It may have been a couple of months since I got back, but here's my post-Glasto roundup.
I think I arrived earlier than I have before. First weren't running the bus from Bath this
year (boo!), so I got a train to Temple Meads and the shuttle bus from there. It all went
pretty smoothly, and even though it started pouring with rain just after I got on the bus,
it was sunny by the time we arrived on-site about 40 minutes later. They've sorted-out the
traffic this year, so only buses could go through Pilton. I don't know where the cars were
sent, but it made the bus a lot quicker not having to sit in all the plebby car traffic.
Hurrah!
I'd sent my tent up and had a cup of tea by about 1:30pm, so I headed off to find some
music. I spent a lot of time at the Small World Solar Stage
where I caught Crystal Masters (sort of bluesy/country stuff),
Celeste Lovick (who I thought was
excellent - I bought one of the CDs she was selling), and Cornelius. I spent the rest of
my Wednesday poking around the Green Fields and enjoying the site in its pre-mud state.
Shrek III was inexplicably cancelled in the evening, but hey ho.
On Thursday there was a big fire at a scrap-yard outside the site, but the huge amounts of
black smoke that hung
around in the sky all day provoked some debate. I had discussions with random people
about everything from 'terrorist attacks on music' to 'Street is on fire', but thankfully
all were false. I spent most of the day catching the bands playing on the Bandstand,
including The Doubtful Guest,
who were as good as ever.
Friday kicked-off with breakfast at Henry's Beard, then
Kate Nash on the Pyramid stage.
I don't really know much about her, but she was ok. I stuck around for
The Subways
(who were unimpressive) and Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly,
who were ok. I then trundled off to the Other stage to catch
Vampire Weekend,
mainly thanks to people going on about how good they are. They were ok, but I think they
suffered from the immediate downer that my brain adds to any Other Stage performance. I
wandered-off to the Green Futures field to watch
Caroline Lucas
wipe the floor with some Tory in a debate entitled 'Can the Tories Deliver A Green
Agenda?', one of a number of interesting events
in that tent. I then strolled over to the Avalon stage to catch Hazel O'Conner, which was
suprisingly good. I then caught a strange act called 'Dancing On Your Grave' by
'The Cholmondleys and the Featherstonehaughs',
followed by a cute singer/songwriter called Hera from Iceland/New Zealand (another set I
liked enough to buy the CD afterwards). There then followed a few hours of managing not to
meet-up with some friends, but I did catch the surprise Franz Ferdinand set on The Park
stage.
Saturday morning saw the site beginning to dry-up a bit after the rain on Friday, with the
Pyramid Stage not looking too bad.
First up was Shakin' Stevens,
who was pretty poor actually. For some reason he now refuses to sing 'Green Door', which
leaves 'This Old House' as the only song anyone cares about. Martha Wainwright was up
next, and she was suitably barmy. I didn't catch her whole set though as I had to be at
the Leftfield for 12:30 to catch
Seize The Day, who
were as excellent as ever. Immediately after them came the mighty
Flipron, who I've
probably seen almost as many times now as I've seen anyone. Then it was back to the
Pyramid to see the ever excellent Crowded House,
followed by a bit of James Blunt
(who really isn't that objectionable - I don't know why he gets so much stick). It was
then time for a comedy break, so I went to the Cabaret tent to see Simon Munnery, Jeremy
Hardy and Mitch Benn - all excellent as usual. Jeremy Hardy just doesn't do enough
stand-up. Then it was off to the Jazz World stage to see
Imagined Village,
who had Billy Bragg on for a bit. I can't really remember the rest of the evening thanks
to cider overload, but I think I saw Massive Attack. I definitely ignored Jay-Z.
Sunday morning brought another very pleasant breakfast at Henry's Beard in the
Green Fields, then
on to the Pyramid stage to see Marina Topley-Bird.
I also caught Scouting For Girls
on the Other Stage, before heading to the Pyramid Stage to get a spot for Leonard Cohen.
I caught the end of the unimpressive Neil Diamond
and the better than expected Goldfrapp,
before the highlight of the festival, Leonard Cohen.
He was blinding, as expected... and I've managed to see him live! I never thought I would.
All is well with the world.
>Monday was lovely and sunny. I spent a good few hours strolling around and poking at the
(now much quieter) markets. It really was a lovely, sunny day. After the nightmare of last
year's departure (thanks to See Tickets awful bus planning, the weather, early starts, and
other rubbish), this year was about a million times better. Just look at the lovely, sunny
and mud-free bus station!.
The mud came over the top of my boots there last year, and we were all close to being
hypothermic. Good times.