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
East 17
25 June, 2009
Knowing that I’m never going to be arriving in time for Maxïmo Park opening the festival, I start off at The Queen’s Head for Alessi’s Ark. When I dragged friends to her show at the Camden Crawl, they swiftly complained of “more bloody folk music” and disappeared off to eat a burger, leaving me apologising for the noise they had made. This time however they are sticking around longer than a minute and her short set is winning over a couple of people who were waiting in line for cheeseburgers that day. They’re impressed with the unexpected power of her full band on tracks like ‘Glendora’, and as much as I love the gentler moments like The Horse I agree with them.
Having already been there once only to be told they’d be on at half ten instead, we head up to the Dance Lounge for East 17. Even without Tony Mortimer, they are decidedly poor. They had people wanting to hear their biggest hits and like any band would they left ‘Stay Another Day’, ‘Alright’ and ‘If You Ever’ (I’d forgotten that this song isn’t all that bad) to the end. They’ve had a dozen top 10s to choose from yet they still plumped for songs so obscure that even those equipped with banners shrugged. Bizarre call-and-response and wisdom on the BNP gives the whole thing an air of a student’s union gig, frankly. The only really memorable thing about the set is that the story about Michael Jackson’s death birthed itself as an SMS and Twitter rumour, and by the time we get halfway back to our tents, it’s been confirmed. … Continue Reading
Glastonbury, née the Mississippi
Please follow us, if you aren’t already. The Muso’s Guide Twitter can be found by clicking anywhere in aforementioned three words.
Spoilers so far revealed are as such: Klaxons are guesting at the Park Stage on Friday. As well as that excitement, there’s of course some other special as-yet-unannounced guests on Friday, a massive name who Emily Eavis says would cause a humongous health and safety risk if revealed.
The only way to find out (well, the best way…) is to, you guessed it, follow us. So do it now.
Review coverage and all that jazz shall follow in due course – and let’s be seancing for good weather for our roving reporter, Mitchell Stirling. … Continue Reading
This could've been forever...
SHOCKER: Modern-day Jesus Michael Eavis has told a popular tabloid newspaper that he nearly scrapped Glastonbury! Why? Because it was becoming “too big, too muddy and too horrible”.
Wow.
This stemmed from criticisms that the veteran festival had become too commercial.
“Last year I thought that maybe we’d got to the end and we’d have to bite the bullet and fold it all up. A lot of the bands were saying Glastonbury had become too big, too muddy and too horrible. At one time the bands used to come on board.”
Strange timing considering the success of last year’s Jay-Z-led billing, surely? “I was prepared to walk away. But to come back from the dead of last year to sell out this year is amazing.” … Continue Reading
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