Day 2
 
There’s no peace for  the wicked, certainly not at glastonbury. We are up early again, and thankfully today it’s not raining. yet. The Switches (Other Stage, 10.40am) start the ball rolling. They are the first band so far this year that we’ve never seen before. It’s fair to say though they have a bright future ahead of them, as your teacher would say. To pin them down to a genre is quite hard but if you took The Coral and told them they had to release an Indie New Rave album, the result probably wouldn’t be far off this band.
 
We love the New Band tent, or John Peel as it is now called. The atmosphere is always fantastic in there and you can always guarentee the bands are really happy to be playing it. (The Rushes, John Peel 1pm) are no different. The tent is virtually empty, except for a smattering of people sheltering from the rain – this is largely due to the fact that surrounding the tent is what can only be described as a virtual moat of water, making it something of a river crossing to get inside – but nevertheless the band play as if they were headlining the Albert Hall. The songs that we stay for are good, and the vocals are exceptional.
 
An early exit is called for though to catch Guillemots (Pyramid Stage, 1.30pm) and boy is that the wrong decision. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing against a bit of quirkyness in a band, but boy is it annoying when it’s raining. And God is it raining. The trademark lengthy outros on most of the songs are simply washed away by the cold and wet and it is only a mighty Trains To Brazil that raises the sodden crowd to their feet. Frustrating for the band, who still haven’t quite made it. Even worse, the second their set ends, the sun comes out.
 
As we already know Glastonbury rumours are one of the greatest things about the festival, and due to the nature of the weekend a lot of them turn out to be true. When Dirty Pretty Things (Pyramid Stage, 3pm) arrive all the talk is of one man, Pete Doherty. It is a shame for Carl and his new band-mates that the history of The Libertines will always cast a shadow over both their and Babyshambles’ work, but for the rest of us it is just another chapter in one of the greatest rock and roll sagas ever. Of course Pete is nowhere to be seen, despite all the rumours. And of course, DPT are brilliant nevertheless. The full review of the set can be read here.
 
There simply aren’t enough glam rock, Indie New Rave, acid-tripping bands out there at the moment, that’s why God created Klaxons (Other Stage, 5pm). Complete with retro stripy Grandad clothing and suitbaly bad sunglasses the Other Stage is bouncy within minutes of their appearance. Okay, so a nightime slot would’ve been more appropriate for the glowstick bearers, but the energy levels ensue a mesmeric afternoon for all involved. “This is my favourite bit Glasto!!” screams keyboard player James during the epic reworking of It’s Not Over Yet, like a child that is having the ride of his life.
 
It’s rumour time again. Now, being late once is excusable, but twice is simply ridiculous. But luckily for Pete Doherty we can forgive the five minutes that he strolls out late as Babyshambles (Other Stage, 6.30pm) surpirse us all with a blinding (no pun intended) set. Let’s just rewind for a second here. Last time out at Glastonbury in 2005 this was the band who turned up 20 mintues late, keeping a very wet crowd waiting (albeit at the height of Doherty’s problems) and then proceeded to deliver one of the most out-of-tune, unrehearsed, chaotic sets that Glastonbury has ever heard.
 
Fast forward two years and the results were very different. For a start Doherty himself looks more charismatic, less arrogant and a lot happier to be here. “Say cheese” he beams as he pulls out a throwaway camera to tae a picture of the crowd. Accompanied by Kate Moss, who later makes an appearance on La Belle Et La Bete, he seems a lot more at ease. Joking a lot with the crowd and putting in a truly grand vocal performance he reminds us why we all fell in love with him in the first place. Albion and I Wish become word for word crowd sing-a-longs and Moss is joined by Lethal Bizzle and Statik for what is a memorable performance of La Belle Et La Bete. More great moments come including a rousing Kilamangaro and Libertines’ Time For Heroes. Once again rumours are flying. Carl has been spotted watching from the side of the stage and everyone starts to think this might be the moment the pair are formerly reunited on stage. Set-closer Fuck Forever is its usually brilliant self, before Doherty strolls back on for one last song. As he picks up his guitar, walks casually up to the mic and starts singing “Shoop shoop shoop da-langa-lang” there is an audible gasp from the crowd. As the opening refrain of Libetines’ classic What Katie Did rings out all eyes are on the side of the stage. But alas it is not to be. The song itself is sung in true Libertines style, with the crowd loving every second. Afterwards Carl reveals to the NME that for a moment he did think about running on, but decided against it. The magic of Glastonbury is truly here now.
 
Maximo Park (Other Stage, 8pm) restore some sort of sanity to proceedings with a back to basics set that includes the storming anthems from their first album, notably the fantastic Graffiti and Going Missing, backed up with the less anthemic tracks from the disappointing second album. Velocity is the only one to stand out, and even that only causes a mumour of excitement.  Maybe the afternoon’s earlier events were a bit much for everyone. "We've got no balloons or no special guests" says singer Paul Smith. You kinda wish they did.
 
There’s always one band at Glastonbury that you know are going to be good, but surprise you by being even better. This year that band are The Kooks (Pyramid Stage, 9.15pm). They are second on the bill on the Pyramid Stage after a triumphant two years touring an album which has stayed in the charts for 18 months and produced six hit singles, so boy do they deserve it. The set is equally as mesmeric, as you would expect. The full review can be read here.
 
The Killers (Pyramid Stage, 22.55) round off the night it what should have been impressive style. But here’s the problem with this band. When they made their debut with Somebody Told Me, The Killers were an out and out indie band. Check out the video on YouTube if you don’t believe us. Then in 2005 after (rightly) turning down the absent Kylie Minougue’s headline slot, they played the Saturday second slot at Glastonbury and shocked everyone by walking on stage as glam-rockers, complete with eye-liner, make-up and fluorescent lighting. Roll on to 2007 and we have The Killers Mach III, the all American heroes, cowboy boots and goatee/moustache in tow. Or so we thought. For tonight the glam came back, alongside the cowboy act. The simple fact is you can’t please everyone, and to base your whole show around ‘Sam’s Town’ and the American dream certainly isn’t going to please a lot of Glastonbury goers. Truthfully, The Killers are poor. The set starts with limp fireworks and never recovers from there. The big hits are lost amongst the meandering droll of the new album and what status is left is ruined by the ridiclous videos and gold suit. We won’t even mention the guitarist who looks like something out of Fraggle Rock.
 
A poor ending to a remarkable day. Later tonight Madness headline the Lost Vagueness stage at 1am, not that we manage to get there. Now that is more like it.
 
Saturday, 23 June 2007