Glastonbury 2005

OK, here we go:

Wednesday 22nd June:

A beautiful day. Boosted off in the afternoon from London Victoria to Castle Cary in a swiped first class carriage to beat the rush. It didn't work. Hordes of us had decided that Wednesday was the day to go, so cue queues at both stations and the site entrance. Never known it so busy on a Wednesday.

Still, enjoyed a nice trip on the train nattering with fellow passengers - a couple from Bournemouth University (who told me all about the Eastbourne campus - who knew there was a cool underground scene in Eastbourne?) and a chap who just finished PPE at Oxford University (who was worried he wouldn't be able to get a decent job. Eh?)

Picked the usual spot up in the Woodsies nearish the Cinema and camped.
Then I put up my tent.
Joined later by mates from Keele, friends of friends etc.
Had a good wander around the site, did a bit of of exploring and sampled some local "cuisine". Much lazing in the sun.

Thursday 23rd June:

A glorious day. Joined by members of the Wolstanton Cultural Quarter (friends of a mate from uni) to complete the set. Even more lazing in the sun ensued.

Met up with Lady C and we wandered around together, sat by the Stone Circle, made tentative plans for band action and drank huge amounts of pear cider from the Brothers Bar.

Friday 24th June:

Tom Vek. Loved the album and he certainly lived up to it on stage. He's a lot shorter than you think...

Stewart Lee. Very funny - nice, dry, laconic delivery with quality jokes and mournful look.

M83. Caught the tail-end of this; wished I'd been around for the full set.

M.I.A. She's brilliant. Fantastic live act, great stage presence and v. sexy to boot.

Willy Mason. Incredible stuff. Massachusetts singer-songwriter with a gorgeous line in intimate beautiful music.

The Tears. Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler (formerly of Suede) gave a surprisingly good performance belting out the tunes with the swagger of a Pyramid Stage band.
They didn't do any Suede covers. And nobody asked for them.

The night ended with a violent electrical thunderstorm and torrential rain. It was beautiful.

Saturday 25th June:

After being kept awake most of the night by thunder and rain, I was disturbed throughout the next few days by inane text messages asking me if I was wet / swimming in mud / half-drowned / washed away.
Well, my shoes got muddy but that was it. My cagoule kept me dry and I pitched my tent in an elevated spot with good drainage cos that's what normal people do.
This did not stop all media outlets present exclusively filming and photographing those few unfortunate / stupid people whose tents got flooded and insisted on paddling about in pools of muddy water, courting dysentery.

Hayseed Dixie. U.S. Deep South band giving covers of classic rock tunes on banjos and the like. Really pretty good.

Goldie Lookin' Chain. Good stuff - funny, anarchic with ace tunes (including "Yer Missus is a Nutter".)
Quotes: "We know you're just waiting for Snowplay and Cold Patrol", "Sir Bob Marley will be Making Poverty History at 4 o'clock" and "Just like Windsor Davies in Never The Twain."

A brief burst of Chas 'n' Dave. "With your incessant talking, you're becoming a pest..."

Rilo Kiley. A nice set of seductive indie-pop-rock - think Carina Round and...(oh, lordy, I'm turning into Melody Maker again.)

Interpol. Probable comparisons to Joy Division and much better than I expected. Not much in the way of chit-chat between tunes but a clean, crisp perfomance.

New Order. A storming set with a couple of Joy Division numbers and Keith Allen doing the John Barnes rap for 'World In Motion'. "Ing-ger-land!"

A few tunes of Razorlight. Nice.

A bit of The Go! Team. Again, should have caught the whole bouncy, funky set.

Sunday 26th June:

Brendan Benson. Lovely set, both folky and rocky. Played 'Metarie', one of my favourite tunes.

Tried to see Hard-Fi at the John Peel Stage - but no sign of them. Floated off to the Dance Village and sat in the sun drinking and nattering with Lady C.
Essayed my best compliment to her of the relationship so far; "You're like Highlander. There can be only one." Hmmm. Should have stayed off the cider.

Brian Wilson. Incredible. Despite a bit of dodginess from the Pyramid Stage's soundsystem, the man's still got it.

Rufus Wainwright. Never heard his stuff before and was astounded by his camp brilliance. And his attempts to strip off on stage.

LCD Soundsystem. Amazing. Check 'em out.

Ian Brown. Mostly good stuff - nice mix of his tunes and Stone Roses. I was half-hoping for a finale of "I Am The Resurrection" but he just sloped off the stage and that was that. Ho-hum.

Bade farewell to Lady C and headed back to the tent. In an act of sheer lunacy, I stayed up, drank the rest of my bottle of vodka, packed up and caught the 5 a.m. train from Castle Cary to London Victoria to beat the rush. I still had to queue for the coach and at the station. Bah.

Now I have to buy all these albums for a compilation CD for Lady C. Sigh. No rest for the obsessively musical and anally retentive..

So, was there a Glastonbury moment? Why does there have to be? Damn thing lasted three days and it was all good.
Mind you, standing in a packed field shouting "Yer Mother's Got A Penis" with the GLC was pretty memorable.
Brendan Benson with "Metarie" was beautiful. Warbling along with Ian Brown was great fun.

Y'know, Brian Wilson singing "God Only Knows" was very... special.

Must be getting soft in my old age.

Update 06.07.2005: Private Eye has a little note on the Chas 'n' Dave gig. "While "all performances were simultaneously stopped", over in the Acoustic Tent Chas and Dave were whipping up a storm. No one was going to interrupt a rollicking live rendition of Snooker Loopy to beat chests and hold hands - so the pre-planned moment simply did not happen."

Cobblers. The moment was announced from the stage and though we didn't hold hands, a great roar went up form the crowd. Then we had Snooker Loopy. Get your facts right, Lord Gnome.