, and wholly convincing, band. He writes interesting and happy, occasionally complicated and complex, songs which always have a catchy chorus and memorable melody. His lyrics make you think “God, I wish I was that witty”, and his in-between song banter is on par with an amazing stand-up comedian. He’s genuinely piss-pantingly funny; the comparison of his head to the African continent, that was filled with cheekily tortured (and clever) puns, was a genius routine. On top of this he made a sound based on "The Molluscum Contagiosum 12x12 Triangle" (see here - http://malwebb.customer.netspace.net.au/triangle.html) while doing interpretative dance in an almost Brasseye-style spoof of a way.

See does that really do him justice? No it doesn’t.

The good news was that he was playing again the next day.

Meeting up with Minja was swift and easy meaning I got to witness the Easy Star All Stars (*** - Dance East) performing “Dark Side Of The Moon” in it’s eternity, dub style! This CD has been a favourite of mine for quite a while now, but unfortunately something seemed to be missing from the live performance. The sound mix wasn’t great which isn’t going to help for such a dense sounding piece of music. But it wasn’t just that, something else seemed to be missing… a lack of energy maybe? A good performance, just not “great”.

After failing to hold our interest for very long last night, Fizy and I were very interested to see how the Beardyman with The Bays (*** - The Glade) collaboration was going to pan to out. I have to confess that my memory fails me slightly here. I remember it being pretty intense with some epic sections and build ups. I certainly danced a lot. Yet overall it didn’t leave a massive lasting impression. Er, sorry that’s about the best I can do :p

The rest of the night was spent wondering around the various tents.


SATURDAY (Rocking on a Sex Farm near Stonehenge)

After failing to convince Minja and Fitzy to witness Rolf Harris (to be fair it was stupidly crowded) we trotted into the final performance of The Early Edition (*** - Cabaret Tent). It wasn’t as funny as the previous day. However Mr Bridgestock got some solid laughs out of me just by being a very angry man. I’ve always been undecided on Bridgestock, leaning more to “dislike”, but after this and what happened later on… I have a newfound respect for the man.

Strangely the first music of the day came in the form of one of my favourite comedy films of all time. This was undoubtedly the only chance in my life I was going to get to see the mighty <b>Spinal Tap (*** - Pyramid)</b>. It was a humorous and fun yet slightly odd experience. The most interesting factor of seeing Tap live is that the parody is so good the lines of reality and comedy are rather blurred. I wondered how many people in the huge audience thought the band were “real” (My Mother and Nan certainly did when they played Live8). Minja confessed to being quite bored. It also made me realise how subtle the comedy of Guest and Co. is. If you don’t find song titles like “Warmer Than Hell” funny then you’re probably not going to enjoy the rest of it. However for a fan such as myself it was very satisfying to see the infamous Stonehenge (complete with dancing midgets, oh yes) and the band stay completely in character as they flaunted their full-on metal poses. And the songs aren’t bad either really, certainly better than Status Quo (but more about them tomorrow)

I can only think of one person in the world that would make me want to miss Dizzee Rascals’ first time on the Pyramid Stage under the baking sun and that man is the truly legendary The Actor Kevin Eldon (**** - Cabaret Tent). However just as we’re about to enter the tent who do we see recording a VT for TV but Adam and Joe (**** - Cabaret Tent). If you Rascal/Eldon conflict weren’t bad enough I was suddenly overwhelmed by a tidal wave of “celebrity mania”. Stood a few metres away from me were Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, two men whose voices that I’ve listened to though cheap plastic headphones for somewhere in the region of 300+ hours. If Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese or Tervor McDonald (ie. a megastar) were stood to the right of them I’d still be 100x more excited to see A&J. We got asked to “star” in the VT (see here - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=123278124256&subj=647784256) however this meant missing the beginning of Eldon’s set. Unfortunately I didn’t get to “meet” A&J either. I did manage to catch the last 10 mins of Eldon’s set which was hilariously funny, and I very much enjoyed A&J’s “Made-up Jokes” bit too.

It was time for another John Doe (I believe somebody Fitzy enjoyed very much called Jamie Woon) over in the wonderful “Future Fields” before sneaking into a crammed marquee for Mr Bad Science himself Ben Goldacre (**** - Speaker’s Corner). It’s only a few minutes before he announces “Sorry I don’t think I can sit down for much longer…” and kicks the chair away while he carries on his passionate and occasionally humorous rant, challenging everything from “cures” for sexual impotency to the names of mathematical equations with some nerd in the audience. Very enjoyable but alas we had to leave early for…

Shlomo and The Vocal Orchestra (***** - The Glade) plus special guests. And how special they were too; Miss Imogen Heap, DJ Yoda, Jarvis Cocker and er… Marcus Bridgestock of all people. But, in the politest way, FUCK the special guests. The Vocal Orchestra is one of the coolest and mind-blowing projects of all time; a collection of the world’s greatest beatboxers and singers coming together to create a… well… orchestra performing contemporary hits, original improvisations and banging tunes. You know that the project is impressive when Imogen Heap comes on and simply joins the pecking order rather than having her own song. DJ Yoda just manages to “beat” them in a classic call and response decks n beatbox battle. Bridgestock comes on and proceeds to beatbox to a pretty good standard against the latest female world champion who makes the most brilliant chicken noises ever. This is all topped off but a soulful Stevie Wonder cover. When we arrived at the stage the audience was sparse but by the end it’s tailing back as far as the eye can see. Everyone there knows they’re witnessing something special.

What on earth could top that? Mal Webb (***** - The Bike Powered Stage) does a pretty good job with a completely different set from yesterday (although he did include the “African head” routine, but this time sped-up to avoiding pissing off people who can yesterday which made it even funnier). One of the many highlights includes an improvised audience participation song, in which a young and slightly confused blonde girl gets up on stage and is encouraged to come out with whatever she likes. “This Guy Is Really Weird” becomes my official Glastonbury anthem. Mal builds a full hip-hop song around this sample. He then performs a song about a “pac-rack” singing it in various different languages. It’s mental. Mental and brilliant. I impatiently buy 2 CDs afterwards even though I can’t afford it.

And this, my friends, is where my night ends. Well not really of course, it’s just I’ve spent too long getting round to writing this review and that factor – mixed with the fact I was very intoxicated – means I have no idea what happened the rest of Saturday night. I’m pretty sure we sure some amazing unknown bands, a bit of Bruce Springsteen and free Hare Krishna food. But trust me it was epic…

SUNDAY (Just a flea on a beard... (And Jack's Top 10 Tips))

“Unfortunately we’ve had to cut down our setlist” moans Francis Rossi, which I find rather ironic as Status Quo (* - Pyramid Stage) really could have benefited from a shorter stage time. Some of you might think “why the hell go and see Quo in the first place?” and that’s a valid point, but I hold sentimentality for essentially the greatest pub band in the world. However the Quo don’t seem to be enjoying themselves despite the old todgers being lucky enough to play in front of Christ-knows-how-many on a beautiful day. The problem is that Quo fill most of their set with songs nobody has heard of and they’re really quite dire. We leave long before the inevitable smash that would have been “Rocking Over The World”, but the patience to wait for it simply isn’t worth it. What was going on at The Other Stage?

I’d seen Art Brut (**** - Other Stage) about 5 years ago playing with The Hot Puppies and decided to take a punt. My, how they’ve progressed! Within a few minutes front man Eddie Argos was crazily leaning over the barriers into the crowd ranting about trips to art museums. Humorous songs about chocolate milkshake, 15 year old girls and loving public transport swiftly followed, all to a pulsing beat and memorable riffs. During one song the band spitefully mocked the Kings of Leon and The Killers in a relentless, monotone and repetitive fashion (akin to a Stewart Lee routine). You could tell they were getting off on the possibility of offending people, and along with some crowd surfing Art Brut made me feel happy to be a young person again listening to young people’s music. If only all “cool” NME indie rock music shite was this good.

The Welsh flags are out in mass, which can only mean one thing. Unfortunately Tom Jones (*** - Pyramid Stage) is having sound problems. Luckily, thanks to a mass audience chant of “turn it up”, this is rectified in time for “Green Green Grass of Home” which starts a monsoon of middle-aged Welsh women crying into their 2 litre cider bottles; a truly beautiful moment. Hit after hit after hit follows accompanied by mass singalongs and Tom, to his credit, sounds really, really good. Quo could learn a thing or two by spreading out the hits throughout the set. Minja and I leave during a strange cover version of EMF’s “Unbelievable” to try and catch the end of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set. However the Other Stage is running 20 minutes under schedule and we arrive in time to see Nick Zinner smashing his guitar to fuck. Oh well… there’s always Leeds, isn’t that right Jew?

Some John Doe(s) (including the hippy band where I started having a mini-hallucination) and a “legal pill” (ignore the doubters, the things work) follow before Minja gets her big wish – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (**** - Pyramid Stage). From the moment Cave walks on stage I instantly feel about 10x cooler than I ever have. Even though I’m not overly familiar with most of the songs I instantly feel attached to them and the (admittedly) short set absolutely flies by (the ultimate highlight being “Right Red Hand”). Not all of the crowd seem to be able to get into it however, which creates even more of a “fuck you, we’re genuinely rock n roll” feel as they create all sorts of noise and distortion during most of their songs. There’s something in the air and with the sun slowly setting behind him Nick Cave and his band create an undoubtedly memorable moment, made all the more memorable by the split of opinion in the audience. Just a shame the set was FAR too short.
I remember the first time Glastonbury really entered my consciousness. It was on BBC Three in 2003 when Radiohead headlined. I remember thinking that particular set (and setting) was absolute magical, and it was that concert that got me into Radiohead. The following year people went mad for Paul McCartney and the mass “Hey Jude” sing-along was an undeniably awesome moment. I desperately wished I was there. Blur (***** - Pyramid Stage) may have not been the “best” artist I saw that weekend, but they did provide that truly wonderful “moment”. There’s not much I feel like I can add to what’s already been said but the “Tender” sing-along, the mass pogo-ing for “Girls and Boys”, the epic “The Universal” and the mental reaction to “Song 2” will stay with me for the rest of my life.

It was at some point during “The Universal” that I truly came to terms with how magical Glastonbury is. It was at this point I decided I was DEFINLY going next year (even if I had to get a credit card to pay for it). It really is one of the best places of earth, and I wish I could pay and take all of my friends with me.

I wasn’t sure how the night could get any better… but as mentioned in the first part of this review we stumbled across a band that sound like a bunch of musical nerds had literally taken ecstasy for the first time. A dance floor of about 20 people threw every last bit of their energy they had after a truly exhausting 5 days to make sure Glastonbury went out with a bang and as the mass circle hug and dance concluded and I’m pretty sure I was definitely the happiest person on the earth.

The next day’s travel was fucking awful.

Jack’s Top 10 Tips and Things about Glastonbury Festival!

i. If you’ve never experienced constipation before, Glastonbury is the perfect place to start. I didn’t poo for about 3 days (Fri evening to Monday) and it caused me no discomfort whatsoever. Brilliant!
ii. However if you do have to use the loos, they are a bit daunting at first but you do get used to it. A good idea is to wait until a truck comes along and empties them. Take toilet roll and handwash and you’ll be fine. It’s a very small discomfort, and you’ll be having too much of an amazing time to really care about it.
iii. Nobody “owns” camping land. If a group of people have made a camp and been completely unfair taking up loads of room they don’t need, pitch your tent down. You can’t reserve land for other people. They’ve paid the same as you.
iv. Talk to everybody.
v. The cheaper and more homemade the “food outlet” looks, the cheaper and better the food probably is. I bought fish and chips from this posh van for £7 and they were fucking awful. However the little crappy looking food place in Future Fields did a filling breakfast (with proper mug for tea) for £4. The £2.50 bacon sandwich was also a lot more packed than the £4 bacon sandwich I bought from somewhere else.
vi. Need to chill out? Need to sit down and skin up away from the hustle and bustle? Want to see some great bands in a tent of about 12 people? The Green Future Fields is your haven. The Green Fields get stick for being a bit “too” hippy and shite, but the “Future” section contains some great music and is such a quiet haven compared to everywhere else. It’s also a great base for meeting up with people you’ve been split up from.
vii. If you’re going to take a flag, don’t buy the pole at Glasto. Stupidly expensive.
viii. Need to get to the front of stage to see your favourite band but have arrived too late? Simply buy a tray full of beer and pretend you have friends at the front waiting for you. Ideally latch onto someone else who’s walking through the crowd with beers so you don’t have to buy them yourself. (I did this with a foxy looking girl before Blur and it worked a treat)
ix. Hare Krisha’s do free food. Find the tent. But stick around for at least 5/10 minutes so you don’t seem like a complete knob.
x. And finally – EXPLORE.

The second day of music for the 2009 Glastonbury Festival was fantastic. At the BBC Introducing tent at the Park I saw The Heroes and then Cashier No. 9, before I made it to the Park Stage to see Golden Silvers. I then made my way to the Other Stage to see The Maccabees, The View, & White Lies. When I finally made it to the Pyramid Stage I was able to see Fleet Foxes, and then I made it all the way up to the pit to see Lily Allen she was incredibly amazing. After she got off stage I took a walk around and saw Jack Peñate at the John Peel tent, the Easy Star All-Stars at the Dance East Stage, Lady GaGa on the Other Stage, The Streets on the Jazz World Stage, British Sea Power in the Avalon Tent.
The evening ended incredibly with Doves in the John Peel Tent and Bloc Party at the Other Stage.

My first day of music for the 2009 Glastonbury Festival was fantastic. I saw this great band The Volt play on a tiny stage (maybe 50 people) called Fluffy Rock Cafe on my walk to the Queens Head to see Maxïmo Park who were incredible.

I waited 4 hours to actually see them, but it was well worth it. After watching them I stood around outside to see stornoway, quite a different type of band, but really good. During a summer shower I was able to take a seat at the Greenpeace International Airport to see King Charles, he was a bit more peace and love than I usually like, but a perfect show for right then. I then spent some time at the Small World Stage (a solar powered venue) to see a band called Sweet Sweet Lies. During another rainstorm I watched a little bit of Urusen at the Avalon Cafe. I headed back to the Fluffy Rock Cafe and saw Casino Drive playing. It was a really great day.


Edit this setlist | More Maxïmo Park setlists

Wed 24 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

Well it was my first Glastonbury and most definitely not my last. I flew down from Glasgow on the Thursday morning headed to temple meads train station where I got the shuttle bus for £12 single (it was cheaper than the train) and got there in a quick hour which was a nice surprise as I heard there was upto 7 hour waits tyring to get in on the wedensday.
Didn't have much to carry as my friend and her family had travelled down the night before with my tent and sleeping bag etc. so once I was in i met up with her at the side of the Pyramid stage and headed to where the tent was pitched, further away than expected (Family camping beside gate D) it took a good 20 mins to walk but once I was all settled in had a quick bite to eat we headed out on a wee tour of the site as they are festival veterans. After wandering about for around 3 hours we ended up at the stone circle had a rest and chatted about what we wnated to see etc before heading back down to the tent for some dinner and the first shower of my time at the festival... I will always remember that first clap of thunder followed by the cheer of what seemed like the whole site.
Thursday night brought my first highlight of the festival and I must say was probably the perfect start to an epic weekend... BeardyMan in the Dance lounge showing us his amazing beatboxing skills and voice manipulation to bring us some beats that we could dance to all from his mouth, especially the skream remix of 'in for the kill' by la roux and 'teardrop' by massive attack.

Woke up to the sound of heavy rain on Friday morning followed by numerous texts and general chatter around the campsite of the death of Michael Jackson, I will admit to being a fan of his music and it will be a great loss to the industry but it wasn't even verging on spoiling my weekend :-p had a bite to eat for breakfast before heading off to the pyramid stage (ia the cosycamper to buy some wellies) for Björn Again who got us all in the party mood with there great covers of Abba songs as well as a cheeky cover of rockin all over the world. after that we had another wander about ending up in the cabaret tent for a while before myself and my friend headed down to the john peel tent for The Rumble Strips who put on a good show but as I only really like one of their songs I wasn't overly keen on the rest of the set after the first song.
We then headed back up to our tent for a bite of lunch before heading over to the circus/cabaret area again before I headed off to the Park stage to see who the top secret special guest was... JACKPOT!!! on come The Dead Weather the new super group formed by Jack White, having watched their free online gig a few nights before it was great to see them live on one of their few UK dates announced so far. After that I had enough time to calm down a bit get a drink and head down to the jazz world stage to see the end of The Hot 8 Brass Band set and get right to the front for one of the biggest highligths of my weekend, Lamb! playing their great mix of chilled electronic trip hop and even a bit of crowd surfing from Andy Barlow who then almost never got allowed back on stage by security D= shocking!
Headed back to the other stage to meet my friend and her family via the pyramid stage to catch a few songs from Lili Allen I stayed about for the start of Lady GaGa on the other stage and have to sya her performance was a little more than dissapointing... but she did put on a good stage show. I then headed down to the dance village to catch Crookers in the dance east tent... again managed to get right to the front against the barrier and what a set the played doing all the classics such as thunderstruck remix and their hit remix of day & Night by Kid Crudi. As I was right at the front anyway and didnt really mind seeing any of the headliners on friday i stuck about for Erol Alkan who played a greta mix of thumping beats that you couldn't help but move to, unfortunately during his set my digital camera was stoel from my bag =( but it wasn't overly expensive or new so I feel sorry for those who stole it lol.

Saturday morning was quite an early one as I wanted to get down to the chill and charge tent early to charge my phone p as it was now acting as communication and camera. managed to get in and charged quickly enough to head up to the park stage to catch Swedish duo First Aid Kit from their I headed down to catch Rolf Harris on the Jazz world stage and then headed over to the Pyramid to catch the end of Eagles of Death Metal and then stayed around for Spinal Tap who performed a great set including some special guests including Jarvis Cocker who I was walking beside through the site for around 10 minutes and didn't even realise it was him :-p... I also stuck around for Dizzee Rascal who didn't dissapoint playing his current hit Bonkers, his new single Holiday which I am sure will be another number 1 and all the classic old tunes he is known for.
After Dizzee I realised I hadnt missed much of Wiley's set in the dance east tent however I was very very dissapointed when I got there playing his own tunes not very well as a dj... I could have been lsitening to an Ipod and it would have been no different. Next up was La Roux and that was my next big highlight of the weekend playing her recent hit In For The Kill and new single Bulletproof among others making for quite the show. I decided as my next "must see" act was also in dance east I would try and head up to the front during Pete Tong's set which I did do succesfully and he again put together a great mix including some remixes of hits from kings of leon and the like... but next up my biggest highlight of the whole festival, he is known for his great progressive and big house mixes and tunes... he wears a mouse head during most of his set if you haven't guessed by now the man I am talking about is Deadmau5 a.k.a Joel Zimmerman who put on the msot amazing set I have seen to the point that I was verging on crying. After that I had enough time to calm down before joining the crowd for another show of the weekend from Pendulum having seen them twice before they just seem to get better and better and the bigger the crowd the bigger the sounds and show are... personal highlight being their remix of I'm not alone. I then headed over to the Pyramid stage once again for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band it was a good show but as I am not really a fan as such only knowing his biggest hits I decided after about an hour to head back to the tent before the rest of the crowds started making their way back as well.

On to the last day of the festival another earlyish start to the day headed off to the pyramid stage after participating in one of the street performance acts near the circus field to see Status Quo and then back to the cabaret tent for a small rest before heading off to the other stage to see some of Brand New who I had been to seen at the Barrowlands in Glasgow on the wedensday night before heading to the festival... I then headed back to see the start of Tom Jones set on the Pyramid Stage before once again heading back to the other stage to see YeahYeah Yeahs, unfortunately I wasn't aware of the schedule changed and missed a good half hour of the set but heads will roll and Maps were still all I needed to hear to make it one of my highlights.
Back over to the Pyramid once again to see some of Madness this is when I decided I would def be staying for Blur rather than going back to the other stage for the prodigy. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds put on a good show but struggled to get the crowd going like im sure they once did however was good to hear them play a few of the old classics such as 'red right hand'... I then headed down into the crowd with my friend and her brother for Blur as the crowd started building and the sun went down behind the famous stage you could feel the anticipation building around the audience, they did not dissapoint and still fighting with deadmau5 to be my number 1 festival highlight. Personal highlights of the set was The crowd sing-a-long with Tender but also the classics such as Song 2 and Phil Daniels coming on for Parklife.

Thursday:
Maximo Park
Raffertie
Beardyman

Friday:
Björn Again
Rumble Strips
The dead weather
Lamb
Lily Allen
Lady Gaga
Crookers
Erol Alkan

Saturday:
First Aid Kit
Rolf Harris
Eagles of Death Metal
Spinal Tap
Dizzee Rascal
Wiley
La Roux
Pete Tong
Deadmau5
Pendulum
Bruce Springsteen & the E street band

Sunday:
Status Quo
Brand New
Tom Jones
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Madness
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Blur

Festival Album on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266970&l=a90fbdf7f7&id=810725322

Youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cworkman01

Fantatsic weekend and fantatsic first experience of this world famous festival... already saving for next year ;-p

Glastonbubble review.

Ratings out of 14, as requested by hnad.

Thursday - Queen's Head Day

Alessi's Ark - 12
Golden Silvers - 5 (Chavtastic)
Metronomy - 10

Friday - The Park day

The Rakes - 8
The Maccabees - 3
Hot Rats - 10 (Almost as much fun to watch as it seemed to be for Gaz and Danny to play)
Emiliana Torrini - 9
The Virgins - 5
The Horrors - 11 (Set drawn entirely from Primary Colours - no one was complaining)
Animal Collective - 12

Saturday - Lurgee Day

The Big Pink - 13
Emmy the Great - 10
Broken Records - 8
The Futureheads - 13 (Would be 14 but they only played for 30 mins)
Passion Pit - 13
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - 6 (Based on 6 songs)
Jarvis Cocker - 8 (Mainly coz I was actually dying by this point and went to bed after a few songs)

Sunday - Blur Day

Art Brut - 11 (Never really got Eddie Argos 'til now)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 9
Bat for Lashes - 11
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - 13
Blur - 14

Wed 24 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

Worthy Farm, 26th / 27th / 28th June 2009

Back with a more traditional line up after last year’s controversial offering, the daddy of all festivals promised legendary performances for 2009. Could it live up to such great expectations?

Fifteen hours. Fifteen gruelling hours. After possibly the longest coach ride in history, we arrived on site at 11pm Wednesday. Once the joy of pitching tents in the dark was over, a quick wander up to the Stone Circle where seemingly all of the festival had gathered in spiritual union was all we could do to salvage an otherwise frustrating and tiring day.

With Thursday came more promise. The sunny day brought the perfect opportunity to explore the festival in all its glory. Whilst the Dirty Boots tent proved to be a great find; with sets from newcomers The Sunbirds, Alessi’s Ark and We Are The People, adventuring around the enormous site also brought performances from Mick Artistic and The Henry Brothers, the former with his self styled comedy / music act, the latter with, as they described, a nostalgic mix of “Murder Ballads and Death Songs”. But of course, the most memorable moment of the day goes to the untimely death of Michael Jackson. Initially dismissing the news a just a festival rumour it wasn’t long before the word had spread like wildfire. Like him or not, he was a pop icon, and in death he will no doubt be remembered as the legend he once was, not the troubled star he later became.

Awaking to the patter of heavy rainfall Friday morning was not a good feeling. Armed with wellies and bright yellow ponchos we persevered to catch Other Stage openers Mr Hudson who served up an entertaining, but remarkably average performance. Rumours of a Kanye West guest appearance had been greatly exaggerated. Onto the Guardian and Dirty Boots tents where Slow Club did their very best to get a laid-back crowd moving and Lisa Mitchell impressed with a cover of Dire Straits’ ‘Romeo & Juliet’. After a quick stop by the Other Stage for a taste of The Maccabees’ indie pop brilliance, N*E*R*D* made a wonderfully rowdy appearance on the Pyramid stage, before Fleet Foxes put in a rather disappointing outing. Not through any fault of their own mind, breakthrough single ‘White Winter Hymnal’, and album track ‘Oliver James’ were both well received, but you couldn’t help feel that with only one album perhaps they weren’t ready for such a big crowd so soon in their promising career. In contrast, Lily Allen lapped up the attention, sporting a purple wig and rather revealing dress as she pleased the masses. However it was The Specials who provided the festival’s first highlight, the recently reformed ska pioneers delighting just about everyone with non-stop hits from the more obvious likes of ‘A Message To You Rudy’ and ‘Too Much Too Young’, to the more darker feel of ‘Ghost Town’, ‘Gangsters’ and ‘Little Bitch’. Whilst legend Neil Young geared up to headline the Pyramid, across on the Jazz World stage The Streets delivered an upbeat set, showcasing material from all four albums to date, as well as an unexpected tribute to Jackson in the form of ‘Billie Jean’. A quick treck to the park stage saw Animal Collective bringing the most spectacular lights show of the weekend, to accompany easily the most bizarre set of the weekend – clearly a band that require more than a few listens to be truly appreciated. It was then back to the Other Stage just in time to catch Bloc Party impress with material from 2008’s Intimacy, as well new song ‘One More Chance’ and slew of festival favourites including ‘So Here We Are’ and ‘Banquet’. Frontman Kele ended by saying the band, “Have never enjoyed playing at Glastonbury until tonight” and you could tell he really meant it. Surely future festival headline slots are in the not so distant future.

With the weather back on our side Saturday got off to a great start up at the Park stage with First Aid Kit and The Low Anthem both easing the day in with their mix of folk, country and Americana. After seeing the masses pack the Jazz World Stage for Rolf Harris, ‘Two Little Boys’ and a didgeridoo; why he wasn’t booked for the Pyramid remains a mystery, a walk over to the festival’s premier stage brought The Eagles Of Death Metal’s deliberately clichéd rock, in turn perfectly setting up iconic parody act Spinal Tap. With old favourites ‘Hell Hole’, ‘Sex Farm’ and superb cameos from Jamie Cullen; on the aptly titled ‘Short and Sweet’, and Jarvis Cocker; on ‘Big Bottomed’, 25 years on, we’re all still laughing with them. Across in the John Peel tent, New Brunswick New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem not only delivered one of the sets of the weekend, but also provided my Glastonbury moment, with a surprise appearance from their hometown hero Bruce Springsteen for ‘The ’59 Sound’. A memory that I, and no doubt The Gaslight Anthem, will not be forgetting in a long time. Equally as rousing, Passion Pit wowed with an energetic set of their indie friendly dance, tracks such as ‘Little Secrets’, ‘Sleepyhead’ and ‘The Reeling’ prompting the biggest responses. Back to the Pyramid, and there was just enough time for Kasabian to swagger on and deliver a typically confident performance of new material including single ‘Fire’ alongside old hits ‘Empire’, ‘Club Foot’ and ‘L.S.F.’ before Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band delivered what can only be described as a phenomenal two hour and a half hour set. Mixing new tracks and covers, alongside with his vast back catalogue of hits saw The Boss effortlessly own the Pyramid. ‘No Surrender’ saw a guest appearance from The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon, whilst old favourites ‘Thunder Road’, ‘The River’, ‘Born To Run’, ‘Glory Days’ and closer ‘Dancing In The Dark’ all enjoyed spirited airings. Unquestionably THE greatest rock n’ roll band on the planet.

With a night of partying up at either the Trash City or the Shangri La fields taking its toll on most campers, The Easy Star All-Stars provided the perfect cure to any Sunday morning hangovers. Performing dub reggae covers of The Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, tracks such as ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ and ‘A Day In The Life’ got the final day to a great start. Sadly, next on the Pyramid Status Quo couldn’t quite channel the same magic, playing a set favouring fans rather than a festival crowd. Art Brut impressed on the Other Stage, followed by the always superb Brand New, complete with a special acoustic cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘Oh Comely’ thrown in by frontman Jesse Lacey after the regular set. Sadly, despite their best efforts Enter Shikari didn’t go down quite as well, but then again, Glastonbury was never going to be an easy gig for the St Albarns quartet. In the battle of the quirky frontwomen the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O was triumphant over Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan: O’s eccentricity and seemingly limitless energy winning over Khan’s more brooding presence. Two highly enjoyable sets in their own right regardless. Next up, Bon Iver delivered an utterly breathtaking outing. Whilst the likes of ‘Skinny Love’ and ‘Flume’, were performed as delicately as on record, tracks such as ‘Creature Fear’ and closer ‘The Wolves (Act I and Act II)’ were reinforced by a backing band, adding a new dimension and intensity to the songs. All that was left was for Blur’s reunion on the Pyramid. With hits from every era of the bands evolution, a guest appearance from Phil Daniels on ‘Parklife’ and most importantly a genuine sense of joy to be back together coming across from Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave alike; which saw Damon burst into tears at one point, whilst they might not have not conquered the Pyramid quite as effortlessly as Springsteen, there’s no denying they brought the festival to a glorious finale.

Equally exhilarating and exhausting, Glastonbury is the ultimate festival experience, taking both the good and bad elements to their extremes. Whilst it might not be one you want to put yourself through every year; there were certainly far too many people there for my liking, rest assured when you do, the extra effort is rewarded with memories that will no doubt last a lifetime. With the next year’s festival billed as a 40th birthday celebration, expect just about anything.

Wed 24 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

Wonder what I caught? Well now, in my usual post-Glastonbury high, I will tell you :)

Friday 26th June

Björn Again
Gabriella Cilmi
Regina Spektor
The Virgins
V.V. Brown
White Lies
Lady Gaga*
The Ting Tings
Bloc Party

Saturday 27th June
Rolf Harris
Tinariwen
Eagles of Death Metal
Spinal Tap
The Script
Dizzee Rascal
The Gaslight Anthem
Passion Pit
Kasabian
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Sunday 28th June
In Case of Fire
Status Quo
Brand New
Enter Shikari
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Madness
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds*
The Wombats
BLUR

So the ones in bold are the ones which I thought were great or pure, unedited totally awesome. Those starred were either shocking or very disappointing. It's a shame that there was so much on that I managed to miss, as well as the other stage running 30 mins earlier on Sunday, and I only stuck to the main stages this year, but I saw some great stuff.

The Gaslight Anthem (as well as with Bruce) were incredible, especially on The '59 Sound, but as usual (like The Who two years ago) it was Sunday's headliners that delivered the most spine chillingly amazing festival performance. All I can say is that won't be leaving me in a hurry. Particular highlights were the crowd singing along to Tender and Phil Daniels on Parklife.

Honourable mentions go to Regina Spektor, whose new stuff sounded great in the mid-day rain on Friday, White Lies' cover of Dancing in the Dark as well as there own set, The Virgins' Rich Girls, Kasabian on Fire and the sing along I started in the absence of Born in the U.S.A.

So as you can see, I am actually struggling to pin it down to a couple of moments, it was just so brilliant. So you've seen my list, you've read my highlights, tell me, who should I have seen?