Yes I too was disappointed by the level of negativity in the Glastonbury thread. I thought this year's festival was far better than last year and I don't know if there has been a better one in recent memory. I enjoyed most of what I saw on TV (which was pretty much everything that was broadcast). Pendulum, Hockey and Florence & The Machine were new to me and I will investigate their output further. I thought it was a particularly good year for the women, with great and varied contributions from the aforementioned Florence, Lily, Gaga, Karen O, Natasha Khan and Katie White. All of the "comebacks" delivered the goods and Blur in particular were magnificent, delivering the perfect climax to the weekend.

The BBCs presenters rightly received a lot of stick for their uncritical approach, overhyping and lousy interview techniques. However, there were notable exceptions and as this is the positive thread I would like to hand bouquets to the "A team" of Lauren Laverne and Mark Radcliffe, who were knowledgeable, witty and good company. Laverne was also part of the 6 Music team who did a good job throughout the weekend.

Now about those bloody flags...

Pendulum. Sat through their show broadcast on BBC 3 on Sunday and was quite taken. My wife, who is a chart pop person most of the time (with occasional dips into Crowded House and the Foo Fighters),was sat next to me on the sofa browsing on the laptop not paying much attention.

"Who are they?" she said as she looked up at the televison eventually. I told her and awaited the flared nostrils of disapproval, the Metallica/Prodigy type noises bouncing around the living room.

"Quite good aren't they!" she demurred.

Feather/knock down scenario ensued.

Very pleased to see Quo, on the iplayer highlights I saw, play tons of early '70's material. Softer Ride, Big Fat Mama, Little Lady and so on.

The Specials too. Thrilling to see them in such obvious form.

I too thought the amount of people slagging off Neil Young was a bit extreme. Yes he was a bit volatile, but then he always has been and always will be (see "Chrome Dreams II"). And he did a beautiful rendition of "The Needle And The Damage Done"

Blur were outstanding. I found it all a bit emotional when they did "Parklife" tracks like "Badhead" and "Jubilee". Classic.

The Temper Trap did a song called "Sweet Disposition" that Zane introduced us to. They were a nice discovery.

The Prodigy were spot on. Only saw three songs, but they were outstanding live, as always.

Franz Ferdinand seemed to have found the "Rock" button and used it to great effect.

Hot 8 Brass Band performing backstage was superb.

And I found I could actually handle Lady Gaga, it didn't make me retch like I thought it would. Though I still don't "get" Friendly Fires who were apparently amazing, but sounded like a deaf cat stuck in a tin can to me.

Good Glastonbury viewing.

I posted this across the way on the Glastonbury thread, can I add some more?

Madness (siply brilliant)
Roots Manuva (genuinely enjoying himself)
Khaled (again, just brilliant)
Blur (hit, after hit, after hit)
Springsteen (see summation of M.Manuva)
CS&N
The Gaslight Anthem (brilliant)
Stornoway (BBC backstage)
Dizzee Rascal (had Glastonbury also got a roof for its main arena like the other sporting/ cultural landmark of British life in June/ July, he would have ripped the 'sucka' right off
Bats for Lashes - again, brilliant

Can I also say that what united all these acts was the unmistakeable sense that they were enjoying it as much as the crowd - unlike much of the indie landf... sorry, let's not get into that one again.

Madness. Absolutely joyful.

Neil Young.

Crosby Stills & Nash.

Springsteen.

...just got back yesterday and spent an enjoyable few hours reading the Glastonbury thread on here. It seems to me that there is a massive difference in the experience from 'being there' to 'watching on the telly' - not saying that one is intrinsically better than the other, just that the experience is different.

Anyway - highlights for me:

Neil Young - completely different to the blogged TV experience for me, I thought he was wonderful throughout. The opening My, My, Hey, Hey was superb and overall I thought he paced the show well, mixing some quieter stuff (Needle, Heart of Gold) well into a generally grunged-up set. Ok, he never knows when to bring a song to a close but I thought the 'Free World' 5x ending worked really well in the context of the show. The 'Day in the Life' encore was very powerful as well. Oh, and honourable mention for the young lad stood in front of me who confidently told his gf that it was a 'Bowie' song...

Broooce - agree totally that Bruce misjudged his audience and the setlist. If ever a performance cried out for a 'greatest hits' set it was this one and he failed to deliver on that score. Faultless from an energy perspective and he just about pulled it round by the end - for those with the perseverence to get through the early part of the set. Also, certainly from where I was stood (stage right, 30 or so yards back) the sound mix was terrible - far too much bass.

Passed on Blur on the Sunday to go to the Acoustic tent to see firstly Roger McGuinn deliver a wonderful solo set, great songs and wonderful guitar playing interspersed with fascinating stories of the songs' genesis. Then, a slightly grumpy Georgie Fame and his band gave us an hour of jazz, blues and swing to round the festival off nicely. Good to see the old boy close up - and my, he knows how to play a Hammond!

Most enjoyable performance of the festival though was The Gaslight Anthem, even without the unexpected appearance of The Boss. A joyous performance from a band who will surely be massive.

Some good 'special' performances on the Park Stage - Hot Rats (2/3 of Supergrass) delivered a nice set of cover versions to a slightly bemused (but quickly won over) crowd, and Dead Weather thrashed away very entertainingly for an hour or so. Is there anything Jack White can't turn his hand to?

Surprise of the festival - Speed Caravan on the Jazz World. Algerian band playing electric oud and making a hell of a racket! This lot need further investigation....

Mentions in despatches - Specials, Madness, CSN, Eagles of Death Metal, the Tap, Nick Cave, Emiliana Torrini, James Hunter, Easy Star All-Stars, Jones the Voice....

All in all, a great few days, no real let-downs...but Dizzee Rascal? Bit shouty, isn't it?

but are Madness reaching that point where they should be referred to as National Treasures. No chance they'd fit likenesses of all seven on that fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, is there? Naturally in the seminal 'leaning back' formation.

I starting watching it this morning... I still don't understand why people like him. Honestly. Lots of energy, shame about the tunes.

Had they done "Streets of Philedelphia", I may have watched, but to me it just seemed like a horny uncle playing fairly decent pub rock.

Apologies.

Were all great from where I was sitting in my front room

(admittedly governed by the limited time I had in front of the box):

* Lady GaGa - real star, great songs
* Status Quo - does..says..tin.
* Tender & Beetlebum by Blur. I never liked their gawd-blimey-cuppa-tea-guv stuff at the time or now.
* Raveonettes - proper band, not another Amy Duffy wannabe as I had thought, loved their acoustic song in tent.
* The Ting Tings - style and substance.
* Delilah and Amarillo.

From my lounge:

Ting Tings
Neil Young
Specials
La Roux

um...that's it

Lowlights

Everything else...

If ever a band is unsuited to stadiums or outdoor festivals, it's Bruce and the E Street Band. I love them to death but they are, in essence, a bar band. A good time boogie band. Absolutely brilliant in an indoor setting no bigger than 10,000. The dynamic and half the sound gets lost in enormodomes.

Personal highlights for me were

The Ting Tings
Dizzee Rascal (everyone was enjoying themselves so much!)
Gaslight Anthem
Lily Allen

and most of all and surprisingly, Blur. They were brilliant and exceeded all our expectations. Seemed to play Country House out of suffering but other than that - jaw dropping and a pitch perfect set list (Landau/Springsteen take note!)

Due to Sky+ and iPlayer, I am still valiantly wading through the sea of musical eye candy.

So today I watched the Dizzee Rascal / Kasabian show - Dizzee was top notch, I even managed to not cringe during "Dance Wiv Me". Kasabian were blander than I had first thought. And the two best tracks "Fire" and "LSF" were shown at other times during the weekend. Crazy.

Also, on iPlayer, watched the show with the Ting Tings, Bloc Party and Doves. Oh my, they were all outstanding performances. Matt Tong is possibly the best drummer ever. Seriously, watch the band play through "Hunting For Witches", and "Mercury". Outstanding. Ting Tings really got the crowd going.

As you can tell, I had a lazy day at the sett...