Entertainment For Lively Minds
Report from the front line
Just back from Somerset and have spent a happy hour reading the couch-based views of the Massive.
Just a few random observations, trying to focus on the bits the BBC seemed to miss.
Firstly - Christ, it was hot. And there's not as much shade as you would think. Oh, and the dust... Better than mud though.
I made a conscious decision this year to try and avoid bands that I'd seen before, and to seek out the new. That worked - up to a point.
First thing to say - and I may as well get it out of the way now - is that Richard Thompson is a genius. I know that will come as a shock to most of you, but last night's set in the Acoustic Tent was sublime - just him and his guitar. First time I've seen the man live and so, so much better than he comes across to me on record. A blubby bit when he called Teddy up on stage to duet with him as well. *sniff*.
Another blubby bit when Willie did the Pet Shop Boys song. I know he was singing and playing to two completely different click tracks, but that was all part of the charm, surely? He slaughtered 'Crazy', though. But then he's allowed.
Mixed reports on Gorillaz from the Massive, but as I wandered down to the main stage to catch the end of their set (after seeing the magnificent Broken Bells in The Park) people were leaving in droves. You'd have thought the set had finished, even though they could only have been halfway through. I suspect that the current show isn't mainstream enough for a festival crowd and whilst we might stand there and go 'That's Lou Reed! That's Mark E Smith! That's Sean Ryder!", 90% of the crowd are going 'Who are all these old shouty blokes? Where's Snoop? When's he going to play that one with the zombies?"
Anyway. In the 'old punks still carrying the torch' category, Gang of Four delivered big time. We got Damaged Goods, Love Like Anthrax, At Home She's a Tourist, Love a Man in Uniform, as well as some microwave carnage (with a big stick) and guitar butchery. Lovely. Stranglers played a greatest hits set, and the Bloke Who Isn't Hugh Cornwell did a very good (if bald) impression of the Bloke Who Is Hugh Cornwell.
Johnny Marr is still the coolest person in the world and how he ended up with an identikit band of three-chord shouty punks like The Cribs is beyond me. It's like Lionel Messi signing for Bolton. Be Safe is a good festival song though, even if it sounds like it belongs with a completely different band.
Mumford and Sons were wonderful, even from six feet outside the John Peel tent (when did they suddenly become so popular?), Temper Trap less so. Two Door Cinema Club (championed on here a while ago by Leedsboy, I think) were bouncy, poppy and ace. The band Vampire Weekend could only hope to be.
Oh, and The Hold Steady. I know they divide opinion, but live, at a festival, in the sunshine, Craig Finn grinning from ear to ear and dancing his little gimpy dance, they are just the best thing ever.
Loads more to talk about, but enough of my yakkin...
Any other despatches from the frontline?
- More from Paul Waring.
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"Willie did the Pet Shop Boys song"
I really, really hope that was posted with a wink. (Or did he do West End Girls and I missed it?)
You're forgiven though, Paul, in view of your "two completely different click tracks" comment. And indeed "Messi signing for Bolton." Genius.
No, I really like it when established artists do covers...
...it was the same a few years ago, when John Fogerty did the Quo's 'Rockin' All Over The World'.
But the Pet Shop Boys line was indeed a joke. Everyone knows Elvis wrote it.
;-)
I love covers too
I like winks even more.
Relieved yours was (two of) the latter.
Nice review
I wasn't there, but the best thing I saw on the TV coverage all weekend was Mumford & Sons, they seemed to really get the crowd going. Agree with your comments re Johnny Marr, I saw him playing with Crowded House and the guy still looks as cool as an iceberg!
Keep saying I'll reach Glastonbury one year, I should really try next year.Missed Sunday's coverage, so will catch up on that tonight and no doubt the ever expanding Stevie Wonder!
Right, a few pictures:
The coolest man in rock:
Father and son:
The other coolest man in rock:
Lots more at http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/BluePaul/Glastonbury%202010/
The Gallery
Nice pictures Paul, I saw Detroit Social Club a couple of years ago and thought they rocked.
Well done Paul
It's always good to hear from people who have been there. Although if my years(and there were ten+)at glastonbury serve me well the best moments were always away from the main events and in some little space away from the mainstream. Has it all changed now and lost that element?
The best moments are still in the margins
The Pyramid acts tend to be mainstream, bombastic and watched by the (dare I say undiscerning?) masses.
For me, I'd rather be on the barrier at The Park Stage watching Broken Bells with a few hundred (committed) others, than watching Gorillaz play to 100,000 largely bemused and bored people where all you can really see are images on a big screen.
So the highlights for me tend to be where I could get up close and personal with proper fans - George Clinton on the JazzWorld stage, Richard Thompson in the Acoustic Tent, Gang of Four in the John Peel Tent, I am Kloot in the Queens Head. Even (perhaps especially) The Hold Steady at the front of a largely bemused Other Stage.
Glastonbury is still great - when you make it *your* Glastonbury. The BBC version bears no relation at all to the Glasto that I go to.
Florence and the Machine? Who they?
My Glastonbury
I was going to start a thread, but Paul obviously got home before me....!
I wholeheartedly agree that the best stuff always happens at the margins and that's where I like to be. I guess that I get a slightly different experience as I work at the festival and as a result I get to see some behind the scenes stuff and meet and hang out with some of the performers.
Highlights
Mumford and Sons - I couldn't get inside the tent, so stood out in the sunshine, but the atmosphere carried out from the tent - was it the sun, suntan lotion in my eye, or did the occasion just get to me? The latter, I think - what a gig!
Imelda May - never seen her before, but went on the very strong recommendation of a work colleague and was very glad I did.
Vampire Weekend were pleasant and uplifting and perfect for the sunny weather.
Filthy Frank Olivier in the Cabaret Tent - filthy innuendo and astounding card tricks - he even got my wife up on stage and sucked her (very grimy) toes and videoed himself doing it.
The Early Edition with Marcus Brigstock, Rufus Hound, et al. It was sweltering in the Cabaret Tent and somehow Rufus ended up bollock naked on stage.
Watching The Egg play at the Rabbit Hole at 4.30am on Sunday morning, glad that there were plenty of poles to lean against. The only gig that I have been to where the backs of people's heads are illuminated by the rising sun outside the tent. I didn't stay for all of the gig and neither did anyone else - it wasn't anything to do with The Egg who sounded fantastic - it was just that everyone was dead on their feet.
Climbing the Ribbon Tower (with the Egg playing in the background) and looking out over the early morning view of the festival.
Seeing Gomez on the Avalon Stage. Hey, they're still good!
The Grease singalong at Sensation Seekers Stage with Barbara Nice - absolutely hilarious. I also had the pleasure of camping next to Barbara (real name Janice) and I hope that she'll be invited back.
Mundo Jazz on the Blazing Saddle Stage - we came away with a Scouse hubcap (it relates to their song, Scally Scally Scouse written in honour of the City of Culture 2008 - sample lyric: You wear your trackie bottoms to a wedding/even though you've never been on a track in your life/ You take your kids to Lidl just to slap them/ your sister is your mother and your wife).
Late night cocktails in an illicit drinking den (can't say where - need to make sure it happens again next year), whilst being entertained by a succession of very talented people sitting just 3 feet away from me.
Early hours of Monday morning in the Theatre and Circus Green Room Bar dancing like a fool to Zimbabwean band Zambula - get that booty shaken!
Hanging out with fellow Sensation Seekers Stage workers on Monday morning - the only chance we get to chill out with each other, because it's busy all the way up to and throughout the festival.
Lowlights
Gorillaz - just too clinical and lacking any heart and soul. When U2 pulled out, I was glad and was looking forward to it, but thinking about it, for a main stage headliner you need a band where everyone knows a lot of their songs. We left around the time Shaun Ryder hit the stage and went and had a cup of tea and some cake and listened to an acoustic duo instead.
Congestion around Shanghri-La and Arcadia - on Thursday night we got into an unpleasant crush trying to get out of the Unfair Ground and up to the railway track. The crush was so tight, it was hard to breathe and I was fearful that someone would either fall over or panic. Not good and they need to do something about this area - it is potentially very dangerous.
Graffiti on the new bridge dedicated to Bella Churchill - what are some people like?
Toilets - generally these are better than they were, but people's habits are getting worse - you are supposed to shit down the hole in the toilet, not behind the seat or outside the toilet. Filthy pigs.
Conclusion
Probably the best one yet. See you next year!