Glasto 2010

I’m pretty much used to the rain and mud of Glasto. This year I learnt that good weather brings with it midday naps, shade-hopping, suntan lotion, waking up when the sun starts warming the tent and hayfever. It might also have been the reason people got down to the site much earlier than usual.

I know Glasto is about more than the bands but personally I enjoy gorging myself on live acts for a couple of days, having the excuse to see bands I wouldn’t ordinarily bother buying tickets for. One year I’d love to spend more time in the theatre fields (although there was a bit more of that this year), green fields and the more out-there Shangri La/Arcadia/Block9 places but every time I get sucked into the list of bands on the schedule.

Here’s who I saw:

Thursday

• Beardyman – “The sun has got his hat on and he wants some drum n bass”. FUN! A great way to kick things off
• Egyptian Hip Hop – to quote someone else’s assessment, “they don’t let their charisma get in the way of their music”

Friday

• Rolf Harris – a jam-packed field and Rolf delivered exactly what you’d expect him to
• Femi Kuti – good summertime sounds. Not that it was a problem at that time of day, but his set seemed to lack a little drive and power
• Megan Henwood – a nice lady with a lovely voice. Looking forward to catching her again at Moseley Folk later in the year
• Frank Turner – we couldn’t get into the tent for this one. He’s got a flair for audience involvement that I’d not expected with plenty of singalong goodnes
• Bonobo – love the Black Sands album but couldn’t stick around for too long to listen to the set. Sounded good though
• Snoop Dogg – a very polished performer with a slick, hit-stuffed set. Pilton went all gangsta for an hour or so. Was a bit worried Tinie Tempah was going to explode with excitement when he came on
• Rusko – just buzzed by but this was sounding heavy
• Florence & The Machine – the best bit was her girlish glee at making a whole field of people jump up and down on the spot

Saturday

• Two Door Cinema Club – I really like the album and they reproduced it really well but live, many of the songs sounded the same and vocals came across as a bit weak
• Brother Ali – heard while looking for the pharmacy to get some different hayfever drugs. Sounded ok. Determined to get as many ‘hell yeah’s as possible
• Shouting At Planes – we were hiding in the shade of the Queens Head tent when these came on. Can’t remember anything about how they sounded
• Wild Beasts – came highly recommended. Perhaps they sound better on record/in less sunny circumstances
• Neville Staple – really glad to have dropped in on this on the way to the next lot. He gave in to the crowd and played a bunch of Specials tracks
• The National – impressed with these. Decent songs and an unshowy but strong stage presence
• Shakira – she’s tiny! Quite good fun and I was on TV and everything (pic below)
• MistaJam – actually I was hoping to catch a bit of Kelis but she was late so we got Mistajam playing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme (and other hits) instead
• The xx – a highlight. Surprised by how the crowd responded to a muted set of songs with clapping and singing along. The segue into the refrain from ATB’s 9PM (Till I Come) . Florence turning up to sing glitched vocals on their You Got the Love remix was a welcome surprise
• Pet Shop Boys – they played everything I wanted them to, accompanied by an inventive stage show. Things dipped when the music played second fiddle to the theatrics but It’s A Sin and Always On My Mind were epic

Sunday

• Tunng – definitively not a band making inaccessible music for beard strokers – I’ve no idea why I ever got that impression. The new album’s really good and they put on a charming live show
• Slash – he’s hired a better behaved Axl Rose impersonator for vocals. Solo material wasn’t much to write home about but Sweet Child of Mine and Paradise City were great
• Ray Davies – a good show but his stuff has never featured much in my life. Definitely preferable to watching the football
• Toddla T/Professor Green – saw these two (on separate stages) while wandering about the dance village. Truth be told I was distracted by the middle-aged man who was having the time of his life throwing a plastic bottle high up in the air and catching it, over and over again
• Broken Social Scene – better than expected
• Chew Lips – only caught the last few songs but I like these. They were on the BBC Introducing stage but had a good crowd. They should be bigger this time next year
• Julian Casablancas – we sat listening outside the tent for a couple of songs but it was all a bit whiny. Saw plenty of eager-looking girls go rushing into the tent, some wearing wedding dresses
• Stevie Wonder – utterly superb in every way