fuck off
Saw
Mik Artistic on thursday, he's always good entertainment. Baggy Mondays tent was ridiculous, they had no security when it started so everybody just pushed their way in, it was a massive cock fest and you couldn't get out if you wanted to. As much as I love those old tunes I don't really need to fight for an hour and a half to hear songs by Northside & Black Grape.
Started Friday off by meeting up with Tom & watching the mighty
Beady Eye. They did a greatest hits set, was about as good as you could hope for an 11am start, Bell was running the show. Saw
The Hives which were great high energy fun. I always see them as a bit of a novelty act but they really smashed their set. Went over the to West Holts for
Goat, it was the bollocks though it felt wrong seeing them in daylight, I wish I'd caught their late night show as with the lights & whatnot I think they'd of been even better, great to finally see them though. Next up were
The Black Angels in the Williams Green tent which is my new favourite part of glasto. They were decent, I only really care for the first album stuff so it was a mixed bag for me. Went down to the Pyramid as everyone I was with wanted to see the Vaccines, I do quite like them but 5 songs in it sounded flat as fuck and I was surrounded by squares so I "did a Sam" & just fucked everyone off and went to the park to see
Dinosaur .Jr who were fucking superb. It was loud as fuck and towards the end the crowd were going mental which I didn't expect from one of their gigs. I'd seen them before stood at the back of Ally Pally but this was a whole new experience. Can see myself really digging into their back catalogue after that now.
Met up with everyone again for
Seasick Steve, he had John Paul Jones in his band & now has the tunes/back-up needed to pull off larger crowds, I enjoyed it.
Was hammered after this, I couldn't be arsed with going to the Pyramid again for Arctic Monkeys & as much as I'd like to see Portishead live it would've been a real mood killer so we ended up seeing
Nile Rodgers & Chic which was without a doubt the highlight of the festival. Just one big party from start to finish, hit after hit, the whole crowd into it, just about as much fun as you could have at a gig.
Finished the night of in some tent listening to old school garage music
then met Seasick Steve on the way for a piss & finished the night off at the wine-bar with a string of Oasis & Stones tunes, a fucking fantastic first day.
Saturday started in Williams Green for
THE OTHERS, I'm not kidding, they were actually fucking good. I turned up just to hear William & Lacky but the new material all sounded really promising & I thought they were excellent. Went over to the park to see
Ed Harcourt as the bird loves him. I think I owe Sam an apology, I've started to realise the power of the park. There crowd was small, loads of space, the sun was shining up and over, it was beautiful. As the years go on I'm enjoying Ed Harcourt's music more & more too, lovely set. I made my 2nd trip to the Pyramid stage to catch
Elvis Costello who I've recently been getting into, got a spot near the front to the left, once again it was flat as fuck. By this point I'd had enough, did another Sam and fucked off quickly to the park to see
Rodriquez, I can't say the performance was anything special but it was just lovely to see the man in the flesh. He had to be helped on stage by his wife & daughter & when he finally spoke I felt a bit emotional. His band drowned his guitar playing out probably due to it being out of time, he still had the voice though & despite it not being a great performance it felt kind of special. Was debating whether to go Public Enemy over the Stones all day, in the end I just couldn't not see the Stones. By the time they came on we were all shitfaced, we were quite far back but directly under a speaker so the sound was loud, I couldn't tell you if they were any good, it could of been a CD playing for all we knew but they got the hits out & a great time was had. In the Stones defence, I watched back the TV coverage and they started the coverage from an odd part in the set when they dropped 3 or 4 of the lesser hits that outstay their welcome, for the most part the set was pretty much what you'd want. Fucking Mick Taylor too!
Sunday we took it easy at the start of the day. Caught
I Am Kloot, the sun was out and it was lovely. Wish they'd play more early stuff but I still really enjoy their past two records so it wasn't a big deal. Had nothing planned after so ended up sitting in the sun and watching
Kenny Rogers, it was pure cheese but we had a good time for what it was worth. Next saw
Public Service Broadcasting who were fucking excellent in the Williams Green tent. I'd recommend people checking them out, I was surprised at just how well it worked live as I imagined them as a bedroom project that wouldn't translate that well as a live show but they smashed it.
Was caught in a dilemma the entire weekend about what to do next, Nick Cave VS Smashing Pumpkins VS Evan Dando. I'd heard Barny & Jamie say how Cave was disappointing earlier in the year & being the Pyramid stage I decided against it (though the TV footage I saw looked superb). Smashing Pumpkins I'd want to hear 7 songs and not give a shit about the rest so I ended up going Evan Dando & I'm so glad I went. Rushed there thinking it may be hard to get into the Avalon tent as its only small, 5 minutes before he was due on and it was almost empty. He came on & does what he does best, just rolled out tune after tune after tune. Did a few covers & stuff but also provided all the classics. I know he's only really ever come up with about 25 great tunes but they are all pretty much my favourite songs of all time. He got a half decent crowd in the end, maybe 400 people but it still felt intimate for a festival. Then towards the end of the set he brings out FUCKING
BONEHEAD, I think I lost my voice shouting
They did Ray & Into Your Arms, it was magical.
Annoyingly there wasn't a great deal on Sunday headline spots, Fri/Sat had plenty of alternatives but the only one which appealed was
bobby Womack. It was literally a set of two halves. The first he did with Damon Albarn where they performed his latest record which I do quite like but it failed to grab the large crowd. Then after about 8 songs he went off and they set up an entire new band for 15 minutes, it really dragged. He came back all in red with a new band and did his more classic soul material & smashed it. He still has a solid voice & one of the backup singers he had with him had possibly the best voice I've ever heard live, she was sensational. Overall a good set even if it was patchy. He's on at Latitude, I'll definitely turn up after he's finished his set with Albarn.
Overall a great weekend, it makes me laugh coming up reading peoples updates on facebook who wasn't there saying its shit 'a rock festival with Dizzee Rascal', of course the BBC TV coverage is shit. Next time I go I might completely avoid the pyramid stage. somehow I never went to the John Peel once this year, usually it's where I spend most my time though it seems the Peel, Williams Green & The Park have the same kind of acts on these days & are even better stages.
Luckily there was only mud Thursday night & Friday, it all dried up and you could sit down and everything which was lovely.
Have never smashed Glastonbury like I did this time, just hit it hard all 5 nights, I got home and half hour later my body just fucking gave up. I've never ached so much in my life, it's fucking Wednesday and I'm still a wreck. Had the shivers, a fever, entire body feels like its been beaten, it's the worst I've ever felt.
