It was Friday morning at Glastonbury, the sun was shining
and finally on my sixth day at Worthy Farm the music was about to begin. You
can get these little guides in a plastic cover that you can hang around your
neck, they call them lanyards. At breakfast I studied my lanyard and put
circles around the acts I was hoping to see. It often doesn’t work out that way
though at Glasto because there are so many stages you can set off to see one
band and on the way there something happens and you end up watching something
else. The music was due to start at 11.00 so at about 10.00 I set off on a
marathon walk that was to last all day.
When I reached the Pyramid Stage The Hacienda Classical Orchestra were rehearsing and doing a soundcheck
for their performance. They sounded good but I didn’t hang around because I was
heading for the second biggest stage which is known as ‘The Other Stage’ to see
The Pretenders. What a great band to
start a festival with. I got there early so I managed to get a good spot right
near the front and waited patiently. Precisely at 11.00 they came on stage and
I must say Chrissie Hynde looked
great in her Motorhead T Shirt and tight blue jeans. She is one month older
than me but is still a sexy rock chick. I like her attitude as well. She is as
outspoken as ever and had a few choice words about Rupert Murdoch which I bet
the BBC didn’t broadcast. She still has her original Pretenders drummer Martin
Chambers, I don’t know how long the new guys have been in the band but they
rocked. Chrissie dedicated a song to Michael & Emily Eavis and also sang a
song for Glastonbury legend Joe Strummer and everyone who goes to Strummerville
which must have pleased my mate Dave who is a huge Clash fan. You can’t beat a
good bit of guitar based rock to kick-start a festival. Chrissie’s voice is as
good as ever and although I wasn’t familiar with some of the songs, they played
lots of classic Pretenders songs such as Stop
Your Sobbing, I’ll Stand By You and of course Brass In Pocket.
After that brilliant performance I went to the Pyramid
Stage where Paul Carrack had already
started his act. I had seen Paul in a previous year but that was an acoustic
show. Today he had a full band and sounded magnificent. Although I have known
about him for years, today it finally hit me how good he is, especially his
voice. When I arrived he was performing a song called Watching Over Me. Wandering through the crowd who should I spot
sitting on the grass and listening intently but Odele. She said that Paul
reminded her a bit of Van Morrison and I can see what she means with the
soulful emotion of the songs and also the band, especially the brilliant saxophone
player. I think Van would have no problems playing with this band. I didn’t
write down a setlist but songs I remember included The Living Years and Over My Shoulder which were big hits for Mike
And The Mechanics, How Long by Ace, Love Will Keep Us Alive, by The Eagles
and Tempted by Squeeze. It was great
that Paul Carrack was finally given a slot on the Pyramid Stage to show how
great he is. When the likes of Elton John & Phil Collins have sold millions
of albums it seems an injustice that Paul Carrack who has a better voice and
written songs that are just as good as them is only now getting the wide
attention he deserves.
Odele told me that she had just had an amazing experience
in the Greenpeace place nearby and I
should go and try it, so I did. They sit you down on a revolving stool and put
this 3D visor over your eyes and headphones over your ears. Then suddenly you
are actually up the trees in the Brazilian rain forest or in the middle of the
ocean and if you turn your head or move the stool around you get the whole
experience in all directions. I found it quite scary because if you look down
there is nothing under your feet and you think you are about 300ft up in the
air. It is an incredible experience though. When I took the visor off I felt
quite unsteady on my feet for a couple of minutes.
After that, Odele was going up to the Healing Fields so I
said cheerio and headed for the Acoustic Stage where I had arranged to meet my
friend Dave. When I got there I had a look to see who was on and it was a
singer called Naya. She is only 17
and inspired by Bowie & PJ Harvey. I wasn’t very impressed though and went
to the bar where I found Dave and was also pleased to see Brent & Steve who
also come from Westbury. I had my first pint of the day and then me and Dave
headed back to the Pyramid because we are both fans of First Aid Kit. We had a few minutes to kill so I got Dave to have a
go on the Greenpeace 3D thing and he was mightily impressed with it as well.
First
Aid Kit are two sisters from Sweden called Klara & Johanna
Soderberg. They also have an excellent backing band. I first became aware of
them through Glastonbury a few years ago and bought their album The Lions Roar. At Glastonbury this year
they sounded a lot rockier than I remember and some of the lyrics to the new
songs sounded quite dark. They were still great though even though they have
evolved a bit from the Country/Folk group that I thought they were. One of the
most memorable songs for me this year was their version of Kenny Roger’s The Gambler. They saved my favourite
song of theirs till right near the end which is Emmylou, a tribute to Emmylou Harris. I couldn’t believe how
quickly their set went by.
As the First Aid Kit fans
left it enabled me and Dave to get right to the front for the next act which
was Kris Kristofferson. I was looking
forward to this because he is a legend who has written some of my favourite
songs such as Sunday Morning Coming Down and
Me And Bobby Magee. I was to be
disappointed though. It started badly when one of his assistants or roadies
came on and started tuning or playing his guitar and talking to the audience
and milking the attention. It got on my nerves. Finally Kris shuffled on stage, he seemed to be reading the songs of an
auto-cue and it all seemed very shambolic. It seemed very sad in front of such a
vast crowd. After two songs I said to Dave, “I’m off mate, I can’t stand this”.
As I walked away I could hear him introducing a female singer and it sounded
slightly better. I wasn’t the only person leaving either, believe me.
Apparently later on Johnny Depp joined
him on stage but I was long gone by then. I hope I haven’t offended any fans of
Kris. When I saw Dave later he said
he had enjoyed it and his opinion is as valid as mine. I just think with his laid back style he might
have been more at home on a smaller more intimate stage.
Another reason I left was because I knew that Sharon Shannon was on the Acoustic Stage
and I managed to catch the end of her act. I love Sharon, she is to the
accordion what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar and is the perfect festival music
for audience participation. She was kicking up a storm and everyone was dancing,
especially to her great song Galway Girl.
After Sharon finished I used my handy wristband to gain entry to the Acoustic
bar because they have a little stage in there and I hoped Sharon might come in
and have a bit of a session. It was quiet though so I just had one drink and
went back to the stage where Martha
Wainwright was performing. I have always been curious about her because she
is the daughter of Kate McGarrigle who
I love and Loudan Wainwright. She
seems a very nice person and spoke fondly of her memories of previous visits to
Glastonbury. Her songs seemed very pleasant but sadly I’m not familiar with her
music because I haven’t ever bought an album by her so after a while she
started sounding a bit samey to me. That’s not her fault though, it was mine.
I moved on and was feeling a bit tired and hungry so I
stopped at Pilton Pasta and had some nice carbonara. I have been here previous
years because they have tasty food and are nice people. The money they make
goes to supporting a children’s hospice so that is why I like eating there.
When I reached the Bandstand I was knackered so I sat down and watched a girl
band called Elle And The Pocket Belles. They
were really entertaining and were singing Glenn Miller/ Andrews Sisters type
songs from WW2 and dressed accordingly (See photo). The sun was still beating
down so next I went in the Bread And Roses Saloon and had a sit down for a
while and a pint of cider.
Once I revived a bit I carried on walking. By the time I
got to the Other Stage it was now eight hours since I saw The Pretenders at the start of the day. George Ezra was on next. I
really like George and if I was asked to name a great young British
singer/songwriter I would choose George over Ed Sheeran any day. I first discovered his music when I saw him
supporting Robert Plant three years ago. He writes great songs and I can
understand what he is singing about. He sang a mixture of old and new songs and
the ones I particularly remember were Cassie
O, Barcelona, Pretty Shining People and Budapest.
It was great to see George back because he has been a bit quiet lately.
I carried on my epic walk through Silver Hayes in the
general direction of the Beat Hotel because I wanted to try their cocktails,
they had names like Rhubarb Kerouac and Beatnik. On the way there I stumbled
across the Hare Krishna’s tent so I
wandered in. They have been at Glastonbury throughout all the years I have been
going. I did something I have never done in all those 38 years and I had some
free food. It was quite bland spaghetti type stuff but I ate it and it wasn’t
really free because I chucked some change in the bucket as a donation. I told one
of them how a friend of mine joined the Krishna’s about 45 years ago but he
didn’t seem very interested. On a sofa in there were two old hippies fast
asleep which reminded me of the olden days at Glastonbury. I moved on and I
couldn’t get near the bar in the Beat Hotel. It was jammed with youngsters who
thought they were hip. I found that annoying because I’m the original Beatnik !
I got a large G &T at another bar and chatted to some
girl but it’s all a bit of a blur now. Finally, the sun was setting over Avalon
so I thought I better get back nearer to base because I must confess I was
quite drunk by now. I headed back towards the Pyramid where XX had just finished and was surprised
to find thousands of people leaving. This surprised me because I thought
thousands of people would be arriving to see Radiohead. “ Why is everyone going?”, I asked a passer by. “They
are all youngsters”, he answered, “They’ve never heard of Radiohead”. I was amazed because I’m so old that I think of Radiohead as a modern band. Then I remembered
that it is 20 years ago in the rainy year of 1997 that their performance at
Glasto made them world famous. Some of these kids weren’t even born then.
Anyway, I watched their show from the top of the field but it left me cold. I
have one album OK Computer but I
wouldn’t say I was a big fan. Before the end I got lonely and decided to go
back to base. There was quite a few people sat around the fire. I nipped to my
tent and fetched a bottle of brandy that I had been saving and got a coffee and
had a nice brandy coffee. I ended up chatting to this nice lady from Russia
called Vera who lives in Portugal now. Also a guy from Oxfordshire called
Michael and a Scottish lady called Katie. Some of the best fun at Glastonbury
is around the fire.
Finally, about 2.00 in the morning I thought I better get
to bed because I was completely bollixed after a long brilliant day. I fell
asleep into blissful slumbers completely unaware of the historic drama that would happen
the following day.
TO BE CONTINUED ………………………….
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