Glastonbury - The Sunday Night

So the Sunday night headliner on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury wasn’t someone like The Levellers, the Manics or The Strokes, it was Beyonce. I have nothing against Beyonce and she is clearly very good at what she does but it’s just not my cup of tea. I can’t review her set because I didn’t watch it. I tried but after about 10mins I gave up. That kind of music just doesn’t do anything for me. Luckily the TV was also showing music from other stages so there was plenty to keep the rest of the viewing public engaged.

I was delighted to find that the Red Button was showing a decent chunk of a set by one of my favourite bands The Eels. I’ve been a fan of Mark ‘E’ Everett and his music since ‘Novocaine for the Soul’ was a minor hit in the mid-nineties. One of the main reasons I like the Eels is that they are constantly changing and re-inventing their style. Every tour they do has a different feel, look and sound. You never know what you’re going to get but you know it will be brilliant.

After The Eels I watched some Queens of the Stone Age. Unlike the Eels with Queens of the Stone Age you know exactly what you’re going to get and that’s what they delivered. It was an accomplished rock tour-de-force. It was Powerful, exhilarating and the perfect antidote to pop on the Pyramid stage. It’s perfect festival music and I really enjoyed it.

A lot of people are very annoyed that Glastonbury has become the sort of event that a pop act headlines. I agree to an extent but I think the festival is now so big it can cater for all tastes. If you didn’t want to watch Beyonce there was plenty of other stuff to see. I don’t particularly want to see another pop act headline again in the near future but if it’s in several years time and we are talking about someone as big as Beyonce then why not? Glastonbury has always prided itself on mixing genres and being inclusive of all types of music. Long may it continue.

I’m going to the Manchester Apollo tonight to see the Fleet Foxes. I’ll Blog about it some point over the next couple of days.

Glastonbury 2011

I had intended on following up yesterday’s Blog about U2 at Glastonbury (from the point of view of a TV viewer) with one about Coldplay. I started watching the Coldplay set but I’ll be honest I got bored and switched to other more interesting and diverse Glastonbury coverage.

I’m no expert on Coldplay and didn’t recognise the opening song. I think it was one of the new ones. It seemed a strange way to start and the crowd went almost silent. They should have started with the second song they performed which was ‘Yellow’. The crowd sung every word and it came across very well on television. After this it all went a bit flat and boring so I switched over and waited for the Chemical Brothers to come on.

While waiting for the Chemical Brothers I caught some of Aloe Blacc who was cooler than an Eskimo sat on an iceberg. I also watched Jessie J who did her whole set sat down because of a broken foot. Jessie J was joined on stage by a little girl from the crowd to join her singing Price Tag. The young lady in question was a 7 year old called Shay and she lit up the whole event. It was one of those wonderful Glastonbury moments.

There was also some coverage of Omar Souleyman from The Glade Stage. Omar Souleyman is Syrian and his sound is hard to describe. It’s like the Islamic call to prayer with a trance beat. I loved it.

The Chemical Brothers headlined the Other Stage. They are an amazing live act but it doesn’t always come across very well on the television. Last night’s coverage worked really well though and with the sound cranked up a notch was very enjoyable. It’s the sort of music that makes you want to drop one and go out and party.

After the Chemical Brothers I watched the Coldplay highlights on the red button. I really enjoyed it. I do like Coldplay but if you take away the best 4 or 5 songs it’s all a bit bland. The highlights were the best way to watch it. Chris Martin is a remarkable talent and I wish him and his band continued success. They certainly gave U2 a lesson in festival headlining. I just prefer something a bit less middle of the road.

U2 at Glastonbury 2011

Before I start I want to say that I’m going to steer clear of the tax avoidance issue. This Blog post is about the band, its music and the performance from last night.

I think this year’s choice of headliners is a bit poor. Coldplay will put a good show on but are a very conservative, risk free and, dare I say, slightly boring choice. Beyonce at Glastonbury just seems like an incredibly strange choice and doesn’t fit with my idea of what a Glastonbury headliner should be (it’s cruel but I would love to see her pelted with mud). The first headliner of the weekend though was the musical money making machine that is U2.

After last years no show U2 finally headlined a rain soaked Glastonbury. I’m not at Glastonbury this year so I can only give my opinion on their performance from the point of view of watching it on the television. I’m not in the U2 hater’s brigade but I’m not a big fan of them either so I’m exactly the sort of person they needed to win over.

My initial impression was that Bono looked nervous during the first couple of songs. Once he realised the crowd weren’t booing and throwing mud at him he seemed to settle down a bit and enjoy himself. The opening salvo was actually quite strong with hits taken mainly from the Achtung Baby era played against a backdrop of Zoo TV type video screen graphics. Things then settled down but only ‘One’, ‘Streets Have No Name’ and ‘I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For’ got the crowd singing. One of the strongest U2 songs is ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and it should have been a highlight but it just felt a bit flat and lifeless. I did enjoy ‘Elevation’ but ‘Vertigo’ felt a bit forced.

The encore was a huge disappointment as they had used up all the most well know hits that are needed for a memorable finale. ‘With or Without You’ worked but ‘Moment of Surrender’ was lost on the crowd. ‘Out of Control’ couldn’t save them by this point and the set ended on a bit of a dour note.

Bono tried his best not to be a pretentious twat but he is one and he can’t hide it for long. His Jerusalem made me cringe with embarrassment. The Edge gave his all but couldn’t hide the fact that it’s all sound effect peddles and computer programmes. Andy Clayton and Larry Mullen were as tight and professional as we have come to expect and managed to hold the sound together.

U2 were never going to stir the emotions of a Glastonbury crowd in the same way as say Blur did a couple of years earlier. The hits are popular but the fact of the matter is that U2 rely on the big stage sets and video screens to mask much that is mediocre.

There were some good points last night but not enough to make it a triumph for U2. Perhaps if the weather had been better the crowd might have been a bit more up for it but I doubt the music would have lifted them to any great degree. I give U2 at Glastonbury a score of 6/10. Not bad but not great either.