Glastonbury: Friday
Jul. 2nd, 2008 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lprovenOn the first day, I made copious notes… then on Saturday, my phone died, and I reverted to my old one, so the notes stopped. So you’re only getting much info on the Friday, which will probably come as a relief…
Was it raining? Yes.
Was I damp? Yes.
Was there mud everywhere? Yes.
Was it really a necessary part of the experience? Well, I don’t know about necessary, but it’s part of it all right, definitely.
I spent a lot of time wandering around, exploring, but there was time to catch a few bands. I saw the latter part of the set by Get cape. Wear cape. Fly, which was… average. Not bad, but not inspiring. Much the same goes for Ben Folds - not an especially noteworthy performance.
Then came Hazel O'Connor, who was awesome. It was an astoundingly brave and confident gig – an ’80s electro punk singer's live lineup was guitar, harp & occasionally a didgeridu! Her voice has gone, somewhat – she sounds very Marianne Faithfull now – but the performance was edging on greatness.
And in the interests of fairness, I should point out that I’m not really a fan of any of these acts.
I stayed in the Avalon tent for The Men They Couldn't Hang after O’Connor, but I didn’t stick it out all the way. I found them disappointing: good, polished and practiced, but with their edge gone.
Then over to a different stage for the Blockheads, sans Ian Dury but featuring Phill Jupitus instead. They were good fun. The band was really tight & they go at it with gusto, while PJ doesn't try to be Ian Dury, which I think was the right thing to do.
Then came Sinead O'Connor. Again, I’m not a huge fan – I always found her overly strident – but this set was very good. She looks & sounds exactly the same as ever, really; perhaps a tad broader around the midsection, but then, aren’t we all?
Her vocal delivery was far more polished than of old – her voice doesn't break any more as it used to.
As I expected, it was a non crowd-pleaser set. The 1st half was from her new album Theology, so nobody knew them. But then came a few old ones, including a breathtaking rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U”, but no other hits I knew. (It was enough; it reduced me to tears, as songs often will these days.) It was remarkable, though. Overall maybe a little lacking in affect, in passion, but still very strong.
And I rounded off the evening of gigs with Jimmy Cliff on the Other Stage – an excellent feel-good set of vintage-style reggae & a bit of (to be honest, near-indistinguishable) ska. This man isn’t a household name any more, but many of his songs still are.
The evening ended with a trip to Shangri La, the former Lost Vagueness field, to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mr_flay’s new bullet-catching routine, aided and abetted by “Yussuf”, AKA the other Ed Wills. The bullet catch went well; Edwin’s delivery and style were effective and I thought the crowd responded well. The act was perhaps a little slow-paced – the setup took a while, but Ed filled in the gaps well with patter and silly songs and so on. The actual effect was quite dramatic. A definite success.
Finally, in the relatively tiny space of Café Dada, came a short set by Hayseed Dixie. This was, to coin a phrase, pure dead brilliant. I am not a fan of country, not at all, but HD’s covers are hilarious. However, now, they’re introducing a few original tracks, which don’t go down so well with the crowd at all. Bit unexpected, that. But there were still lots of goodies: “Highway to Hell”, “Whole lotta Rosie”, “Ace of Spades” & a triumphant “Walk This Way”, done, surprisingly, mid-set.
And then sleep... My tent was the only old-fashioned ridge-pole one I saw all weekend, but it did its job. I think I bought it in about 1992 when heading off to my first Kent Custom Show. It’s served me well. In the end, rather than carry it home, I donated it to Oxfam’s huge and growing pile of tents for charity.
Was it raining? Yes.
Was I damp? Yes.
Was there mud everywhere? Yes.
Was it really a necessary part of the experience? Well, I don’t know about necessary, but it’s part of it all right, definitely.
I spent a lot of time wandering around, exploring, but there was time to catch a few bands. I saw the latter part of the set by Get cape. Wear cape. Fly, which was… average. Not bad, but not inspiring. Much the same goes for Ben Folds - not an especially noteworthy performance.
Then came Hazel O'Connor, who was awesome. It was an astoundingly brave and confident gig – an ’80s electro punk singer's live lineup was guitar, harp & occasionally a didgeridu! Her voice has gone, somewhat – she sounds very Marianne Faithfull now – but the performance was edging on greatness.
And in the interests of fairness, I should point out that I’m not really a fan of any of these acts.
I stayed in the Avalon tent for The Men They Couldn't Hang after O’Connor, but I didn’t stick it out all the way. I found them disappointing: good, polished and practiced, but with their edge gone.
Then over to a different stage for the Blockheads, sans Ian Dury but featuring Phill Jupitus instead. They were good fun. The band was really tight & they go at it with gusto, while PJ doesn't try to be Ian Dury, which I think was the right thing to do.
Then came Sinead O'Connor. Again, I’m not a huge fan – I always found her overly strident – but this set was very good. She looks & sounds exactly the same as ever, really; perhaps a tad broader around the midsection, but then, aren’t we all?
Her vocal delivery was far more polished than of old – her voice doesn't break any more as it used to.
As I expected, it was a non crowd-pleaser set. The 1st half was from her new album Theology, so nobody knew them. But then came a few old ones, including a breathtaking rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U”, but no other hits I knew. (It was enough; it reduced me to tears, as songs often will these days.) It was remarkable, though. Overall maybe a little lacking in affect, in passion, but still very strong.
And I rounded off the evening of gigs with Jimmy Cliff on the Other Stage – an excellent feel-good set of vintage-style reggae & a bit of (to be honest, near-indistinguishable) ska. This man isn’t a household name any more, but many of his songs still are.
The evening ended with a trip to Shangri La, the former Lost Vagueness field, to see
mr_flay’s new bullet-catching routine, aided and abetted by “Yussuf”, AKA the other Ed Wills. The bullet catch went well; Edwin’s delivery and style were effective and I thought the crowd responded well. The act was perhaps a little slow-paced – the setup took a while, but Ed filled in the gaps well with patter and silly songs and so on. The actual effect was quite dramatic. A definite success.Finally, in the relatively tiny space of Café Dada, came a short set by Hayseed Dixie. This was, to coin a phrase, pure dead brilliant. I am not a fan of country, not at all, but HD’s covers are hilarious. However, now, they’re introducing a few original tracks, which don’t go down so well with the crowd at all. Bit unexpected, that. But there were still lots of goodies: “Highway to Hell”, “Whole lotta Rosie”, “Ace of Spades” & a triumphant “Walk This Way”, done, surprisingly, mid-set.
And then sleep... My tent was the only old-fashioned ridge-pole one I saw all weekend, but it did its job. I think I bought it in about 1992 when heading off to my first Kent Custom Show. It’s served me well. In the end, rather than carry it home, I donated it to Oxfam’s huge and growing pile of tents for charity.
