Glastonbury Roundup

Subject: GLASTONBURY ROUNDUP
From: s6k
Date: 25 Jun 05 - 09:17 PM

i wanted to put my own personal comments on what i have seen so far in the festival, in particular a couple of acts that most of you wont know but are definately worth a look!

first off, i was simply amazed tonight, in between showing the headlining acts, we had a live acoustic performance by:
RODGRIGO Y GARBRIELA
this is a guy and a girl with their flamenco & classical guitar, and what they do is interperet classic rock/folk/flamenco stuff and do it in their own style.
this performance was a mixture of stuff, a metallica riff worked into a flamenco rhythm, some Paco de Lucia, and other modern stuff. they were simply amazing, they worked great together, and the speed of the playing was superb. truly a great duo, they have one album out, DEFINATELY check it out!

also, i saw Eliza Carthy performing solo with her accordion the song "colourblind" - it was a great performance, she was in the studio playing it, and couldnt fit her band in! so she just played it herself

the white stripes did some really great stuff, as you will already know if you are a fan, their work is mostly interpretations of classic delta blues tracks. they did a really good version of Son House "death letter blues" - and tracks from their new album. if you didnt like the white stripes before, do check out their new album - its mainly acoustic, with acoustic guitar, marimba, and such. great stuff.

i was also quite impressed with coldplays set, having not been much of a fan before. they even did a tribute to Kylie and sang cant get you out of my head - i dont like kylie, but she was going to headline one of the nights until she found out she had cancer. so this was nice.

im keeping my eyes peeled for more good stuff and will report back here.

to finish, there was a video about 10 mins long about john peel - very moving, and everyone has a huge respect for him, which is the way it should be.

please add your own stuff youve liked

Subject: RE: GLASTONBURY ROUNDUP
From: Gray D
Date: 25 Jun 05 - 10:31 PM

I would LIKE to see Eliza and the chaps but the flickerin' Beeb is only covering dull rock soundalikes most of the time . . . and doing a pretty shabby job even of that. The much hyped multiple session broadcasts on freeview digital are bordering on the tragic. Terrible direction, and such a limited set of artists being shown that one could well begin to suspect the worst of the broadcast team.

Absolutely hopeless.

Sounds like you're there, s6k . . . hope you've got your wellies with you.

Enjoy having a real choice over what to see,

Gray D

Subject: RE: GLASTONBURY ROUNDUP
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 02:07 AM

Not so much wellies as snorkel and flippers....

The bits I've caught on TV echo the second post.... good studio stuff (despite there being no foldback at one point) considering they had to move the whole damn studio from out of the ditch it was in, when it became a 6ft deep river bed. BUT.... yes.... seems like only headline names are getting decent coverage.

LTS

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 03:15 AM

Well I saw K T Tunstall on the BBC Glastonbury set the other evening, never heard of her before but was knocked out by her Oomph and obvious enjoyment of what she was doing. Check her out
Giok

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 04:54 AM

Kasabian good, and liked Roisin Murphy. Also quite liked the Doves, and Killers.

I wish they'd let you see the guitars properly: it gets very frustrating trying to work out what people are playing. I think I've seen one of the very rare upside-down Jagmasters (not sure I've got that name right) and few Gibson J-45s - one I think a period one with the adjustable bridge. I'm also almost sure one of the Doves was playing a re-issue Hagstrom Viking. Another that I thought might have been a Viking turned out to be a bit of a puzzle as it had no switch on either horn so It was not a Hag, and I think for the same reason it wasn't a 335 either, and I never did get to see the headstock properly although the machine head buttons did look a bit like Gibson.

Babyshambles were crap.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: s6k
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 06:52 AM

hi again, im not there (sadly - even though its muddy as hell!) but i have been glued to the screen, madly flicking between bbc2 and 3, and the 2 other options on freeview.

my god, John Giok, how could i forget KT TUnstall ! i was lucky to have been flicking through channels at the time, and on the "more bands 2" option on freeview, it said "next - kt tunstall" now, i'd got her album, not expecting much, but it was brilliant! so i watched her, and it was good enough to show you about 6 songs from her, she was fantastic. i especially like "black horse and the cherry tree"
yes, you should all check out this girl, she is very good. although one thing, on her album, it is mainly acoustic, at Glastonbury, there were backing musicians, including a guitarist who kept sticking his nose in playing crappy solo bits with distortion in most of the songs... nearly spoiled it. but he did do one song good, with the slide.

i will also mention Keane, who i really like, they have a great album, and played a very good set. saw most of it in bits over freeview, my favourite song is "Everybody's Changing" which i finally got to see at about 1am this morning.

And a final mention to BBC4 who played an hours worth of Baaba Maal on the Jazz World Stage last night at 11.30 - some really good stuff, they were all great on the drums and respective instruments. it made a nice change from seeing a days worth of rock and what-have-you.

for me, if i went to glastonbury, i would probably go see about 3 well known artists, but id spend the rest of my time going to see all the people you dont know about, the african artists, and all the other stuff going on at the festival. its a chance to hear music that is very hard to hear and get hold of in england. this IMO is time better spent than the hordes of people who go to see all the popular bands.

i agree with the above Richard Bridge, Babyshambles were indeed rubbish, i dont see the appeal myself, and i am sick to death of seeing Kaiser Chiefs! every time i turned the channel, they was on!!!! there should be more coverage of the acoustic and world music stages in my opinion

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: Tam the man
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 06:58 AM

The best part for me on the Glastonbury festival was Chas and Dave and Eliza Carthy, the rest was crap, head bursting 'music'.

but each to their own.

Tom

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 07:00 AM

Loved Katie Tunstall, Doves White Stripes, Kasabian but sorry Coldplay were beyond magnificent last night.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: *Laura*
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 01:20 PM

Missed out on Glastonbury tickets (even the ones they hold back for Somerset residents) BUT hope is not lost as going to see Coldplay in London tomorrow.
I saw some of it on tv last night and I'm now even more excited than I was before!!!!!
:o)

xLx

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 04:37 PM

james blunt and the wainwrights on today -excellent. Do wish toe BBC would show less self obsessed DJ's and more music though.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: s6k
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 04:51 PM

James Blunt was good earlier - Youre Beautiful is a great track, i love the lyrics, and the song that Rufus & Martha did i thought it was brilliant! has even inspired me to have a look at their albums

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: s6k
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 09:11 PM

just finished another 5 hours in front of the TV, the last for this year, and there is no festival next year so the last until 2007

now then, where to start!
we begun the night on a low note! i was watching from 9pm-ish - and there was ian brown on one stage and basement jaxx on the other. and freeview did NOT allow choices of other artists tonight!!! so i dont like either of these bands, so it wasnt that good, but suddenly, surprisingly, it picked up!

first off, i saw Steve Earl performing "rich mans war" on his own acoustic, amazing performance, and started off the great stuff i saw through until 2am (which is the time now, and im up at 7am!!!)

after this, i saw billy bragg on his own doing a song about facsists, that was really good also.
i saw Baaba Maal, who had an hour on bbc4 last night, but bbc2 put him on doing an acoustic song "Koni" with a hige backdrop of the festival goers walking slowly through the mud, it fitted perfectly with the music and was a really nice song.

i was very surprised also to see that the Wailers were playing. i never knew until just now, and didnt see any coverage on TV, but am a huge bob marley fan, and would loved to have seen them.

the rest was highlights, and there was loads of great stuff that was nice to see again. Keane i enjoyed again, and Brian Wilson also did an amazing set.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: GUEST,Hen Harrier
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 10:03 PM

Yes s6k, Rodgrigo y Garbriela were abfab, hope Beeb4 give us some more of them in the not too distant future!

Brian Wilson & his cohorts were also great.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 02:16 PM

Ieven enjoyed basement jaxx - but then I was drunk by that time. I thought it was an excellent festival-but I did miss John Peel

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: GUEST,Fiddlin' Sid
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 05:05 PM

Coldplay, first album -great
2nd album -ok,
From there on (in my own v.humble opinion)Chris Martin - very good mate to Farmer Eavis has become so far wedged up his own pretentious posterior that it is unreal !! The guy on TV irritated me beyond belief - a talented guy, but come on !!!

Glastonbury coverage has always been pretty poor and has generally concentrated on the main two stages. There is no substitute for attending.However,it is becoming increasingly difficult in this computer age to actually get there. Not v. spirit of woodstock is it ??

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: stevep
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 08:40 AM

Like others, I thought the BBC coverage was focussed far too much on the two main stages (and even when Eliza Carthy did pop up, I had given up and gone to bed...). And as for the interactive "choose your stage" service, once again I could pick between recordings from the same two stages. How about BBC4 covering the rest of the festival?

I thought Brian Wilson's set was a rather sad spectacle. He didn't touch the keyboard he sat behind, was clearly reading all of the words from a prompter, and looked a little confused at times. I appreciate he has been through some tough times, but it was bit like a circus sideshow. Enjoyed the new form of crowd-surfing though.

Subject: RE: Glastonbury Roundup
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 03:23 PM

Of the folk-related acts I saw, Shooglenifty's acoustic stage set was by far the most outstanding( but I have to add I couldnt go to Eliza Carthy's gig, I was playing elsewhere. (Had I seen her, my opinion would possibly have been different?). I hadnt seen Shooglenifty for a few years, and was prepared for anything, and was thrilled to find them really stunning. James McPherson is, as far as I am concerned, the best percussionist in the world(well, out of the ones I've met). They have a new mandoline/tenor banjo man since I last heard therm, who is rivetting to watch. And to listen to, come to think of it. It is interesting that the English folk scene has nothing like Shooglenifty to offer, It is so ghettoised in England that the folk acts tend not to be exposed to mainstream audiences, so they dont learn to play with the sort of edge you get with Shooglenifty, who have been playing a completely different kind of Scottish audience for untold years(no idea how many..15 perhaps?).
    Sharon Shannon's set was enlivened by a naked dancer on stage with them. This was apparently spontaneous, and not an official part of the act.
There seemed to be a good few more folk acts around than usual, particularly at the Acoustic Stage, Croissant Neuf Circus tent, and the Market Bandstand, which is good news for all. I think Glastonbury is a great place for folk, much more educational than folk festivals. You see the m folk stuff in the context of other forms of music, working the same venues in a lot of cases, and very similar audiences. Very interesting.
    Biggles Wartime Band were as ever the comedy stars, I saw them three times at different venues: they make you forget the mud all right. Very odd that they dont work English folk festivals very much, given they are a jug band effectively(with no jug), play a lot of folk material, and are obviously hysterically received by folkies that see them. Folk festival bookers are a very strange breed.
    The American bellydancing company(not sure what they were called) were something else. They did the Main Stage and the Jazz Stage, and were rivetting(and got a great crowd response). Didnt know the human could move like that, they looked like computer animations.
   The people I really wanted to see, as I never have seen the duo, were Boden and Spiers. But alas, having spalshed through the mud and floods I found their stage was out of action(it was just after the storm).
   The mechanical radio-controlled fire-breathing horse down in Lost Vagueness was a great bit of fun too. Altogether a very good Glastonbury. And I am glad to say the Boat Band has been provisionally booked for 2007, so if it happens, I'll be there again DV.