Gareth Colwell
9/10
Glastonbury is generally seen as the daddy of all festivals. With a capacity of 177,500 and 45 stages spread over 1000 acres it is not hard to figure out where it gets this reputation from! As a festivalgoer but Glastonbury virgin, I was desperate to stuck in and see what it is was like in the flesh.
So, first things first – how were the headline acts? Friday headliners, Gorillaz, followed a barnstorming appearance from Dizzee Rascal who got everyone into the festival mood. Unfortunately, Damon Albarn’s ultra serious approach seemed the leave the crowd wanting. Combined with a downbeat set list it caused many to drift off physically and mentally. However, they did recover some lost ground towards the end, which was capped off with a fantastic guest appearance from Snoop Dogg.
Saturday’s big story was Kylie’s guest appearance with the Scissor Sisters, which was the icing on a gloriously camp cake that did get everyone dancing (including Carol Vorderman who was in stood in front of me. No joke.) Muse followed up with a well polished set complete with epic light show, which helped to liven up some of their newer, more ponderous material. However, this should not take away from what was an excellent performance that packed in plenty of classic Muse hits.
On Sunday, Faithless provided a solid warm up for Stevie Wonder in the dying sunlight. Stevie himself was excellent after a slightly slow start. His Keytar solo was quite something, and the sight of him singing “Happy Birthday” with the founder of Glastonbury, Michael Eavis, on its 40th Anniversary could not help but warm the coldest of hearts. Eavis’ singing however, could possibly shatter the strongest of eardrums!
Other musical highlights included Florence and the Machine and LCD Soundsystem on the Other Stage, Rodreigo et Gabriela on the West Holts stage and The Black Keys on the John Peel stage who continue to astound me by recreating the sound of a four piece band with only two of them on stage.
Glastonbury cannot adequately be reviewed on the basis of just the music on offer, so I’ll try to sum up all the weird and wonderful stuff on offer. On Saturday, we took a wander down to the lower fields, starting with the Leftfield. For an area supposedly devoted to socialist politics it was somewhat ironic that the field was dominated by the Orange “Chill ‘n Charge” tent. However, things start to get interesting. The Avalon field boasted see saws, dreamy acoustic sets and a full scale real ale pub, which was then followed by The Healing Fields where you can get an Indian Head Massage for a couple of quid. This is bordered by the iconic Stone Circle and the Craft Fields where stonemasons, furniture makers and potters display their wares (and encourage you to join in).
In the outer reaches of the fields you start to come across some truly mind bending sights (in my case somewhat exacerbated by the prolonged consumption of Cider over the previous 48 hours). Shangri-La is a bizarre network of alleyways with many tiny “micro venues”. Strangely reminiscent of the alleyways that existed in Portsmouth’s much maligned (and now demolished) Tricorn Centre, it gives you a slightly uneasy feeling coupled with a curiosity to explore further. Moving onto Block 9 there is a seven storey replica of a London tower block (complete with Tube train smashed in the middle of it), complemented by a mock up of a street in New York complete with club and separate seedy bar inside. Other highlights include The Unfair Field, where various bits of junk and military hardware (planes, helicopters etc) are dumped and turned into bars, stages and other venues. Finally, The Arcadia field boasts a stage created from three disused cranes. Not too exciting you think? Well…..at night, fire comes out of the top of it. Lots of it. In this part of Glastonbury, expect the unexpected.
So, what was my overall opinion of the event? An exceptional weekend of fun in the countryside that I would recommend to anyone. Once you get past the scale of the event, accept that you won’t be able to see everything and realise that you will get dirty whatever the weather (the beautiful sunshine this year created clouds of dust that replaced the more familiar mud), you will just roll along with the crowd and you’ll never want to leave. The remarkably mellow atmosphere means there is very little trouble and a very relaxed feeling throughout the site (Guildhall Walk take note). One small warning though: It is pretty challenging to accept the daily grind of real life once you get home!