dave-boy's Last.fm Journal

Glastonbury 2010

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:35:47 +0000

Wed 23 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2010

Wednesday

For Glastonbury 2009 I had the relative luxury of a campervan. But for 2010, in order to experience the full festival experience, myself and my fellow glastonaut decided to camp in tents. So at 1:00am on Wednesday morning I was collected from home for the four hour drive to Somerset to be at the gates in good time for the 8:00am opening. Once in and tents set (all quite straightforward) we set-off to explore the site and to prepare ourselves for the England vs. Slovenia game being shown at the Pyramid stage.

The Pyramid arena was very busy and obviously many had turned up early to watch the game and savour the atmosphere. A fairly solid 1-0 win was the result, but I felt at this stage against the smallest country in the tournament, that the writing was on the wall for England.

The festival proper does not really start until Friday, so for the remainder of the day we wandered and eventually made our way back to camp for a BBQ and to meet our new tented neighbours . . . . .

Thursday

Feeling energised from our previous night’s dinner of beer, sausages and burgers (!) we decided to explore the site from venue to venue, which according to my friends pedometer, was approximately 11 miles. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we filled up the cool box with ice and beer and commenced our tour of duty.

A few acts were planned from around 4:00pm on Thursday, but we found the venues to be packed. We eventually made our way to the Dance Village as Boy George was set to perform but we left before he made the stage. He apparently walked on stage around an hour late, but no great loss really.

Friday

First on the ironic front for us to see was Rolf Harris. Personally I can’t see the appeal, but my fellow glastonaut seemed to enjoy the performance! Perhaps it was the early morning beer/sunshine combination?

We went our separate ways at this stage as I wanted to see Corinne Bailey Rae who, in my humble opinion, was great; she sings like an angel. Perfectly laid back sunny afternoon music, and surprisingly, a drum solo too!

I’m not a fan of gangsta rap, but Snoop Dogg was very good. He is a consummate performer who seemed to have the huge crowd in the palm of his hands. Again, the laid back music and laconic rapping suited the sunny day perfectly.

However, mid-set I dashed off to see one of my favourites, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly in the small but packed LeftField tent. It was a performance full of energy and one of the highlights of my weekend; I actually got to see the whites of their eyes, not on a screen half a mile away :-)

Another dash finds me at the Acoustic tent to see McIntosh Ross. Not a packed tent this time as I think most of the site were either watching Florence + the Machine or Vampire Weekend on the main stages. At Glastonbury there are so many clashes to contend with but I was pleased with my choice as the ex-Deacon Blue kingpins were superb and sitting in the shade was a bonus too.

Up to The Park stage next for the mystery special guest slot, I was obviously not the only curious one, since thousands of festival goers were headed in the same direction.

This was the best view of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead I could get:-

Hearing Karma Police and Street Spirit (Fade Out) were well worth the trek up the hill though.

Next up for me were Gorillaz. Now I like Gorillaz and love all three albums, but I don’t really think they worked as a headlining act on the Pyramid Stage. Barring a few technical glitches the show was good, but seemed a little too down tempo and fractured for a festival slot. I think this may have been a common viewpoint since a steady flow of people left the arena throughout the hour we spent there.

Good news though: there was a back-up plan since The Flaming Lips were performing on the other stage so we made the walk there. Full of energy and trippy vibes, Wayne Coyne and co. were on top form and, of course, have the most upbeat song about death as a finale:-

In hindsight, I managed to squeeze quite a lot into Friday and less on the subsequent days. I’ll not complain about the hot weather, but I do think it managed to sap my energy eventually.

Saturday

I’m not a late sleeper, so I was down to the other stage at 11:00am to catch a recent favourite of mine Two Door Cinema Club. We enjoyed a good (albeit nervous) performance from the band to a surprisingly large crowd basking in another day of uncharacteristic festival sun.

We stayed at the other stage for Reef who have reformed in 2010 for a few shows including Glastonbury. Most of the crowd stood up for Put Your Hands On and then sat down again. I have to say they sounded a little jaded and somewhat dated.

Not much that caught my attention in the afternoon, so I sat on the grass and listened to Seasick Steve and The Dead Weather. I particularly enjoyed Jack White’s band, he truly is a multi-talented musician and a much better percussionist than his sister ;-)

Then another dash up to The Park for Saturday’s special guests Biffy Clyro which was probably the worst kept secret of the weekend. The band were great though and pulled a huge crowd. After the majority had dispersed I had some time to kill so stuck around and saw Candi Staton who I have to say was brilliant; sometimes it’s seeing artists unplanned that provides a pleasant surprise.

I was off to see Muse next who turned in a fine headline set on the Pyramid stage, although I was disappointed when they didn’t arrive in a spaceship (as had been rumoured). Perhaps the comparisons with U2’s infamous lemon would have been too much for their special guest?

I know I’m biased, but I think the Edge showing up and performing with Muse was illuminating in that it showed what the festival missed on the Friday night due to U2’s unfortunate cancellation. In my opinion, headlining acts these days need such familiar anthems.

Exhausted after another day of dashing around in the heat, we retreated to camp. One year I will check out the night time venues, when I have the legs for it :-)

Sunday

Sunday for me was dominated by the World Cup match against Germany. Glastonbury Festival kindly arranged a big screen in a field and I wasted much of the day there (along with ~50,000 others) watching a disappointing, underperforming, shameful England team.

I had planned to see Crystal Castles, Faithless and Empire of the Sun but a combination of heat, exhaustion, football disappointment and my fellow glastonaut being poorly meant that the wise choice was to head home early.

I was glad to be home for a shower and to shave the beard off!

We certainly had a great weekend, so until next time . . . . . . .

Dave :)

Ps – I’ve heard that U2 may headline the Pyramid on the Saturday 2011 ;-)

Glastonbury 2009

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:54:46 +0000

Wed 24 Jun – Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

Thursday

First off, I should mention that it’s been many years since I’ve been to a festival, so I wasn't sure what to expect or whether the discomfort of camping etc. would be detrimental to my enjoyment.

Glastonbury is around 5 hours drive from where I live, and I set off with my three fellow Glastonbury virgins at 9:30am on Thursday. The trip to the West Country was used to debate who we would like to see, and what clashes of favourite acts were likely. There were many decisions to make . . . . .

We arrived at around 3:00pm on a very warm Somerset afternoon, pitched two tents next to our campervan and set off to the site to check things out.

In the weeks leading up to the festival I was constantly reminded by people of the poor weather that the festival has experienced over the years.

Somewhat inevitably, four hours later we were walking back to our camp in a thunderstorm!

Friday was therefore set to deliver us three things: the proper start to the festival, rain until early afternoon and muddy conditions . . . . . .

Friday

Wellies on, we set off to the site early in the afternoon.

After some wandering, we ended up at the Jazz World stage (unplanned) to see The Hot 8 Brass Band. They’re not really my thing, but sitting with a beer watching the world go by was pleasant enough.

From here onwards there was a plan, and I set off to see White Lies on the Other Stage who turned out a workman-like performance and warmed to their task as their set gained momentum.

Off next to see Lily Allen on the Pyramid Stage as one of our party was keen to see her perform. This area was extremely busy for the popular British Singer and she was surprisingly good and the huge crowd were very appreciative. On the downside, it was impossible to get a beer!

I stayed at the Pyramid Stage for The Specials whom I’ve always liked. They were very good and livened up when the brass section joined them mid-set.

I had to skip the end of The Specials performance for a dash to the Jazz World stage to see The Streets, another favourite of mine. Mike Skinner was on top form and the band also did a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, which was a nice touch.

Around 12:30am, after lots of music, beer, food, mud and laughter, we set off to our camp to retire for the evening. . . .

Saturday

We began the day with purpose as I wanted to see Blue Roses play at midday in one of the smaller venues, The Queen’s Head. We enjoyed another fine performance if a little short at around 35 minutes.

I then tried to meet friends at the Jazz World Stage who were watching Rolf Harris but I couldn’t get anywhere near as the area was so busy. We therefore arranged to meet at The Other Stage as they wanted to see Jason Mraz and The Script and I had nothing planned for a couple of hours. They were both pleasant enough, although not really my thing, but the sun was out and all was good with the world.

Back to the plan: next stop Gaslight Anthem at The John Peel Tent. There was a great atmosphere in the tent, a fantastic performance by the band and a surprise guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen for The 59 Sound.

On the way back we stopped off at the Dance Village which consists of four separate dance marquees:-

A gap in proceedings for dinner and rest and we were off to the Pyramid for a sing- along with Kasabian. Cut Off was especially good and with the sun setting behind the stage creating an atmospheric setting:-

We stayed at the Pyramid for the start of Bruce Springsteen and watched for around 5 songs before returning to our plans to see The Wonder Stuff play at the Avalon stage, which is one of the smaller venues at the festival. One thing that struck me was the fact that we had left probably 60,000 people watching The Boss to see The Wonder Stuff play in front of around 1,000 people. Anyway the atmosphere, a few beers, the late slot (11:15pm) and sing-along favourites such as Don't Let Me Down made for a real party in the Avalon tent. Definitely a good decision and one of my Glastonbury highlights.

Back to camp with doughnuts on the way completed Saturday for us . . . . . . . .

Sunday

I had a late start to the day due to feeling quite tired by this stage. However, after a couple of isotonic sausage sandwiches giving me the lift required to open a can of Becks, I was ready to wander down to the site for around 2:00pm!

Enter Shikari at the Other Stage were first on our plans. Technical problems delayed the start of the set which resulted in their slot being cut short. This was a shame since they were on good form, although I felt they played too many unfamiliar tracks from their new album for a festival set.

We stayed at the Other Stage for the start of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs . As you will see, Karen O was wearing a quite bizarre stage costume:-

Sunday was full of clashes for me. I’d like to have seen Bat for Lashes, but Madness edged it so we headed off to the Pyramid to catch their set. I’ve seen Madness a few times before and their set of classic pop hits were interspersed with a couple of tracks from their (highly recommended) new album. Their children coming on stage to dance during Night Boat To Cairo was a fitting end to a fine sing-along set.

Sunday evening produced a three-way clash for me: Blur, The Prodigy and Echo And The Bunnymen all on at the same time. I’ve seen the Bunnymen several times over the years, most recently in Liverpool last December, so the reformed Blur got my vote.

Blur were fantastic. The best performances are those when time seems to fly by and this was one of those occasions. The Universal was a highlight for me. Parklife with Phil Daniels was pretty good too:-

There were so many highlights over the weekend, just wandering around we came across some really interesting stuff:-

We had a fantastic time, so until next year . . . .

Dave :)

Ps – I’ve heard that U2 may headline the Pyramid in the Saturday 2010 ;-)