Day 3
As is par for the course for weekend, we have another inside tip today. The word before the festival began was that Pete Doherty is scheduled to play an acoustic set on the Park Stage at 4.20pm today. Naturally, with yesterday’s goings on rumours are flying about ‘the reunion’. We’ll see.
Anyway up first for us is The Holloways (Other Stage, 11.40am), who most of us know best for providing the New Music Generator music on Reggie and Fern’s show on Radio1. Luckily for us that isn’t their extent of their talents, and indeed they prove to be one of the discoveries of the weekend. Cheeky and chirpy throughout, it’s one of those rare occasions where the rain really doesn’t seem to matter. Much like Arctic Monkeys, it’s their normality that is most charming. References to the struggles of paying rent, losing the TV remote, and playing Pro Evo are scattered throughout what turns out to be a brilliant set. At one point singer Alfie even brings his flatmate on stage to help out with a song. Fantastic.
Next to follow is a completely different bag of nuts. The Enemy (Other Stage, 12.40pm) also have the whole Radio1 scenario on their shoulders. It is a problem that faces a lot of bands at Glastonbury, that they become known only for one or two songs that make the Radio1 playlist and nothing more. The Enemy though are, luckily enough for them and unluckily for linguists, making waves with the NME. Now while I heard one person slating this year’s line up for being ‘too NME’, for most of the magazine this represents a fine selection of the music out there. Okay, so it might be the glossy equivalent of Topman, but we can excuse its new glamourised look. Back to the band, and they do the best thing they can and play their ‘hit’ Away From Here second in the set, and to be honest it sets the scene perfectly for what’s to come. The music is brilliant, albeit with vocals that never quite win you over. But then again you are never going to fall in love with a band that come from Coventry. Of course, there’s no harm in trying.
So it’s that time of the day, and with the prospect of one of the weekend’s biggest gigs in our sights we head up to Glastonbury’s newest area, The Park. This is something of a revolution for the festival, single-handedly being supervised by Emily Eavis, without her dad or Melvin Benn in sight. The reviews have all been exceptional so far, with performances from Lily Allen and Damon Albarn’s Africa Express night on the main stage already. In addition there is a whole tent dedicated to unsigned bands, and a magnificent 80 foot tower allowing you to get a superb aerial view of the entire site. On stage as we arrive is Euros Childs (Park Stage, 3.20pm). He is the former frontman of Welsh alternative band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, with possibly one of the best names in rock. As you would expect it is all very Gorky’s, with twee strumalongs set off by cute vocals occasionally broken up by some mad rock moments.
Of course it wasn’t Mr Childs that we came to see. But whether or not Pete Doherty is going to turn up is anyone’s guess. As the crowd begins to swell the stage’s compere comes on and informs that the ex-Libertine will indeed be performing soon. As soon as Pete Doherty (Park Stage, 4.20pm) is glimpsed backstage the place erupts and he soon bounds on with Mick Witnull (not to be confused with Simply Red cock Mick Hucknall) to perform a harmonica accompanied Can’t Stand Me Now. It turns out to be one of those gigs that you will never forget. You can only stand back and applaud. You can read a full review of the set here.
”Who could follow that,” you might ask? Dame Shirley Bassey (Pyramid Stage, 5.20pm) manages it with style and grace. Complete with diamond encrusted wellies and red carpet she was made to define the word glamourous. Ending with a rousing version of I Am What I Am, it’s one of those shrewd Michael Eavis Glastonbury bookings that makes you realise just why this festival is so very special. Nowhere else could you see such diversity and enjoy it quite so much as this. 
Next up is Manic Street Preachers (Pyramid Stage, 6.30pm), who have managed to pick up some sort of bad reputation, mainly due to some inane comments several years ago. Stragely enough they go down quite well though, playing a greatest hits set which charms the crowd from start to finish. It’s not surprising that Nicky Wire keeps his mouth firmly shut this time around. You can read the full review here.
At the last Glastonbury everyone panicked when they offered The Killers a headline slot, mainly due to the fact that at the time they only had one album’s worth of material. Similarly we all started to worry a bit this year when we found out Kaiser Chiefs (Pyramid Stage, 8pm) were penciled in to play for an hour and a half. That worry was compounded when half an hour into their set they’d already played six out of their seven hit singles. Luckily for everyone concerned, not least the over-energetic Ricky Wilson, the band keep it down to a just over an enjoyable hour. Good stuff.
That meant of course an hour-long wait to see the big retro act of the weekend (sorry Dame Shirley), The Who (Pyramid Stage, 10.05pm). One of the many things that Glastobury tries not to be, or maybe I should say tried, is corporate. Bands like Snow Patrol headline V Festival, not at Pilton; Stadium rock is not something that Somerset has come to yearn for. It was a shame then to see The Who perform every track with huge lights blinding the crowd and massive spotlights constantly circling in the air. The music of course is outragously brilliant, but Messers Townshend and Daltrey never quite grasp the atmosphere of the occasion. Constantly claiming that songs that he had written in 1971 predicted the rise of Internet and it was him who launched social networking online did nothing to enhance Townshends reputation, especially given his recent history on the Web. Zak Starky was honorable on drums, although Townshend slating his performance with Oasis on the same stage three years previous again is very misguided. It’s not often that we leave big gigs early but it seemd like an appropriate time to take a wander elsewhere.On another whim we end up with Ian Cognito (Cabaret Tent, 11.05pm) whose unique tramp-like style of mouthing off goes down surprisingly well with everyone at this late stage of the festival. Next comes rice maniac Woody Wilding (Cabaret Tent, 11.40pm), whose fetish for the chinese staple food – in its dried form – is as very worryingly weird as it is funny. The constant throwing of Uncle Benn’s finest is accompanied by ‘Record Graveyard’ a feature in which the audience have to spin or bin records chosen by the comedian. The first out is Spandau Ballet, which immediately gets disguarded. Of course being one step away from being institutionalised, Wilding does this by slamming handfuls of rice down on the vinyl as it is playing, tosses it up in the air and greets its falling with a large blow from a hefty hammer. It seems we are now talking about his generation.
Sometimes Glastonbury just ends without warning. But like most things you like to go out with a bang if you can. Bearing this in mind we venture over to the circus fields to find Bill Bailey (Dance/Fire Stage, 00.45) playing a secret set. The man is of course a comedy legend in these parts, and although the rain verges on being unbearable, he sends us all off with the kind of ending you can only wish for.
So that is it, Glastonbury is over for another year.
Sunday, 24 June 2007