Four

Hmm. The fact that I'm researching some background details for work tomorrow via the interweb and updating this here blog doesn't exactly offer a ringing endorsement of The Verve, does it? Well, two plus two and all that.

Oh, and 'Life's An Ocean' has the bassline to 'Another One Bites The Dust', doesn't it? 'Mad' Richard's introductions for the songs are right up there with vintage Alan Partridge. He doesn't really do stage banter does he? By the way, if you've got the nickname 'Mad Richard', you shouldn't really do things like this, should you?

No sign of Solomon Burke. And, in every sense, if you can't spot him on the horizon, he's no-fucking-where near.

May well give up soon. I just want to be entertained!

Finger firmly out of arse

The BBC have updated lots of the artist pages on their Glasto site with 30 minute highlights videos. Well worth having a look about. Most noteworthy is the arrival of the Elbow highlights from last night. A wonderful performance of simply splendid songs. As I updated this morning's post to say, Massive Attack are on there and, having seen it on the red button this afternoon, it's a treat and a half.

Neil Diamond was really rather good earlier, and not just when performing some of the excellent songs from his recent Rubin-assisted albums. Mark Ronson struck me as rather inessential, despite liking the album itself, and Goldfrapp were a little odd. Did the maypole dancers realise that the pervy cameraman would get close enough to show the whole world their pants? He did, you know.

Solomon Burke and The Verve to come, and who knows what else is the magic world of le button rouge. Or something.

I was too busy watching it

Saturday provided much to enjoy, as it turned out. The red button was the saving grace however, as the various programmes offered a frantic dance around the stages - Jay Z and Winehouse aside - leaving you with only a fleeting sense of what might have been. Thankfully, thanks to the multi-screen splendour I got to see Crowded House, Imagined Village, Vampire Weekend, Band Of Horses, The Wombats and, probably the set of the weekend thus far, Elbow. I'm sure Massive Attack could have been in there too, but in their infinite wisdom, the Beeb offered five minutes of their set to fill a gap before Jay-Z came out and then two songs some time after midnight. Having just skimmed through the iPlayer, it would seem that BBC3 played out two more songs at around 1.40am. I'm astonished that the BBC didn't consider them more important.

(EDIT: It's now midday and 34 minutes of their set has appeared on the BBC Glasto site - go here.)

The Jay-Z performance was much as expected. If you like his music, you'll have enjoyed his set. If you don't, then you probably didn't. It's as simple as that. There's no debate to be had about what 'belongs' at Glastonbury. Everything 'belongs' at Glastonbury - that's the whole point of it. Whether Jay-Z was a more worthy main stage headliner than Massive Attack though, I'm not so sure. He opened with a version of 'Wonderwall', obviously trying to ram home his point about Noel Gallagher getting it wrong, but the crowd took such delight in singing the song for him, it was hard to tell what the final message was. That said, Oasis delivered one of the worst Saturday night headlining sets I've ever seen three years ago, so I'm not sure anyone's in a position of superiority on that one.

Anyhoo, there was much to enjoy, although the BBC's Glasto site doesn't appear to have caught up yet in terms of video footage. Your best bet is to head straight to the iPlayer. The show labelled 'Elbow/Hot Chip' features two belters from Elbow near the start, the hour long 'Pyramid Stage' show is all Winehouse. Worth a watch. It was riveting, if not, perhaps, the most professional festival set you've ever seen.

The big fuss today is about the return of The Verve, but having heard the new single, I'm not expecting a great deal. If ever a band was coasting by on nostalgia for halcyon but, crucially, bygone times, it's them. Everyone bangs on about how they captured a moment with 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', but a few decent singles (because, let's face it, 'Urban Hymns' wasn't much cop) does not a tremendous Sunday night headline slot  make. Especially when you think it was The Who last year.

'Mad Richard' (oh do fuck off) aside, Solomon Burke's performing today and that promises to be an absolute joy. If he hasn't got his own section in your record collection you need to get that sorted. Leonard Cohen, Spiritualized and Laura Marling all play today too, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much in terms of seeing them on the telly.

I suspect, looking at the line-up, that the red button showings of yesterday's highlights may well be your friend today. Have fun.

Relive the dreams. And the shite, as it happens

Gave up around midnight as I needed some sleep. Did I miss anything? The videos have started appearing on the BBC's Glasto site and, yes, as I'd hoped, they're in the iPlayer format so they're actually worth watching unlike the RealPlayer crap we've had in previous years. Candi Staton and Editors are on there and, if you wish to torture yourself, so are The Ting Tings.
Click here for video fun.

It's not raining on my sofa

Plenty of decent stuff already on the Beeb. Keep flicking on the red button, or visit the BBC webpages to see a blistering set by Candi Staton, some excellent librarian-rock from Young Knives and an intense bit of tunery from Editors. The first outbreak of seal-clubbing has been spotted during The Tings Tings' set. Delightfully quirky vocal on record, agonising mid-excretal-endeavours yelp live. Shame.
My intense hatred of Bowman has been reunited by the BBC Three coverage. I assumed, however foolishly, that she'd be absent having just had a wee baby. No such luck, it would seem. Radcliffe and Laverne will steer the good ship late night BBC2 from 11, so we should be in safe hands then. The late night shows are the only time lovely Lauren doesn't use her slightly annoying over the top elongating of words in an ironic stylee voice these days. Should be some good music too, of course. The Jimmy Cliff set's on BBC4 soon too. I'm fairly certain that everything I'm mentioning will be iPlayer/BBC site based for seven days hereafter so you can trawl as and when you see fit.
The Fratellis now - I can do without them, to be honest. The Hoosiers and The Feeling were almost enjoyable earlier, in a whistle-along-at-the-festival kind of way. Can't help thinking that they'd have been better suited to a sunny Saturday afternoon rather than a pissing with rain Friday tea time.

Glaston-bloggy. No? Well, what then?

After the overwhelming success of last year's frequent, but brief, updates across the Glasto weekend, I thought I'd do it again. Editors, MGMT, The Enemy, Jimmy Cliff and Edwyn Collins are all due to be on the assortment of televisual viewing portals this evening. I suspect all will be splendid. Solomon Burke, Elbow and Massive Attack to come over the weekend, so plenty to look forward to.

Anyhoo, I'd be muchly chuffed if some of the regular readers of the blog got all interactive this weekend and chirped up with their views of the festival. That's you, by the way.

If you're without a red button this weekend, then you have my deepest sympathy. I'm not sure what I'd do without it. In fact, I suspect I will pretty much glued to the sofa for the next few days as a result of it.

Right then, T-40. Beers in the fridge, pizza ordered. Let's go.

I once sat a few seats down from farmer boy at a Rufus Wainwright concert

I picked up the 'Glastonbury' movie yesterday. Haven't watched it yet, but did flick through the bonus material and got all maudlin at the interview with the late, great Peelie. Anyway, this reminded me of a genius Glasto moment from this year that I forgot to talk about. Namely...

Only Rufus.

T'is worth shoving the word 'Glastonbury' into YouTube. You can turn up all sorts of vintage performances. And The Seahorses doing 'Love Is The Law', back in 1997!

One other thing. I noticed that Dermot O'Leary's Saturday Show on Radio 2 has spawned a compilation album full of live performances recorded for said broadcast. It has to be said that it is overwhelmingly average with one notable exception. That exception is a quite brilliant ska take on 'Everybody's Changing' (the Keane tune) by Lily Allen. Genius, I promise.
EDIT: Oh, just found a slightly shite quality version with a truly terrible video on YouTube. Presumably the shitty video was made so that they could simply upload a cracking tune. Enjoy.

Certainly triggered

It's the dreaded British indie episode of 'Seven Ages Of Rock' tonight. I'll be recording it, as 'Jekyll' is on at the same time, but whenever I get around to viewing it I'll report back on how traumatised I was by the whole experience. I guess there's a chance they'll do it well.

Ha!

Maximo Park live from the Oxford Union tonight on Channel 4, apparently. It's one of those Vodaphone TBA things, that seem to exist only to get the name 'Vodaphone' into the tv listings. And blogs, evidently.
Maximo Park are my current love affair. I have a habit of throwing myself into the collecting of a band or artist as soon as that magic 'click' occurs and I realise their greatness. I've stubbornly held out on Maximo Park for some time, but thinking back, I'm not sure why. I took a punt on 'Our Earthly Pleasures' back in April because the CD was fairly cheap, and realised that they weren't at all bad. A chance to buy the special edition of the debut at a good price ensured that that was in the collection too. However, the adoration didn't happen until the Glastonbury performance (See video clip in a previous post.) They delivered a blistering live set and suddenly I realised what I'd been missing.
As a result, this week has involved tons of Maximo Park stuff pouring through the letterbox, including a multi-coloured pile of 7" singles, a Japanese b-sides collection, a limited edition CD/DVD book thingy and both albums I already own, but this time on vinyl. Ok, so they didn't come through the letterbox, but you get the idea. I have form for this kind of behaviour. But, it's not like I don't listen to it all, and thoroughly enjoy it.
I really do recommend that you check out the Field Music re-version of 'I Want You To Stay', available on the single of that name, or for download via the excellent Bleep.
The music's spiky, the lyrics are just the right side of odd and the presentation is perfect. An indie band that's a cut above the rest. It'd be nice to hear about an act such as this lot on tonight's 'Seven Ages', but I suspect it'll be the Oasis show. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Not much on telly tonight

Glastonbury Revelations:
Well, if you can't change the format on your own site, where can you? Glasto only this week so that I can tidy up my views on the festival.
Editors - how can he sound like that but look like that? Doesn't really look tortured enough to sing the kind of harrowing tunes that they specialise in. Bloody good, though. Tight play, decent vocals and a fired up crowd. New stuff sounded just as good as the debut album, which is no mean feat when playing prior to release.
Super Furry Animals - only caught fifteen minutes of this before going out on Friday, but it was a joy. Few bands can make me dance like a twat and nod like a muso at the same time. SFA are one of them. 'Northern Lites' in a Big Star/Teenage Fanclub style was a gem and 'Hello Sunshine' sounded like a Sixties classic that should have been a worldwide smash. They're just so charming. New material was broadcast; most notably the new single, 'Show Your Hand'. A world-beater if you ask me. In at 27 if you ask the British public.
The Who - great value entertainment. Roger's voice isn't what it was, but Pete's guitar playing was superlative in the extreme and to be fair to Mr Daltrey, his ability to catch the mic without looking is a fantastically precise science.
Arctic Monkeys - a no frills headline set from a band hitting their stride. Wasn't sure with album one, but completely sold second time around.
Maximo Park - I've been quite fond of this lot for a little while now. I'd recently picked up the debut album and was content with another 'indie band I quite like'. However, their set on Saturday night was near perfect. A charismatic frontman, tight musicianship, belting tunes being sung back by the crowd and every single member of the group looking like it was the happiest day of their various lives. The thirty minute highlights package was essential viewing - so much so that I watched it three times.

The Stinkers
Paolo Nutini - I'm reminded of a Ross Noble routine about a drunk talking into his can of special brew. What a bizarre voice! Somewhere between comical and genuinely disturbing.
Kaiser Chiefs - Bloody sing! Stop shouting. People will stop loving you pretty bloody quickly if you think you can piss away that much good will in just over an hour. Smug, clowning and vacant. Like Robbie Williams pre-'Angels'.
The Killers - Terrible shouty cobblers and way too close to the posturing of The Darkness. It confirmed for me that 'Sam's Town' really was that shit.

You can watch plenty of these performances over at the BBC site until next weekend. www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury

And it's still raining

The Manics did ok, although I think I prefered the interview with Zane afterwards. Not their natural environment, but they were fairly well received, and Nina from The Cardigans managed to stick to the tune of 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough'. Only caught a bit of Beirut, but it looked bloody great. I was asked how I'd describe them and I was reminded of a review I read that said something along the lines of, "it's the album of the decade. That decade being the 1920s" or somesuch. For me it's cossack-folk with hippy love sprinkled all over it.

The Kaiser Chiefs appeared to be all bluster and self-worship with piss-poor vocals just to top it all off. Alex Greenwald managed to cause all kinds of mental anguish for security by climbing up into the gantry during Mark Ronson's performance while doing his vocal on 'Just'. All good fun, but didn't really add to the experience of the really rather good studio album.

Chemicals looked ace, but it's not really what you want blaring out of the telly late on a Sunday night. In fact, that seems to be exactly what The Who were made for. BBC2 has been broadcasting them for a solid hour and fifteen minutes as I type this. Fair play to them for that. Poor old Roger's voice isn't what it was, but they can still put on a decent show. The Gossip are on one of the other stages. I just don't get the appeal.

Well, there's plenty to mull over for the final comment on the weekend, but a number of acts did themselves proud. Plenty of mediocrity as always, mind.

Gum boots

Editors were outstanding. Maximo Park pulled an absolute blinder. Sometimes all it takes is one fantastic festival performance to put everything into place. Certainly the case for me and, as almost certainly nobody calls them, the Park.
Seth Lakeman had his moments. Mika didn't. Neither did Bassey. Young Knives sounded a little bit all over the place, as did The Rumble Strips, although I think they're meant to sound like that. The Killers were as dull as you might expect. Wasn't entirely convinced by Weller for once, and didn't quite sense the majesty of CSS that everyone else seems to think is present. Nice of BBC3 to give us all of five minutes of the Manics. Bit of a weird day in terms of coverage. Edith Bowman really is one the most depressingly uninteresting individuals to ever have walked this fair planet of ours. Mind you, I'm even finding Lauren Laverne annoying this weekend, and I normally have plenty of time for whimsical ways.
I'm going to delay the 'Revelations Of The Week' until tomorrow so that I can do a Glasto special.
In the meantime, if you need to do some homework, the place to go is the BBC Glasto site.

I prefer marmalade

What in the name of all things bizarre and freakish is Paolo Nuttella's live performance from Glastobury all about? Is he slurring? Is he doing it on purpose? Has someone told him it sounds good? It's genuinely uncomfortable viewing, and not just because it involves watching, and unfortunately hearing, the songs of Paolo Nuttella.
The Dirty Pretty Things set looked promising from the three minutes we got of it earlier, and the highlights of yesterday have been enjoyable enough. That's what I like about the Beeb's Glasto coverage. While never particularly essential, it's comforting like cricket commentary on the radio. Plus, with the red button, it introduces an element of mental anguish as you sit there constantly worrying that you might be missing out on something good over on one of the other video streams.