Most of my last nights posting seem’s to have been eaten. Oh well.
I had vague thoughts of getting up today and taking my camera into central London and wandering around Pride for a while but it is raining and so I find myself sat here in front of my computer faffing around.
The last few days have been quite pub heavy. Del came around to borrow some books on Wednesday evening and that turned into several pints in the Washington and then onto scotch back at the flat and a slightly late bedtime. Much was discussed, much was lectured and fun was had…I think.
Thursday was a half day in work which I had forgotten about. So that was a nice surprise to walk into. We headed off around 2 to get to the O2 dome for a company meeting and then the “AOL Summer Cooler”. There was much free drink (uh oh) and generally a good night catching up with folks. There was live music from The Thrills, The Magic Number and Crowded House. All of whom are perfectly acceptable pop bands that I doubt I’d spend money on but are decent entertainment once they get going. I was quite impressed by Crowded House, they played well and Don’t Dream It’s Over was great. A good night out made even better when at the end of the night there was a sudden round of “lets all work from home tomorrow” so that was good.
Yesterday was quiet enough, I spent the morning reading a tech document on dial up networking which wasn’t fun but apparently it has to be done. I think I’ll need to read it again sometime early next week so not really looking forward to that much. The evening became a little less quiet when there was unplanned pubbing with Alastair round the corner in Steeles. Not a huge night out but still a few pints. So while I have no idea what I am going to do today, it’s not going to involve the pub!
Last, probably best shot from Glastonbury. I think the mud does add to it:
What happens when you lose everything?
You just start again
You start all over again
What happens when you lose everything?
You just start again
You start all over again
What happens when you lose everything?
You just start again
You start all over again
Apply Some Pressure
Maxïmo Park
Listen here
So Saturday morning was quiet enough to begin with. First band for me was The Pipettes on the Pyramid. Not really for me but perfectly entertaining for a festival act really. Straight after them was Guillemots who I just didn’t like after about 3 songs and so I went for a little wander. I did some of the Greenfields and that and then sat in the tent reading the paper while it rained. Nice!
Then I headed back to the Other stage to meet the lads and to see CSS who were complete and utter shite not really my thing. Next up was Klaxons who I could see why they could be good (and I’m enjoying the album as I type this) but they seemed off and it wasn’t a great set. Not giving a fuck about Pete Dirty allowed plenty of time to grab some food and then get back to the Other stage for Maxïmo Park who were fantastic from start to finish. Totally sold by their performance and completely loving Apply Some Pressure , I’d be quite comfortable saying they were second only to Arcade Fire. Not bad for a band I really didn’t know before seeing ‘em!
Following them we decided it was time for a drink and headed towards the usually quieter bar in the Glade. We chanced arrival just before !!! (pronounced as chk chk chk apparently) who were also fantastic. Not really my normal kind of music (not that I really have a kind) but they were excellent. I was well impressed. Third after Arcade Fire and Maximo Park and another of those great Glastonbury moments were you just stumble on something and it works out so well.
Then I moved around to the main stage for The Killers which was a massive disappointment. I can’t really say more than that because I couldn’t hear a fucking thing! The sound was not bad, it was non-existant. Anyone outside of the first 30 rows or so just could not hear a thing. It seems to vary between weather conditions, technical issues or license issues depending on which statement you read but it was a disgrace and I was really annoyed by it. I had been hoping for good things here, but the sound even in the BBC broadcast is poor. Not impressed at all :(
So I called it a night and went back to the tent, turning off my phone just in time to miss a text from the lads who were partying for another while. Instead I had the fun of trying to sleep while a bunch of pig-ignorant teenagers made stupid sex jokes and dares (”let’s go penguin running, pull your trousers down and run!”). It was one of those times that again reminds me how annoying children are and one for discussion down the line of how different attitudes towards sex were between my childhood in Ireland and what I’ve seen over in London.
So that was Saturday. While it ended badly, it was still quite a good day.
Sunday began quite well with The Holloways on the Other stage. I had never heard of the but Ciaran wanted to see them. They were quite good and also went onto the must get the album list. To be quite honest, I’m not sure what there was after this for a while I think there was wandering and food and just chilling out and then onto Cold War Kids who none of us really liked so we wandered some more before dashing back for Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. Again not someone I had heard of but both Nathan and Ciaran were keen and rightly so. Great stuff, right up my street. Folksy singer/songwriter with guitar and a bit of rock. A tad to eager on the lecturing but the songs backed him up. Another album for the list. I’ve done quite well for new bands this year.
Onwards to the main stage were sound problems again put the dampener to what could have been a good set for Shirley Bassey. It was a little in and out, sound was fine to start with for a few tunes but then just died out. I hadn’t even realised she did Diamonds are Forever, I just didn’t hear it. Sticking around Pyramid but pushing much further forward and thankfully with no sound issues were The Manic Street Preachers. Excellent stuff. A very strong set (shut up Nathan) and I was (along with much of the crowd) very pleased to get If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. You can read a little more about their set from me here.
I hung around the Pyramid for Kaiser Chiefs who put on exactly the kind of show that I expected. Swaggering and a great singalong. I realise it’s not the in thing to like ‘em but they are fun and put on a good show and you know what, I do like my little bit of a singalong on the main stage at things like this, it’s part of the festival. Sound spoiled it for the band I was expecting it with but I’ll happily take it where I can. They did announce a new UK tour today, I’m not bothered with tickets but next tour around I reckon I’ll check ‘em out again. It’s a good show.
After a wander around Trash City and catching some of the excellent show there, to close off the weekend, copied and pasted from the appropriate photo!
It may surprise many of you to learn that I was never one of the "cool kids" at school. This continued when on Sunday evening with the choice of seeing The Who on the Pyramid, The Chemical Brothers on The Other or The Gossip on the John Peel stage, I went and saw Billy Bragg instead. He was excellent, as ever.
I had not even heard of him until my first Glastonbury a few years ago and then walking around randomly I caught him in the Left Field (of course) and really enjoyed his show. I’ve tried to see him when I can since then.
Leaning very heavily left myself (possibly to the point of naïveté), I don’t mind his speeches and lyrical bent and as I said he puts on a good show. So I saw all of this and then a little bit of Neck.
As it turns out, I had time to catch about 45 minutes of The Who afterwards. They were okay, not as good as they were at Live 8 and I either missed it or they did not play Baba O’Riley so that was poor. I did then catch the last 30 min of the Chemical Brothers where I was disappointed. I suspect had I been i) a whole lot closer ii) on some more chemicals, I’d have loved it but it just didn’t do anything for me really. I expected more, last time around Orbital in the same slot become one of my top Glasto moments.
And so that was that. We hit the tents pretty much straight away, with the intent of being up at six to get out of the carpark. In actual fact we were up just after 5 and after some tremendous packing efforts we hit the road with maybe a 30 minute queue to get out of the carpark. I’ll not say too much about the journey back just that after anything like this I’m always so happy to hit the first service station/shop etc with running hot water and soap and man that Burger King tasted just right.
So home sometime early afternoon which led to a quick nap and then an early night where I slept very well indeed. I’m still shattered now and will sleep well again tonight.
So that was pretty much my Glastonbury for 2007.
Oh wait no, the mud. Well you know what is there to say really? It was muddy but it wasn’t totally horrible. We all had wellies and waterproof trousers and we had ponchos/jackets/umbrellas and we carried on. It didn’t help the weekend and sure it took a little away and it meant extra tiredness from never being able to sit down but we bravely fought on with the aid of, amongst other things, hot cider and hot mulled wine and it was still a good weekend. As Johnny Marr put it during his set with Modest Mouse: “Fuck the rain”.
With the poor weather forecast and really having nothing better to do, Ciaran, Nathan and I set off on Wednesday morning. We didn’t get going quite as early as planned due to small things like buying a tent and the frantic search for wellies getting in the way. But still we eventually hit the road and we got on site sometime around 4pm I’d guess. It was jam packed! If I’m reading my wristband right, there were 47561 punters on site before we got there! It took us a good while to find some space for our tents. Not to worry, we found a decent enough spot just nearby the new Park area and setup quick enough. Naturally we went to the bar at this stage, in fact we went to several and got quite drunk. So that was a good night.
Thursday was just wandering around the site and checking things out. I met-up with Andy briefly and then with Malc later on. There was the first band too, sometime Welsh on the Left Field stage in the afternoon. It was okay, but really I was more excited by the music actually starting. So lots of wandering and then we spent the evening in the new area, The Park. A slightly long queue for going up the Ribbon Tower which co-incided with one of the close stages seemingly playing the best of Faithless. This was well received. We did try to find the Guilty Pleasures set but it was packed and so instead we went to Silent Disco. This was awesome. There are no speakers, everyone gets a set of headphones going into the tent and music is played into them. This was quite simply awesome.
Every couple of moments I’d slip the headphones off just to take in the crowd sound. Listening to several thousand people singing along to The Automatic’s Monster and then The White Stripe’s Seven Nation Army was easily one of those Glastonbury moments. Loved it and I’m on for Silent Disco the next time it plays anywhere nearby.
So Friday morning and then the festival kicks off properly. We went to the Jazz Stage first for Guilty Pleasures Featuring The Tor Dogs & Special Guests. This was unashamed pop classics covered by some fans and it was a great start to the whole weekend. There were singers from a number of bands including The Magic Numbers, Bay City Rollers, Elbow, The Charlatans, Ed Harcourt and ending with Suggs from Madness doing an excellent Love is in the Air. All in all it was a great start to the festival.
Next up was a move over to The Other Stage for The Cribs who we were not impressed with but really just hanging around for Modest Mouse. Excellent stuff as ever, they seemed to be having fun and did quite a good set with crowd pleasers of Dashboard and of course Float On. I enjoyed it a good deal. Straight after them was The Automatic who were okay. I’ve been listening to the album a bit today, I think if I knew them I’d have enjoyed it a little more. Straight after them was Bright Eyes which while I enjoyed it a whole lot was slightly disappointing. I’d have rather a little more of an acoustic set and a few more old tunes. Still good stuff and I’m annoyed at missing out on a ticket to see him next week.
Then it was a nice dinner break before splitting off from the others to see Bloc Party on the Pyramid stage. It was a fun, crowd pleasing set. I had a lot of fun. The guy next to me was so out of it he kept introducing himself to all around every 2 minutes and saying how beautiful the music was. Still, enjoyed them a lot it really got me into the mood for the night ahead.
Next up was The Fratellis who were nothing like as good as they had been talked up and I left after a few songs to grab some more food and find the lads before the main events. I caught up with the at the end of Rufus Wainwright who seems to have quite a decent voice but just not my thing.
Then, well quite simply if I had gone home after the next set I would have been more than happy with my Glastonbury. The Arcade Fire was absolutely fucking fantastic. It was more than worth the wait to finally see them live. From start to finish it was astounding. I loved it. I was wondering if getting tickets to see them two nights running later in the year was overkill (nevermind that day ticket to Reading I booked a while ago) and it’s not. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing them again. Fucking fantastic.
Finally closing off Friday was Bjork. Now I like Bjork but I wasn’t overly impressed by this. Okay we were quite a bit at the back but the set felt lacking. It was quiet and soft for the most part, some excellent older numbers and some solid more recent tracks. The volume only really kicked up for a penultimate Hyperballad (my personal favourite Bjork track) which set the entire area alight. More like that and it would have been excellent but as it was, it was just good. They had this awesome control screen for the sound which had techies in the audience drooling, that was a highlight and the laser show was pretty good too.
ETA: Now with added spellcheck!
Now to sleep for a long long time in a real, comfortable, bed.
Back home, shattered. A most excellent weekend. Some photos are up and I’m sure I’ll write more sooner or late but for now all I’d like to say is that I’ve waited a very long time to see The Arcade Fire and then they went and were so much better than I had hoped they would be. Beyond awesome.
