Quiet Days: My Glastonbury 2022 Story, Part 4, A Chance Encounter.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

My Glastonbury 2022 Story, Part 4, A Chance Encounter.

Les Amazones D'Afrique

Saturday is the peak of the festival. Everyone who is coming had arrived, and nobody had gone home yet. I think there were about 230,000 people on site including workers. For a few days it is the biggest city between Bristol and Plymouth, and then it disappears once again into the mists of Avalon. I was determined to make the most of the day and made my way back to the Pyramid Stage. The first group on were called Les Amazones D’Afrique. They are a super-group of four female singers from Africa who were founded in Mali in 2016. They sounded great and looked magnificent in their colourful costumes. They had incredible energy as well, leaping about and dancing. I didn’t understand what they were singing about of course, but that doesn’t matter. As the great Tony Benn said at Glastonbury many years ago, “Music is the international language which everyone can understand, it doesn’t matter where you come from”. You don’t have to understand the words to enjoy the rhythms and experience the joy.

Katherine Priddy.

After that great start to the day, I made my way slowly to my beloved Acoustic Stage. There was a singer songwriter performing called Katherine Priddy. I think I have heard her before on BBC 6Music. I sat down to listen and thought she was wonderful. She has a beautiful voice and writes very clever songs. Two of the songs were based on Greek myths, Icarus and Eurydice. Another song I liked was called The Isle Of Eigg which is in Scotland. You can find her singing Letters From A Travelling Man at Glastonbury on youtube if you want. After she had finished her excellent set, I was watching the next act which was Laura Viers when I noticed Katherine standing by the side of the stage with her manager. I went over and bought a CD of her new album called The Eternal Rocks Beneath which she signed for me. I asked for a photo, and she obliged with that as well. What a nice lady. I said to her, “Did you know that Priddy is the name of a village near here in Somerset?”, “Yes”, she replied. “It is famous for magic mushrooms”, I added. “Oh, I wouldn’t know about that”, she said, and that was the conversation. I haven’t played the CD yet, but when I do, I’ll write a review of it.

I was so chuffed with meeting Katherine that I forgot to write any notes about Laura Viers, so I can’t think of anything to say about her, sorry Laura. After that, I set off on another long walk. There were two people who I know who were performing at Glastonbury, playing in the tiny Avalon Café. They weren’t mentioned in the lanyard because that is just for the main stages. I wanted to find out when they were on. There wasn’t any mention of them on the blackboard, so they must have been playing on the Sunday, or already performed. At least I tried. While I was up that way, I thought I might as well watch a band on the Field Of Avalon stage.

Theatre Field.

It was a band called Molotov Jukebox. This is another band previously unknown to me, but they sounded excellent. They have a great singer called Natalia Tena. You may have heard of her because she is also an actress and has appeared in Harry Potter films and Game Of Thrones. There is a nice pub in the Field Of Avalon called The Avalon Inn, so I enjoyed a pint of cider, talked to people and watched the world go by. You don’t have to be rushing about all the time. The Tom Robinson Band and Dr John Cooper Clarke were due on next on this stage, but I made my way back to base to prepare for the evening. I was looking forward to seeing Richard Thompson as much as anyone in the line-up this year, but when I arrived promptly at 8.00 it was to the sad news that he had pulled out at short notice due to covid.

I was very disappointed but got over it quickly. Ralph McTell was called in to replace Richard. I have seen him many times over the years, starting at Peterborough Folk Club in about 1968 when I was still at school. Ralph played an excellent set including my favourite song of his called From Clare To Here. After Ralph finished his performance, I stayed for a few songs by The Waterboys. They obviously love Glastonbury because they have released a brand-new song called Glastonbury Fayre which is about their previous appearances here. They were on top form, and I heard about five songs including I’m Still A Freak and Blackberry Girl.

I left The Waterboys because Paul McCartney was already underway. I avoided the crowds by using my old trick of going up the lane at the side of the Acoustic, turning left, crossing Muddy Lane and emerging at the back of the Pyramid Stage field. I watched from the back, near that ice-cream van I mentioned yesterday. It would have been impossible to get nearer. Let 'Em In was the song when I arrived. Paul McCartney has had a lot of criticism in recent years, with people saying he can’t sing any more, but his voice sounded fine to me. Maybe they have technology to improve the voice these days. I won’t go through the whole show because you have probably seen it on the telly, but this is what I can remember Maybe I'm Amazed, In Spite of All the Danger, which was the first demo song he ever recorded with The Quarrymen, Love Me Do, which was the first Beatles song I ever heard, when I was ten years old. Blackbird, Lady Madonna, For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Something, (The only song I didn’t really like, with him playing ukulele). Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, You Never Give Me Your Money, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Get Back, I Saw Her Standing There, Band on the Run, Glory Days, I Wanna Be Your Man, Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, I've Got a Feeling, Helter Skelter, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End. There were others, but I can’t remember them now.

During the show I got chatting with this woman called Layla from Bristol. After the surprise of Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen joining him on stage she said, “What other surprises do you think there will be?”. I said, “I think he should do a duet with John Lennon”. She looked at me like I was mad. When it happened during I’ve Got A Feeling when John Lennon singing was projected onto the stage backdrop, she was amazed. She didn’t know that I had been following his recent American tour and knew what to expect. I think the show was a triumph for McCartney at the age of 80. I couldn’t help thinking what great ambassadors for this country The Beatles were. Everyone around the world loved The Beatles and they gave this country a great image abroad. They were just four working class kids from Liverpool. Anyway, that brought Saturday to a close. There was just one day left, and what a great day it would be……(Continued below)