Either there or on the box … what you watching? Any good? I’m currently watching Squid who are rather good.
Glastonbury
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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Either there or on the box … what you watching? Any good? I’m currently watching Squid who are rather good.
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Daft Punk have taken it to another level #confidenceman
Seems like a pretty lacklustre bill this year. I imagine a lot of folk who queued up online for those overpriced tickets without knowing who was actually on will be pretty peeved.
I agree I’d struggle to fill my days
Blimey! No pleasing some. I filled the best part of a morning just scrolling down the bill.
TV-wise, Confidence Man were top fun and Paul Heaton was tremendous. Olivia Dean was sweet afternoon fare and Barry Can’t Swim was on too early and is parked for when drink is taken. It’s not even half five on Friday. Sir Kevin up next.
Well, I’ve heard of Mr Heaton.
Confidence Man we’re great fun
@eddie g think you are speaking for yourself there. Most of those present would have a great experience irrespective of who was playing. And as Sewer Robot says below, it’s already been fun
Fair enough. As regular Afterworders will know I have zero interest in modern pop music so the fact that I’ve not heard of a lot of these artists won’t come as a massive surprise. Glastonbury is sometimes fun on TV for me for the heritage acts and the truly ‘big’ stars like Macca and the Stones etc. But this year is even thinner on joys for me than ever. But that’s OK. There’s always ITV and football. And my huge second hand vinyl collection (1958-1978 mainly).
@eddie g I know you have zero interest in current music. That is why I am often bemused that you choose to comment or belittle it.
Oh Kj, I’m happy to go on living life in my secluded warren but Glastonbury is so ubiquitous these days that it’s hard to avoid the bucket of modern pop hurled one’s way and the consensus that its all so wunnerful. Someone has to resist. And I’m happy to don the tin hat and clip on the bayonet if need be.
Whoa, hold yer horses, I’m in a far more secluded warren than you, I don’t go past Jimi dying!
In fairness though, I reckon if you wandered around Glastonbury, you’d probably have a fantastic time in some far-off corner, well away from most of the big acts/stages. I’d pick somewhere with a bit of folk/blues, next to a very well-stocked beer tent, which is in turn next to someone who does a mean stir-fry… and stay in that fifty yards for the duration, four beers for every one stir-fry. It would be great.
Back I’m the day when I was frolicsome and fun, I did go to Glastonbury a few times and once, having a blistering headache, I wandered over to the Healing Field and was given some magic powder by a lovely hippie lady. After I’d taken it she told me it contained traces of strychnine. Got rid of my headache though… yeah, modern pop is probably just as great as the old pop but my English teacher back at school was married to a historian whose field of interest and expertise was the English Civil War. Naturally he knew other bits of history too but that war was his passion and the other stuff was largely peripheral to his main obsession. I feel the same way with pop music. My ‘period’ would loosely be from the mid-fifties to around 1978. A few things from other times sneak in every now and then but it’s almost always of secondary interest. If of any at all…
Hi @Kjwilly. Please could you correctly tag “eddie g” (try @eddie_g or something) as I keep getting their notifications. Thanking you kindly.
Sorry!
Tip:
Click on the poster’s name. You will be sent to where their @ handle is. Then copy that into your message. Some people’s @ name are hard to guess, but this always works..
@sewer-robot Thank you for the tip.
Until this century, we bought tickets months in advance, not knowing who was playing until we arrived (or sometimes a couple of days before).
It never stopped me having fun, sometimes going whole days without seeing a name act anyway.
Oh to be young enough to have the stamina, and well enough to go all day without the toilet, again.
Yeah, I know. I used to go in the ‘old days’ and you’re right that the tickets were often bought before the final bill was announced but I suppose the difference is that, back then, the festival didn’t have coverage of any sort on the ‘mainstream’ media (not even Radio 1) and was therefore far more accessible in terms of buying tickets etc. These days it’s become a bit like Wimbledon. Inevitable I suppose. But I rather liked those days when no one outside the NME reading cognoscenti knew it was happening and the only BBC coverage was five seconds of pyramid stage footage and a hippie being arrested for drugs. I hopped off the pop bus many years ago and have managed to live a very full and happy life without knowing who ninety per cent of the current crop of dazzlers are and without having any real interest in finding out. 1968 seems far more vibrant. (And that was ‘before my time’ because I was only 6).
Watching Polly Harvey she never disappoints does she?
According to some random on Twitter her performance included a 7 minute silence with a Serbian artist, which must have tried some people’s patience.
Missed that bit had to walk the dog … she spent some time sat writing at a desk too 🙂
That was Marina Abramovic.
Will she be crediting Cale in any way?
Did she wear a hockey mask and cut the head off a chicken?
Putting this Heilung set on between Danny Brown and Jungle is quite the scheduling decision.
LCD Soundsystem are currently playing a blinder on the iplayer if anyone’s interested…
Agree!
Yep best set so far
Yes only caught the last 2 songs but they were great. Currently enjoying the Mad Max meets The Wicker Man set from Heilung which is fab
Weren’t they absolutely fantastic. What a great live band. Superb.
Anne-Marie. Gay disco via First Aid Kit is my considered view
Never heard of her before, but she does Essex proud. That cover of ‘What Is Love’ was great fun, as as the rap battle. She clearly can’t dance for toffee, but surrounded herself with a group who can and moved in coordinating
coordination with their extravagant posturing. A lot of fun, as I don’t mind repeating.
Watching Sampha at the mo new to me but he’s excellent
@Clive I always think there is a pleasant John Martyn vibe to his music.
I see what you mean. He certainly has a very light touch. Really enjoying his set.
He’s the first person I’ve heard say “Glasto”, so I’m taking off a point for that..
Every set I’ve seen has involved the act shouting, ‘How you doing Glastonbury?’ And the ‘you’ cheering back.
If there is one thing that people at Glastonbury enjoy more than being told they are at Glastonbury it’s cheering back in affirmation that, yes, they are indeed at Glastonbury. Though when I lived in Somerset the locals, being close enough to know the difference, always referred to the festival as Pilton.
On the other hand maybe it’s just people having a good time and that’s how they express it. Nothing to sneer at.
Just pointing out a cliche, no need to project.
You are right on target there, @Gatz. The mentioning of the festival’s name when talking to the audience has a certain magical, spell-like, evocative quality about it.
(I guess that any hard-working artist who actually knows which city (or country!) they are playing in deserves some cred.
“Good evening, Norway,” for example does not go down too well in Stockholm!.)
But “How are you doing, Roskilde? (Glastonbury/ Lollapalooza/Cropredy/ etc) ” hits the spot very nicely and greatly adds to the bond between performer and audience. Something unique is happening here tonight.
If I’m cynical, I’d say , it’s the art of the one-night stand.
But being Pollyannaish, when an artist says “I’ve never ever had a night like this” I tend to believe every word.
After Patti Smith had played her set at Roskilde a few years back, she wandered round the site, listening to other bands. I believe her when she says that a gig was a unique experience.
When she was in Uppsala, I’m told she told her taxi driver that she wanted to visit, the tomb of Dag Hammarskjöld.!
Quite a contrast to some bands who are taking off in their VIP luxury jet, before all the audience have left the arena,
“How you doing West Runton?”
“How ya doin’ Burnt Oak Broadway?”
Doesn’t really have the right ring to it, does it?
“Gimme yer phone or I’ll stab ya!”
Soft White Underbelly played there. Blue Oyster Cult’s alias name.
Sadly the phrase “How you doing West Runton?” hasn’t been uttered for at least 30 years. I did go, dressed as Jarvis Cocker (i.e. in clothes bought from the chazzas of Cromer), to a Saturday night Indie disco in the back of the pub around then.
Once saw a band whilst at Uni in Bradford who came on stage with the intro ‘Hello Bradford we are from Halifax’.
We laughed.
Gatz, I guess I didn’t read that right. Post in haste, repent at leisure.
No problem. Manly clap on each other’s shoulders and go about our days.
Love Sampha.
If he’s not played No One Knows Me Like The Piano yet then you’re in for a treat. One of the best songs of the last decade.
Thanks @Clive and @Bingo Little.
Sampha just got a new fan in Bagarmossen.
You’re right. No One Knows Me Like The Piano is magnificent.
Hit the spor at once.
You are so right @fentonsteve. One can have some stupendous days at a good festival without seeing any names.
Another up for Sampha here – a really terrific artist.
I’ve just watched This Is The Kit who were on the Park Stage this afternoon
Absolutely wonderful.
They had a guest musician (Suntou Susso) in for a song who played a kora which is a bonkers looking string instrument.
Well worth a watch.
Idles straight off the New Years honours list but they’re playing an absolute blinder.
They’re destroying. Super reliable festival act. 🔥
Well, that was utterly fucking brilliant.
Yeah one of the all time great Glastonbury sets. Not someone I’ve paid much attention to but that was just fantastic. That little boy on stage could barely breath with excitement.
@Clive he needs to sort that mullet out though. Poor kid!
Just watched Dua Lipa’s set – amazing stamina, singing and dancing. And her encore, with Physical & Don’t Start Now, my two favourite songs, was so good just on my little smartphone screen and earbuds – live, it must have been extraordinary.
Plenty more surprises to come, I’m sure, over the weekend. | am of course hoping they capture and show Baby Queen’s set on Sunday.
Never mind her stamina – I’ve just done the Jungle/Lipa double whammy and I believe that’s my workout for the week!
Baby Queen isn’t on any of the tv stages. You won’t see her unless they invite her onto the Beeb’s wee acoustic stage..
Having wondered how she would pull off a Glastonbury headline so early in her career, (3 albums) I thought Dua Lipa did a good job and I really enjoyed the set in a “just take it for what it is” sort of way. Maybe people forget that she’s had multiple hits worldwide and is pretty big in the USA (I think Levitating was the biggest single of it’s year in the States?)
Interestingly my chips off the old block, all around her age, thought she was bland and it all sounded much the same. Kids, eh !
If I’ve got a criticism it was that a couple of bits of the show (and it was a show, not a gig) looked more geared to the TV than the crowd, which seems bad form to me.
SZA will be interesting – pretty sure I’ve never knowing heard anything by her and she’s a headline act. I’m sure that says more about me than her
I agree with your chips.
Is Charli XCX performing this year?
I thought she was great and completely bossed it, but thought it was designed as a television spectacle rather than a live one.
Ain’t it all?
I’ve got a SZA album. I am 54.
I was bought for me because I liked one song, but still.
Haven’t watched too much yet, but did catch the Paul Heaton set. Whoever the girl singer is was great, and it was fun to see Norman Cook come on for a Housemartins number. But why does PH have to read all his lyrics from a prompter thingy? It really annoys me when people don’t know their own lyrics and spend the whole time looking downwards.
Cognitive impairment.
I believe Richard Hawley does the same these days.
Didn’t appear to br doing it in Dublin a couple of weeks back.
@Jaygee maybe it was because they were new songs but he was staring at an iPad on Jools’ later last week. Thought I read someone on here mention it in a live gig as well?
Tony Hancock would use cue cards as a help in his television programme but came to rely on them too much, which is why in the Blood Donor he seems to be addressing people over their shoulder.
“Shortly before The Blood Donor episode of Hancock’s Half Hour in 1961, Tony had a car crash and emerged with two black eyes. Tony said he couldn’t do the recording that week because of the black eyes. A nurse looked at his eyes and said, ‘Oh, we can clear those by Friday.’
Tony was losing his excuses. He then said, ‘My memory is gone. I can’t learn it this week.’ So they gave Tony cue cards with his lines written on. If you watch The Blood Donor, Tony is gazing thoughtfully into the distance as he speaks, every so often looking at the cue cards. From then on, he never learned a script; he always insisted on cue cards.”
There’s a glass autocue which can be at head height so there’s no need to look down. I don’t believe it can be read by the audience.
Some singers can remember an entire set’s lyrics without help and others can’t. I can’t say it bothers me unless the struggle is too obviously seen.
But perhaps the problem with some iPad-reading singers is their failing eyesight and their vanity, that won’t let them be seen onstage wearing specs?
Marlon Brando was another acting legend who relied on cue cards and having his lines taped to convenient props and items of scenery. Remember Richard Harris telling a very funny story about his experience of shooting Mutiny on the Bounty with mumbles on – iirc – Parkinson
John Lydon too.
I blame the punters. There they are forking out three figure sums for tickets and now they’re all demandy, so even artists who aren’t Shirley Bassey have to have drilled dancers and synchronised light shows and tight sets. Maybe it’s a step too far to use backing tracks to ensure this is the tune as you remember it and for the singer to have cue cards because they don’t know the words as well as you bloody do, but I believe your modern pop attendee doesn’t find ramshackle timing, ten minute tune ups and a kazoo where they are used to hearing lush strings charming the way we did back when entertainment was rationed..
Fair point well made
I’m there right now. Squeeze were incredible. Huge thanks to whoever it was here who recommended them in an earlier thread, as that was one of my favourite ever festival experiences. I thought I had only passing knowledge of their music and yet it turned out I knew and loved every song, apart from the obligatory newbie. Chris Difford was visibly emotional throughout and thanked the crowd at the end for making an old man cry. Ditto for this middle aged man.
Bootleg Beatles in the evening. They do what they always do I guess, but I’d never seen them do it and was well impressed. Effectively gave two sets – one Moptop era, one White Album/Let It Be/Abbey Road era, the changeover coming as the uncannily accurate ‘Paul’ delivered Yesterday, while the others disappeared and re-emerged for Helter Skelter in full Abbey Road over get-up. “Yay, we’ve hit puberty!” announces a white suited and heavily bearded ‘John’, as ‘Paul’ nips offstage to shed his jacket and reappear in a Rooftop Concert waistcoat. They were simply brilliant.
Today, Ottoboke Beaver and Arooj Aftab.
What did you do the other 22 hours, or were they spent walking and waiting?
I did a Joe Wicks workout at the Park Stage first thing. For someone who made his name on YouTube, boy does this person have mega watt charisma in real life – I’d been considering half-heartedly taking part but ended up throwing myself
Into every move. “You’ll feel better for it afterwards!” he yelled – and you know, he was right.
Otherwise, wandering and sitting. I tried to see Barry Can’t Swim – a DJ who’s been much raved about, playing the Park Stage – but you could barely get into the field.
That taught me that you have to arrive during the act before, if there’s someone you really want to see. I checked the programme, and going on before the Bootleg Beatles were… Scouting for Girls?? I had to stand through all their appalling, Blink 182 by way of Victoria Wood schtick, hemmed in by people lustily singing along to every word – who ARE all these idiots?
Oh, and I caught a tiny bit of self described ‘folk girl band’ Deep Blue at the Avalon Stage – they sounded amazing, and I wish I’d seen more.
This seems a worse progression from last year; sure, Pyramid was a no go from midday any day last year, but it seems all the bloody stages now have a one in, one out limit. How spontaneous…..
https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/29/glastonbury-festivalgoers-frustrated-by-overcrowding-at-smaller-stages?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
For some reason the Squeeze set isn’t available on the BBC iPlayer. Wonder why?
A low quality version is on You Tube though.
Same happened with last year’s opening act Bad Boy Chiller Crew..
I felt old when I read something by a young female singer (not sure if she appeared with them) but she said in an interview “I’m playing with a band called Squeeze” 😳
Gosh! These young people are all tremendously talented. I’m impressed with them all.
They’re mostly over the hill.
Have you noticed all the drink cans on stage have no branding on them
Well, it’s either that or have an official beverages sponsor.
I know which option I prefer.
I think they have one Brooklyn Pilsner
Just tuned in inadvertently and caught Jo Whiley and Clara Amfo interviewing what appeared to be Novak Djokovic. Turns out it was someone from Leicester groovers Kasabian.
First set I have watched was Keane.
Nice and pleasant.
Try LCD Soundsystem. Brilliant!
I’ve never been able to get into them. All the descriptions of their music suggest if I like New Order (who I absolutely adore), I should like LCD Soundsystem. But I’ve never been able to get that ‘Magic Eye’ effect where something amazing suddenly appears from all their busy, yet humdrum noise.
“busy, yet humdrum noise”,. What a wonderful turn of phrase @Salwarpe!
I was originally a bit uncertain about LCD Soundsystem too. But on a couple of occasions at Roskilde, they have really hit the spot for me.
An extremely funky band with a very impassioned singer,
BUT…I am not going to try and convert you or anyone else.
There are so many bands where almost everyone else here is very keen about and I just don’t get at all.
Idles is a perfect example. They went down a storm at Roskilde last year. I found them unlistenable,
Vive la difference!
Tried a couple of tracks but not really my thing.
Yard Act are on so do yourself a favour and tune in
@Clive they are whipping through their material at 100 mph
Yep I think they’re on for 75 mins prob play every one of their tracks 😁
Coldplay on.
Luckily they played my favourite track Yellow first so I have no need to listen anymore.
Happy days!
Mrs J wanted to see them so we caught a HK show about 15 years ago.
Y – the only song of theirs I care for was third up, after which I left
Mrs J to it and headed to the bar.
Just dropped in finally. No truck with Coldplay so it’s been 30 minutes of Disclosure who were great and we would absolutely go and see them if they played somewhere sensible in Bham, and now doing home clubbing to Peggy Gou who is spinning an old school house set that’s going down very well.
I’m thoroughly enjoying all the comments and suggestions on this thread @Clive. And am a little envious of those in the UK who can dip into all these acts live.
(I’m sure that if I made the effort, I could delude the BBC app unto thinking that I lived in Barnsley, Bishopbriggs, Birmingham or Bangor. Next year maybe?)
My question is: Is there anywhere in the world where the national TV network has such a close relationship with a music festival or cultural event and presents so many performances live?
This is not a grumble! I think it’s great that so many people have the chance to listen to a lot of artists, old and new, they might have missed. Public Service indeed!
Glastonbury! The festival where you can stumble across the bodies of dead Tories in the loos!
There’s nowhere else quite like it!
I think, for The BBC, Glastonbury is “The Anti-Proms”.
They’ve had a close relationship with The Proms right from the outset, so why not a rock/pop alternative?
Plus I suspect they sell a lot of Glasto footage to other broadcasters and do fairly well out of it.
Perhaps the usuals suspects are fully engaged boosting Reform for next week’s election, but I haven’t seen the usual Gammon social media complaints about how much the BBC spends covering Glastonbury this year (while never acknowledging how much much selling the footage must bring in of course).
PS. Suddenly I feel a little guilty about that comment about the dead Tory. I checked Wiki. The poor chap died of “natural causes”.
Poor sod! His timing was crap. Found dead in a Glasto Portaloo.
“There but for fortune go you or go I!”
It could so easily happen to me.
Next week, I too could have an encounter with the Grim Reaper in a Danish mobile toilet.
Would the gentlemen and ladies of the international press corps be sensitive?
Would they fäääck?
I can see the headlines already!
“Controversial music blogger from notorious Afterword website found dead in Danish mobile toilet at scandalous Roskilde Festival”
“KFD, as he was known to his followers, had a reputation for championing controversial acts such as Anal Cunt, Acker Bilk, Rammstein, Val Doonican, Melt Banana, Tangerine Dream, Eduard Khill and First Aid Kit.”
Once you are brown bread, you lose control.
How many control freaks are there who have attempted to have editorial control over their 0bituaries from beyond the grave??
Stalin springs to mind….
David Bowie maybe.
Here’s a real treat!
Polly Jean played Glastonbury this weekend and will play Roskilde Festival next week.
But here she is playing a small, local gig to warm up at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens.
And icing on the cake: it was filmed by Martin, a good pal of mine.
Forget those mega-festivals! This is the real deal!
So far I’ve only watched a track or two from a few acts on the Pyramid Stage, which has reinforced my conviction that Glasto is not my cup of tea.
Other than the lack of acts that float my goth/darkwave/industrial/medieval boat (e.g. Heilung, whose set is not yet on iPlayer), I don’t get the whole flags business.
I gave Coldplay a try, but every camera shot from amid the crowd – the punter’s-eye view – is ruined by dozens of black flagpoles. Why do Glasto-goers put up with being unable to properly see the act on stage because soon goon in fron of them is holding up a “Hello Mum” banner? I imagine thst if I went to a gig at my local enormodome, got near the front, and tried to hold up a flag for the entire show, I would soon discover that I was very unpopular indeed. But at Glasto that seems to be fine.
That said, I did like the whole flashing wristband thing with Coldplay, although the music left me cold.
Seeing the massive red golf umbrella down the front of LCD SS emblazoned with “F*uck the Tories” on BBC TV made me laugh, and grateful that it wasn’t infront of me.
Is there really no bass player left in the world who is prepared to work with Kevin Rowland? That’s the second time* I’ve seen Dexys live with either bass on a backing track, or no bass at all, and I don’t think it works.
Wikidpedia tells me that jazzer Mark Kavuma played trumpet with them for five years, which was news to me.
(*) the other being the Sky Arts gig doing Too-Rye-Ay in full, except they left out two tracks.
Dexys don’t work at all these days. The music plods and the vocals are a vague warble, some distance from the actual notes of the song. A mere shadow of the fired up band I saw back when they were Searching.
Never thought that Kevin Rowland could sing. Interesting concepts, from time to time, but too-ropey vocals.
I haven’t watched any Glasto ’24 yet. I’ll probably skim through the iPlayer coverage later and see if anything excites me. I don’t remember watching much of last year’s coverage, aksherly.
I was a regular Glasto-goer in the ’80s but I just lost interest in it. And in the idea of camping.
Don’t Stand Me Down still their masterpiece. The Irish one was awful and the new one not much better. Always worth hearing though
Did they do all TFD or just a couple of songs mixed in with the classics?
At the show in Dublin, they did all the songs from TFD. Audience interest fell off a cliff when they did that awful old bollocks on side two before the bangers
No TFD at all.
Always nice to see the Black Pumas doing Colors. One of my favourite bands of recent years, one of my favourite songs of recent years. Here’s lead singer Eric Burton playing the same song in his back garden just ten years ago.
2014:
2024:
A new name for me @Gary. Rather a decent live band too! Thanks,
Going against the AW grain, I thought the Coldplay set was epic and thoroughly enjoyed it. I find their records mostly underwhelming, but I’ve always found them to be an incredible live act. Last night was spectacular.
Agree with you there, never want to play the records these days but enjoy them live now and again (on the telly of course) especially the South American shows, Brazil, Argentina. A South American audience are always entertaining in themselves. See also Stones concerts.
I agree. I couldn’t actually sing along to any of their songs myself, as I don’t know any of them, but everybody who was doing so looked like they were having a great time. I’m never quite sure how much of what they do is actually live, so the best part for me was when they moved to their second stage and played “Sparks” completely live – it sounded amazing, so maybe their sound man is just a miracle worker.
I agree I’ve only seen them once and they were brilliant. Trouble is in general every other song is mediocre … but the other ones are pop genius
Steel Pulse late to the stage and no Handsworth Revolution (*pouty face*) – nonetheless, they’ve got my blood going.
Is the flag in front of James that simply says “TITS” a celebration of the mammary or a pithy dig at the band? I was just thinking Tim Booth looks like a villain in a Marvel movie, then I looked him up and he was in Batman Begins!
I saw Reef at Glasto once and there was a massive pair of y fronts on a pole that said Pants … they weren’t wrong
Someone at the West Holts stage had a massive “Annoying Flag”. Quite meta, that.
Thanks @Sewer Robot! What a wonderful piece of pop trivia!
And if Tim Booth can be in Batman, I am sure that there are endless career opportunities for our favourite pop stars in the MCU and in Hollywood in general,
Can you imagine a more convincing super-villain than Arthur Brown?
“Fire! I’ll teach to burn, Batman!!”
Grace Jones of course, has already dazzled as a Bond baddy
Unlike Dua Lipa, who I suspect was more fun to watch on TV than if you were there, Coldplay might have been a blast to see from the field. But are coming across as very, very dull on TV. I got distracted by Twitter and was quite surprised when I realised that they were still playing when I looked up. I’ve never heard of SZA before though I’ll watch him/her/them at some point, but from the headline sets so far it’s Dua Lipa for the win.
The National were reliably magnificent on The Other Stage.
Reliably magnificent is a very apt description of The National. Their brilliance is so low key. I’m looking forward to watching the set on the iPlayer.
There seem to be two threads called Glastonbury. Took me a while to cotton on.
Regarding Coldplay, at first I was impressed by the spectacle then I snapped out of it and saw a cult worshipping infantilism. Chanting a sky full of stars over and over like fools.
Sunday seemed to have some good things. The National had some fire and were compelling. London Grammar created something of beauty that was alluring. Then Alvvays also impressive. Less has-been, more here and now.
But Coldplay were “legendary” and “record breaking” according to the BBC website.
They broke the record for the number of headline appearances.
I wondered if Beth Gibbons might have done a secret gig at some point, but apparently not.
Didn’t get to see as much as I’d have liked this year (busy weekend), but highlights from the vantage point of my sofa were Idles, Disclosure (always a fantastic show), Justice, Peggy Gou, Avril Lavigne (what a vibe that looked), Jamie XX, Alvvays, Kim Gordon and Orbital.
the ones I enjoyed the most at home so far have been Heilung (love them or hate them, there wasn’t anything else like them all weekend – a friend texted me partway through saying she couldn’t work out if going to see them on mushrooms would be brilliant or terrifying), Confidence Man (such fun, and I love their ever so slightly amateur (but still light years ahead of what I could do) dance routines, Orbital (pure brilliance, great set, lovely sunset vibe), Justice (the lights!), and Corinne Bailey Rae (forget the radio 2 hit, she’s all about cosmic jazz and garage punk now). Waiting for Mdou Moctar and The National to pop up on the iPlayer later.
How did Orbital on telly compare to in the muddy tent at Bearded, @kid-dynamite ?
they didn’t have a Spice Girl at Bearded! I’d say at BT they were one of the acts worst affected by the mud in that standing in a quagmire in wellies isn’t the most conducive to having a dance and losing yourself in the music. On the telly they were playing in beautiful sunshine as the sun set and the light show took over, but then again my soundbar isn’t quite the equal of the live PA. Let’s call it a score draw.
No Janelle Monae up on the iPlayer. I noticed on one of the tv highlights programmes where she was listed to feature she did not appear.
Can it be that she is doing a Lauryn Hill and that time I spent watching your rubbish England team was even more wasted than I thought?
Did anybody watch her live?
I saw a clip of her on one of the daily reviews. It must have been filmed.
Panic over – Janelle is there now..