Now that you seem to have stopped finding mud in the most unusual of places and the hangover has finally abated, we thought it was a good time to reflect on last weeekend’s shenanigans down on Worthy Farm. … Continue Reading
It’s official, then. The unseasonable bouts of rain interspersed with occasional, short-lived slivers of sunshine mean only one thing: The festival season is here. Naturally, we at Muso’s Guide are planning a heavy summer knee-deep in marshland in the name of bands we love, something you may already have gathered from our Vodafone VIP Live Blog coverage (more on that here). We have asked our writers to tell us a little about the festivals they’re most excited about this summer, so over the next week you should find yourself well and truly clued up about the enormo-fests as well as the more intimate events.
Clichés aside for a moment, Glastonbury is the festival that needs no introduction. Over the last decade it has boasted of being the world’s best, largest, and greenest festival, and has held homage to some of the planets biggest acts. Three of those acts place their shoes (or six inch heels in the case of Sunday’s headliner) on the iconic Pyramid stage this year; they are U2, Coldplay, and Beyonce. … Continue Reading
Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
2002. The year that Eminem cleaned out his closet, The Streets pushed things forward, Lostprophets’ fakesoundofprogress got a shiny new production job, every other new band was The something and I started college, passed my driving test and went to my first ever festivals. … Continue Reading
U2
Good lord. Bono and his invisible private jet will be landing in Somerset to to play next year’s Glastonbury, breaking away from their north American tour (such selflessness) to help the festival celebrate its 40th anniversary.
So that’s why tickets were released (and sold out) so quickly?
Come on Eavis, tell us some news: “I promised the the best possible line-up for the show next year and the confirmation that U2 will play their first ever Glastonbury – and their first major festival gig since the early 1980s – is fantastic news. “We’ve been trying for years… And now we’ve finally made it happen. I’m sure they will pull out all the stops to make next year’s Glastonbury the most memorable ever.” … Continue Reading
As the festival season draws to its inevitable Tierce de Picardie, we’ve been pondering just why we put ourselves through the whole leaky tent/full-of-disinterested-GFNs (good for nothings)/living-in-squalor thing. Latitude, Indietracks and Glastonbury were all noteworthily awesome this year, but the weather was terminal at the former two. That, and the fact that the first was seeped in totally unatmospheric non-joy, more accurately recalled (in terms of y’know, vibe) by a repeated attempt at avoiding stepping on a small child named Magnolia. And then there was the Camden Crawl but hell, don’t start. So why do we love gigs, festivals and general outdoor music stuff? Why do we go to festivals? Hmm? Here’s just a snapshot: … Continue Reading
After discussing our favourite gigs of 2009 so far, we’ve gotten all nostalgic and decided to reminisce about the first gigs we attended. We’ve been completely honest about it as well – possibly to our detriment. Get the violins out…
Since we’re currently reliving this year’s Glasto with reports from every day of the festival, it feels appropriate that from this morning you can register to attend next year, on the festival’s 40th anniversary, here. That’s just registering mind – there’s no tickets on sale yet or anything. It might be wise to start saving now.
First Aid Kit
Saturday 27 June
We head off to the very top of the festival site to take some early morning shots of the temporary city of Glastonbury below us, except we left camera in tent. A 30-minute walk to fetch it and then rescale the hill serves to use up the time before First Aid Kit’s set up at The Park. We watch transfixed by the harmonies that these two Swedish teenagers wearily (in a good way) sing. We also notice that Elbow’s Guy Garvey just behind us is as impressed by their definitive version of Fleet Foxes‘ ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’ as we are. We are expecting big things from them.
We’re not sure if it’s the potential for seeing a Michael Jackson tribute from Rolf Harris that has seen us arrive at the Jazz World stage; we arrived just in time for Mike Skinner leading The Streets through a version of ‘Billie Jean’ yesterday so who knows. The Aussie does indeed mention him but sticks to his own well-worn song collection, and as we slowly start to fry under the lunchtime sun and some strong cider, we’re all having a good time singing along to ‘Two Little Boys’ and ‘Tie Me Kangaroo Down’. The fact that the compere introduces him by starting a chant of “When I say ‘ROLF’ you say ‘HARRIS’. ROLF” will still amuse me over a week later. … Continue Reading
Slow Club
26 June, 2009
Morning papers are arriving on site to confirm what a few hadn’t believed in the evening, far too many texts, Tweets and calls about MJ meant it was into the Orange Chill ‘n’ Charge tent for a bit while friends go to Dan Black (Their review: Alright). As I cut past the Pyramid Stage, Gabriella Cilmi is on; most of her songs aren’t up to much but she has a voice and style to do more in the long run.
Late lunch is tea, cake and newspaper in The Guardian Lounge waiting for Slow Club. As seems to be customary at their shows, the floor is there to be sat on on ’til Rebecca bosses the crowd on to their feet. In a heroic effort, one guy leads the whole tent in putting on their dancing shoes for ‘Giving Up On Love’, and well done that man. … Continue Reading
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