Glastonbury 2007

[ciaranmcnulty]

Well, I'm back at work after getting back at 6pm last night, I'm bloody knackered! The whole festival was amazing - the mud and rain didn't dampen our spirits at all, and the toilets weren't too bad.

We (davebushe, Nathan and I) went up Wednesday for a change, thinking we'd get the drop on everyone, and the place was rammed! I think it's wednesdays from then on. Wed/Thurs we mostly spent seeing the non-musical sights around the festival and, like, sitting in the stone circle and feeling the vibes. Man.

There are a few music things on, so we popped into a number of little tents to see what was going on. The Silent Disco was excellent, although possibly I was already enjoying myself a little too much at that point (see below).




People keep asking who I saw, so I've gone back through the listings and think this is the lot...

Friday:

• Guilty Pleasures Featuring The Tor Dogs & Special Guests - amazing stuff for an opening act! It was 8-9 singers from various bands (Magic Numbers, Charlatans, Madness, Elbow) doing covers of cheesy classics (Total Eclipse of the heart was good).
• The Cribs - didn't think much of them.
• Modest Mouse - Johnny Marr is a genius, and the songs are cracking too.
• The Automatic - played the songs I liked off the album, and even through in their cover of Goldigger that they did on the Radio One Live Lounge album.
• Bright Eyes - I always like Bright Eyes no matter what. The band were all dressed in white, and there were a lot more of them than I remember (certainly they didn't have a string, woodwind and brass section last time I looked). Seeing them again next week!
• Super Furry Animals - brilliant stuff, played all the songs we were hoping for.
• Rufus Wainwright - only caught the end, including him duetting with his sister and an elaborate dragged-up rendition of a Judy Garland number.
• Arcade Fire - maybe the best thing I saw, I was completely overwhelmed by the size of the band and the scale of their sound.
• Bjork - I could appreciate that this was ace, but was a bit far away so didn't entirely get into it. The laser show was impressive!

Saturday:

• The Pipettes - I can see why people like them, but it's not really my thing.
• The Guillemots - Pretty good, I suspect I'd have liked them a lot better if I knew the songs as well as all the people singing along near me!
• CSS - Absolutely ace. Dave thought they were rubbish but Lovefoxxx's many multicolored outfits made up for it.
• Klaxons - They were a bit shambolic due to being drunk as anything, but were still pretty anthemic.
• Maximo Park - Maybe the best live experience of the festival, Paul Smith is an amazing front man.
• !!! - In the intimate venue of the Glade they were great. I was annoyed earlier in the year because I had to drop out of a !!! gig because I was jetlagged - this made up for it.
• Rodrigo y Gabriela - One of Nathan's picks, but I really enjoyed it! Two duelling flemenco guitarists playing things like Stairway to Heaven and Metallica songs.

After all the excitement we spent some time up in Trash City, drinking in a 50s-style diner and dancing to some early rock-and-roll.

Sunday:

• The Holloways - Roz likes these so I persuaded the others to go along. Was impressed with how tight their playing was.
• Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly - I find him a bit over-earnest but the songwriting is good and the instrumentation lush.
• Dame Shirley Bassey - from where I was standing, she was rubbish. Possibly further forward was better but the Pyramid stage had sound problems all weekend.
• Manic Street Preachers - fantastic! As you can see above, Nathan protested all the newer songs by facing away from the stage with his fingers in his ears, then danced like a loon anythime anything from or before the Holy Bible was played.
• Moya Brennan - didn't recognise her from the billing, but turns out she was in Clannad and played a few of their songs. Was nice and relaxing to sit in a tent out of the rain.
• KT Tunstall - I'm not a massive fan but got up close and she's very good live.
• Billy Bragg & Guests - popped in for a song and found myself thinking trade unions were the way we can save the world. It wore off after we left.
• Chemical Brothers - we caught 2-3 songs while on the way to the next act. The light show looked amazing but I've never really got into dance acts on the main stages, I think they work better in a tent.
• The Gossip - the John Peel tent was crammed for this, we were on the edges but the energy in the room was amazing. The finale where Beth jumped into the crowd will stay with me for a long time.

(photos courtesy of Dave's Flickr, I need to get mine developed because I was rolling old-skool).