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
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
Last weekend was given over to Moseley Folk. A couple of days in the company of Birmingham’s boho middle-class, where children running riot is, weirdly, actually quite a good thing.
As with last year, I only caught the headliner on Friday night – that being Saint Etienne. No, not very folky, but the organisers play fast and loose with genre barriers for the good of the festival. They were fine but I didn’t think the set hung together very well – I didn’t realise until the very end that they were playing 1991′s Foxbase Alpha, with an encore of ‘He’s On The Phone’.
Saturday involved a bit more time wandering around and chatting with people but also featured a few of the acts I was most keen to see. Beth Jeans Houghton was an entertaining new discovery and I was disappointed that a clash meant I missed most of Vetiver – they sounded much better on stage than on record.
Anyway, I enjoyed Lime Chalks, Friends of the Stars and Beth Orton (who was out of practice and got a bit samey after a while, but was charming enough to see herself through). Stars of the day were Drever, McCusker & Woomble, even if they did indulge their proper-folk leanings a bit too much, at the expense of playing more songs from an album I’ve had on heavy rotation for ages now. They were great though, and the sun came out when they started. Ace.
On the Sunday there was no-one much I wanted to see, save for Fox and James Summerfield, who were both spot on. Jim Moray was on stage when I arrived and sounded great – one to check back on. Ade Edmonson was a good crowd-pleaser (not sure why I say that slightly begrudgingly) and respects were paid to Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick. I left at 7ish and, although I heard good things about Jethro Tull’s performance, I was happy leaving my folkfest experience as it was.
In other news, the weather held (just about), there were hardly any queues for food or booze, there was a lovely atmosphere, the venue was beautiful… All told, it was a good weekend and I’ll be back like a shot next year.
It speaks well of a band when, with the venue just over half full, the band’s appearance causes everyone in the crowd to huddle down the front with not a single straggler left propping up the walls. Before being assigned to cover this gig I knew two things about The Infadels – their dance/rock songs often sounded better after being given some remix treatment and they’ve got a reputation (and have won awards) for putting on a heck of a show. Read the rest of this entry »
As support bands go you can’t ask for much more than what Youthmovies provided. Revealed later on to be Foals’ favourite band, they were a diverting hotch potch of styles and genres. Their set included some Money Mark-stle keyboards, the guitarist abandoning his guitar to be a second drummer and an LCD Soundystem-esque finale. A few of the crowd bounced about enthusiastically in thanks. I’d probably not go out of my way to see them again but in terms of a warm-up they hit the spot. Read the rest of this entry »
The (really quite good whoever it was) DJ was playing Aretha when I arrived at the Glee Club. I took that to be significant before remembering that no, Adele’s the new Aretha, Duffy’s the new Dusty. Of course. Whether or not she’s worthy of such praise, well, that was what I was there to make my mind up on. Read the rest of this entry »
You may remember mobileAct unsigned as T4′s awful indie-X-Factor show with an amusing twist. The twist being that it managed to be more embarrassing for the presenters (hello Alex James, Jo Whiley and Simon Gavin) than for the acts involved. The eventual winners were the Birmingham-based Envy & Other Sins; a likeable quartet of Victoriana-clad gents and the evening’s headliners. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m writing this resigned to the fact that The Levellers have their dyed-in-the-wool, knee-jerk detractors (see inevitable comments below). However, judging by the look of the crowd there were many there in Wolverhampton who, like myself, quite enjoyed their albums when we were younger and ten years on have found they can still remember all the words. Incidentally the number of crusty-style dreads in the crowd was exactly equal to the number of conservative older ladies with silk neckerchiefs – two. Figure that into your stereotype. Read the rest of this entry »
The Glee Club was humming when I arrived, most likely caused by a reportedly excellent set by Jay Jay Pistolet which I’d just missed. The merchandise table was certainly doing a brisk trade with his stack of 7″ promos disappearing quickly. “Very like Bright Eyes” was one approving verdict so I’d urge you to check his MySpace, as will I. Read the rest of this entry »
My CDX Tips for 2008 are all doing pretty well save for one. I backed Yeasayer to make a splash over here after checking out their debut album and the wad of positive reviews that accompanied it. However, now they’re over here and touring no-one’s paying much attention to them. Their support act on their last US tour, MGMT, on the other hand are generating a right royal buzz with ‘Time To Pretend’ all over daytime radio. Read the rest of this entry »
In a recent album review Ain was described as commanding attention by ‘being the quietest person in the room’. However, the ever polite Glee Club audience was silent and still threatened to drown him out. Ain is the archetypal shy, mumbling, floppy-haired singer/songwriter and has produced a decent album of textured subtlety but I found that most of this was lost in a rather too apologetic performance.
With exactly the same stage set-up – a mic and two guitars – Tina Dico made an entirely different impression. Of course, being thoroughly beautiful (if tall, musical, stereotypically Scandinavian girls are your type) doesn’t hurt to make a few jaws go slack around the room, but it was her breezy confidence and strong voice that helped her take the evening by the scruff of the neck.
