My Glastonbury Adventure 2025: Part 5, 'Rockin' In The Free World'

Neil.

The Acoustic Stage has been my favourite stage at Glasto for decades. Firstly, because it is a huge marquee it protects you from the elements in all weathers. I especially appreciate it in hot weather. If you sit just inside in the shade, you often get the added bonus of a nice breeze. Another reason I like it is because the music is usually suitable for my taste and age group. The final reason is because it isn’t too far from Tom’s field and the Pyramid Stage. I’m getting too old for walking vast distances to The Park Stage and the Avalon Stage these days. 

Lorraine Nash.

When I arrived at 12.20 on Saturday there was a young Irish singer-songwriter on stage called Lorraine Nash. I had never heard of her before. In the programme it said, ‘Traditional Irish multi-instrumentalist adding piquant elements of folk, Country and Americana to her sound’. I thought she was great and will certainly follow her future career. The next act was one of the main reasons I had made a beeline to the Acoustic after work. It was Oisin Leech. I had seen Oisin on this very stage a few years ago when he was part of a duo called The Lost Brothers. It inspired me to buy three of their albums. Last year Oisin took a break from the Lost Brothers and released his first solo album called Cold Sea. It is one of my favourite albums of the past 12 months. At Glastonbury Oisin and his little band treated us to most, or maybe all of that album. I filmed one of the songs One Hill Further and put it on YouTube when I got home. You can see it below if you scroll down. 

Oisin Leech.

Oisin’s excellent set ended with the traditional song Wild Mountain Thyme which many of the audience sang along with. Oisin was to return to the stage later in the afternoon. I’ll tell you about that when I get to it. Sophie B Hawkins was the next act on stage. I knew that she is an American singer and animal rights and LGBT campaigner who had several hits in the 1990s such as Damn, I Wish I was Your Lover, but I can’t claim to be a fan. At Glastonbury she sang re-imagined versions of songs from her Whaler album. She sounded great with a very powerful voice. However, I was hungry, I hadn’t eaten all day, so left to find some food. I got a bowl of lovely pasta just around the corner and sat on some pallets by the entrance to Bella’s Field to eat it. I could hear music and went to investigate. It was a German punk duo called Otto & Astrid- Die Roten Punkte. Astrid played drums and Otto played guitar and sang. 

Otto & Astrid

The song I heard, Otto explained was inspired by Iggy Pop’s I Wanna Be Your Dog, but their song was called I Wanna Be Your Cat. Every verse ended with Meow !. It is incredible what you stumble across at Glasto. Then I hurried back to the Acoustic tent because I wanted to hear the next act called Not Completely Unknown. It was a tribute to Bob Dylan featuring some great musicians and singers including Ralph McTell, Paul Carrack, Sid Griffin, Liam O’Maonlaii and others. I can’t remember all the songs now, but it included Ballad Of Easy Rider, You Ain’t Going Nowhere, Mr Tambourine Man, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, One More Cup Of Coffee, One Too Many Mornings and a few others. They were joined at the finale by Oisin Leech for I Shall Be Released. I spotted Peter, Helen, Berna, Robin and some others and told them the tale of the Zoe Ball / Jo Wiley mix up earlier, and said I’d see them near the ash tree for John Fogerty.

John Fogerty 

The crowd was so big around the tree we couldn’t get near enough to it to get any shade, so had to sit under the blazing sun. I was really suffering in the 30-degree heat but was determined to see John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame. He and his great band which includes two of his sons didn’t disappoint and played all the great hits. Starting and ending with my favourite Up Around the Bend, plus Green River, Born on the Bayou, Have You Ever Seen the Rain?, Cotton Fields, Down on the Corner, Fortunate Son, Bad Moon Rising, and Proud Mary among a few others. I started moving towards the back towards the end to make a sharp exit back to Tom’s field and a much-needed shower, the colder the better. It did the trick and revived me for the evening. 

Red Arrows watch Pulp.

There was a mystery band on next called Patchwork and as everyone predicted it was Pulp. I didn’t see them but could clearly hear them from Tom’s. During Common People there was a huge WHOOSH and the Red Arrows aerial display team flew right across the site. That seems to have become a tradition of the last few years.  I chilled out then until the cool of the evening before making my way back down to see the act that I had been looking forward to more than any other. It was Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts. When I arrived at the Pyramid Stage field just before 10.00, I was surprised at how small the crowd was because the last time I saw Neil headline here in 2009 the crowd was vast. That was 16 years ago though, and todays youngsters have probably never heard of Neil Young. 

Neil by Matt Cardy.

I think it is partly clever stage management as well. They don’t want most of the 130,000 ticket holders at one stage and creating a possible crush. So, by having Charli XCX on the Other Stage who oldies like me have never heard of they spread the crowds. Anyway, I think I enjoyed Neil’s performance even more than the 2009 show because he mixed up acoustic Neil more with electric Neil and performed songs from all eras of his long and distinguished career. Right from the opening song Sugar Mountain which is one of the first songs he ever wrote up to some new songs I hadn’t heard before. This is the setlist from Glastonbury. Sugar Mountain, Be the Rain, When You Dance, I Can Really Love, Cinnamon Girl, Fuckin' Up, Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black), The Needle and the Damage Done, Harvest Moon, Looking Forward, Sun Green, Love and Only Love, Like a Hurricane, Name of Love, Old Man, Encore: Rockin' in the Free World, Throw Your Hatred Down.

I wasn’t interested in trying to get to the front. At the edge of the field, they have these low stone painted benches that I was lucky to find a seat on. About ten minutes into the set this beautiful young woman asked if she could sit here. “Of course you can”, I said making room for her. Then I asked her if she would save my place and look after my drink while I nipped to the loo. When I got back, we started chatting in between the songs. Her name was Anastasia, 30 years of age and she was Greek. She had come to Glastonbury with her uncle who lived in London. He was a big Neil Young fan who had gone right down to the front to watch. Talking to Anastasia made the show even more of a pleasure for me. Anastasia said, “I don’t know this music, but it sounds legendary to me”. So, I think Neil gained at least one more fan at Glasto. Even though he often appears grumpy I think Neil enjoyed playing the show as well. He seems to especially love playing Rockin In The Free World and doesn’t want it to end. That show alone was worth coming to Glastonbury for. It finally did end sadly, and I said cheerio to Anastasia as she went off to find her uncle. I had been awake for nearly 20 hours, but what a great day it had been.

Photo by Tom Widd.

To be continued………………………………