Glastonbury Festival – 2009

June 26th to 28th 2009 – Worthy Farm, Pilton

This year though, we had discovered a B and B in the nearby village of West Compton and it looked pretty doable as a site to base ourselves and still get a good nights sleep in the evening…….always been rock and roll! 😉

The first year is a bit of a haze, I don’t think we were prepared for what we would walk into. The B and B was lovely and had four rooms rented out. The other occupants were festival goers too, but had been many times before, in fact, we only got a room as one of their friends had failed to secure tickets for this year’s festival. The etiquette of the B and B was if you stayed the year before and got tickets for the next year, you were booked back in – I like that dealing with over booking!

It was a hilly 2 mile walk to and from the festival site, with the B and B offering a £10 ride there and back if you so wished, but with an evening cut off time of 11:30 (I think). We mainly walked it, but did take them up on a lift a couple of lazy times and as we didn’t really know where we were going, Day 1 was a lift from the B and B down the lanes we would have to walk to get our bearings (it never seems so hilly in a car!). It was pretty straight forward really….out of the lane turn right and carrying on!!

The first view we got of Glastonbury was amazing! From the top of the lane, you could see just how vast the whole thing was! We still had a little walk from here, but the nearer you got the more of the crowd you saw and the festival feeling was underway. Bit cloudy, but warm enough, there had been a huge storm the night before, so we were preparing for the infamous Glasto mud!

We had a bit of trouble finding the correct entrance gate, which warmed us up further still! Let’s see what this festival is all about.

Thursday

25th June – Not much music goes on during Thursday, it’s all about exchanging tickets for wristbands, finding a decent camping site (B and Br’s are exempt from this ;-)) and use the day to find your way around, meet up with friends….it is vast!!

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Mobile signals became very sparse in these days, so meetings points were still important and flags….flags are good meeting points (although a pet hate of mine at this festival would be the abundance of flags flying in front of the Pyramid Stage blocking the already difficult view).

There was plenty of artistic stuff going on, circus entertainment, general stuff happening and going away. We were passed by a few marching bands, a steel drum band and some weird concoction instruments!! Plenty of food stands and so many different parts to the site, really stunning.

It was a bit wet underfoot, the rain of last night has form a light chocolate layer on top of the hard clay and it was windy, but nothing too bad, certainly wouldn’t want anymore rain on top of it! we’d had worse at Reading 😉 Watch out for later year write ups though!!

So many areas to visit, I think we were a little bit in awe of the place this year. We wandered around Leftfield, Greenpeace, The Glade, various shopping lanes and I don’t think we really worked out where we were going! and of course, a trip to see the Pyramid Stage for the first time, just a “Wow” moment like the first time you see Wembley or a famous site of your choice. We’d have to come back a few more times 😉

Friday

26th June – Weather set fine, still windy but that dries out the ground, which was hot chocolate yesterday and sticky clay top soil today…firm underfoot though, so seems ok.

Now to the real music stuff, we didn’t really venture very far today, mainly because it was soooo packed it was a struggle to move from one stage to the next without allowing half an hour to get there! There was always a danger you walk to one place, miss a band and walk to another and miss the next one too!!

We sussed this fairly quickly and you were never going to be able to see everything, so quite a few sad hits were taken missing out on things, but it is just the nature of Glastonbury, something for everybody, but you can’t do it all!

The day started with a trip to the Pyramid Stage and catch a little bit of Bjorn Again, the ABBA tribute band….ok, but already it was sooooo busy!! We had a sit and watched for a bit and then went for another wander including checking out the food stores! There is such a massive selection of food, anything you want. We went for a Dorset Smokery salmon wrap and it was spot on!!

Next stop was The Other Stage, this is sort of behind the Pyramid Stage but took ages to walk to because of the crowds. I’d wanted to see The Maccabees and so did most of the crowd too, we were quite a way back as much to sit down as it was for a quick get away! We watched about half of the set, really enjoyed it (I’ll see them again), but we were meeting friends at the Avalon Stage soon.

Set List

• No Kind Words
• X-Ray
• Tissue Shoulders
• Can You Give It
• Kiss and Resolve
• Toothpaste Kisses
• Precious Time
• Young Lions
• Lego
• William Powers
• Mary
• First Love
• Love You Better

Our friends Martin and Linda were stalwarts of Glastonbury, so it was great to catch up and get a few tips about the site! At the Avalon Stage we watch a fantastic folk band called 3 Daft Monkeys. I don’t have a set list, but I’m sure it included “Astral Eyes”, “Social Vertigo” and all sorts of other up beat acoustic world folk music.

Tim Ashton was the main vocalist, with Athene Robertson (also Tim’s partner) on violin and vocals. Rich Mulryne was the drummer and Jamie Waters on Bass. A real good dance along and I was hooked on this band and would always try and catch them at future Glastonbury’s (if we come back…read the blogs ;-)).

I really enjoyed the Avalon area, which incorporated a helter skelter, beer tents (Otter beer is nice!!), the main tent and a smaller cafe tent, with a few arty shops nearby. A great vibe to just chill here, which is what we did for a bit…..Otter beer, here we come.

After a rest, we wander off to see Lady GaGa on The Other Stage….wrong!! It was absolutely heaving and so we decided to forfeit this and carry on to get a position at the Pyramid Stage for Lily Allen. Now I know what your thinking….”Steve, that ain’t rock and roll”, well, it was ok…..and anyway, there was two of us to think about here and this wasn’t my choice! lol.

We got there early by bypassing Lady GaGa, so actually caught the band before, which was Fleet Foxes…….not my bag! Too soft, very Creedance Clearwater Revival…….except it didn’t really need reviving! The crowd was pretty big, but I think everyone had the same thought as us, to get in position for Lily Allen. For us, we were quite close to the front, which was fun and it was quite warm now.

Again, not my first choice in music, but Nicola was really enjoying it.

Next stop was to try and see Lady GaGa on The Other Stage, but this proved impossible to get through the crowds and wasn’t enjoyable trying, so we took a gamble on going to see what the Acoustic Tent was like. Fairport Convention were playing there, which was great to sit outside the tent and listen to. Traditional British folk music for us oldies.

Next on, and to finish the day of music, was Ray Davies, he of The Kinks fame. We’d never seen The Kinks and Ray had been on my list to see, but I was at a point I thought, maybe he wouldn’t be good now? it may be best not to see him, but with nothing better to do and here is was on our doorstep, let’s give it a go.

It certainly wasn’t The Kinks, but it was an impressive acoustic set of The Kinks classics and with the crowd singing along to everything, a really great atmosphere in which to see a legend.

We hung around to hear the encore of “Waterloo Sunset”, a personal favourite of mine, and then wandered off with “Lola” in the background, to find our way out of the site now that the fans of Lady GaGa and Neil Young would have moved on.

The atmosphere at what was now around midnight, was so wonderful, but we were tired and had to find our way back to the B and B yet….a long walk up and down yonder! A lie in in the morning 🙂

Set List

• I Need You
• Where Have All the Good Times Gone
• Till the End of the Day
• Apeman
• Dedicated Follower of Fashion
• One More Time
• Autumn Almanac
• Sunny Afternoon
• Celluloid Heroes
• A Well Respected Man
• I’m Not Like Everybody Else
• Dead End Street
• Tired of Waiting for You
• Encore: Days, All Day and All of the Night
• Encore 2: Waterloo Sunset, Lola

Saturday

27th June – Today was the day we came for. Leicester’s, nay Niffy’s finest on the Pyramid Stage, Kasabian.

Now “Niffy” is the nickname of Countesthorpe, Leicestershire and where we were living at the time. There is discussion locally as to why, but it is generally thought to be due to Countesthorpe being on the edge of fields and countryside smell, plus potentially the whiff of the sewage works nearby if the wind is in the right (or wrong) direction. Anyway, half of the Kasabian boys are from Countesthorpe and the other half from the bordering Blaby area. Tomorrow, their friend and musician, Jersey Budd would grace The Queen’s Head Stage too, so a real good weekend ahead.

That will be later in the day, so we need to find some other stuff to do before that. As expected we were a bit late up and had a sociable breakfast with the other guests talking about Day 1 and learning new stuff from them about where we should visit on our first trip and also hearing that we will get hooked and want to come back to see the stuff we missed!

We took the liberty of a lift to site this morning to save our legs as it would be another long day. It was a really warm day and a sunshine forecast.

We thought we would start with a bit of fun by going to see Rolf Harris (ok, we didn’t know anything in those days!!). Same old problem, even though we were an hour before the show was due to start, we couldn’t get into see the stage, so we heard a little bit from the side, but it was pointless, so went on another wander. This time we took in the Green Fields, Glade and Greenpeace site which was so much fun, grabbed some food and chilled out looking at workshops to save waste and so much beautiful art and craft work. So actually, we say no music to speak of in the morning!

Before we knew it, it was mid afternoon and we were now aiming for a bit of a sunshine break and came across The Script which was a nice one to sit down and chill to. They were ok as a poppy thing to listen to in a field and fitted well with our chill out day.

We met up again with our friends again at the Pyramid Stage for my worst nightmare……Dizzie Rascal…..well, that was the perception I had of how I’d feel. I absolutely loved it! I’ve said it before, you should never rule out and music genre and this was a fantastic show on a sunny day with a very appreciative crowd. Dizzie did a cracking set, including Bonkers, Dance Wiv Me and a Michael Jackson tribute (who passed away just as Glastonbury started on 25th June)

This was actually a magic festival moment, totally unexpected in the sun and I apologise to Dizzie for doubting him – superb 😉

We followed this with Paolo Nutini on The Other Stage. He too was brilliant and perfect to either sunbathe or dance to. He had to be from Brazil or Portugal or something I thought, but when we heard him talk that became impossible and turns out he’s a Paisley, Scotland boy (well dad from Italy, mum from Scotland)!!! His mix of bluesy, pop, folk and soul in the sun went down really well with a huge crowd.

I ‘d not heard of him, but Nicola had, really nice chill out.

Next stop, the big one. We arrived at the Pyramid Stage well early in the end, due to the crowd issues we had all weekend so far, we wanted a decent view for Kasabian so endured a bit of Crosby, Stills and Nash….I really had been quite and easy listening festival for me so far, but it was a great place to chill out and relax!

I wasn’t feeling any great need to mosh to Kasabian (well, it’s a sunny mid Saturday evening, so we took a seat stage right with not too bad a view and not too many flags in the way……although that changed the nearer we got to the 8pm start time!

To know the blokes that lived down the road and sometimes drank in the Bulls Head, were just about to become 2nd on the Saturday night bill at Glastonbury, was pretty surreal. They’d played Glastonbury before (2005 I think), but not the Pyramid and not while we were here 😉

Tom looked pretty nervous at the start, but it didn’t show through his performance, he was on top form. This was a solid band line up.

Tom Meighan – lead vocals
Sergio Pizzorno – lead and rhythm guitar, lead vocals and keyboards
Chris Edwards – bass guitar
Ian Matthews – drums

The boys by now had released three classy albums, Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006) and in early June, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009)

Fast Fuse is a fave of mine and was superb

Set List

• Underdog
• Shoot the Runner
• Cutt Off
• Processed Beats
• Empire
• Where Did All the Love Go?
• Swarfiga
• Fast Fuse
• Me Plus One
• The Doberman
• Fire
• Vlad the Impaler
• Club Foot
• Stuntman
• You Got the Love (Candi Staton cover)
• L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)

Brilliant!! Now we had a dilemma. Bruce Springsteen was on next. The crowds had been coming in all around us towards the end of Kasabian so a decision on moving or staying had to be made and we had pretty much decided we should see the legend that is The Boss.

This was an appalling day for clashes, so this meant we would miss out on so many good bands while watching The Boss – Pendulum, Franz Ferdinand, The Wonder Stuff, 2 Many DJs – you just have to get used to it, it will happen EVERY year!! The moral was – Just enjoy what you CAN do! 😉

With respect to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, they were good, very good. Very good musicians, very good singers, but for a festival, dare I say, a bit self indulgent and lost us mid way through their set. Maybe fans will tell me I’m wrong and enjoyed it, but it was ok.

We left after his cover of Patti Smith’s “Because The Night” as it wasn’t doing it for us and although it felt he may be saving some big hits to the end, we would have hoped to hear stuff we knew by now (our bad for not listening to him over the years lol).

Set List

• Coma Girl (Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros cover)
• Badlands
• Prove It All Night
• My Lucky Day
• Outlaw Pete
• Out in the Street
• Working on a Dream
• Seeds
• Johnny 99
• The Ghost of Tom Joad
• Raise Your Hand (Eddie Floyd cover)
• Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
• No Surrender (with Brian Fallon)
• Waitin’ on a Sunny Day
• The Promised Land
• The River
• Radio Nowhere
• Lonesome Day
• The Rising
• Born to Run
• Encore: Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster cover)
• Thunder Road
• American Land
• Glory Days
• Dancing in the Dark

Leaving Springsteen early gave us a bit of time to catch some of Franz Ferdinand on The Other Stage and we struck lucky, getting there in time to hear “Take Me Out”….nice move!!

This was more like it, full on pop sing songs! Can’t be a bit of Franz! We had a nice boogie and sing along before wandering out of the site and a walk back to the B and B. Now, luckily we had remembered a torch. The first mile was ok as many were walking in the same direction and the night time view over the fields to the site was amazing (no photo does it justice with my photographic non skills). Anyway, we made it back and off to sleep….a great Saturday (less Bruce).

Set List

• The Dark of the Matinée
• No You Girls
• Do You Want To
• Turn It On
• Michael
• Walk Away
• Bite Hard
• Take Me Out
• What She Came For
• The Fallen
• 40′
• Outsiders
• Encore: Jacqueline, Ulysses, Lucid Dreams, This Fire

After this, we had a bit of a wander around Shangri La which was a bit weird in the dark! Think we suffered with first year fear on this one. Lots of bright lights rave music and weird dancers……not our usual Saturday night down the Axe!

We didn’t get to Strummerville, so that would be on the list for next year.

Sunday

We we a little bit tired today, our first Glastonbury was taking it’s toll. It was a pretty hot one really, so we felt misled on the weather (don’t worry, in years to come it will be worse). We were slow getting up in the morning and chilled at breakfast before, once again, accepting a lift to site.

Our aim was to get over towards the Queen’s Stage for Jersey Budd, our local Countesthorpe working class hero and friend of Kasabian.

The Queens Head bar was made up of an actual bar just outside of what was a small open marquee holding around 100-150 I would guess, but plenty of room outside the tent to hear as well (I went in and Nicola wanted to sit in the sun and listen).

Jersey Budd (Joe) was on around 1:30 so we had plenty of time and after watching a bit of circus and carnival stuff, we got there in time to see the band before him, Two Door Cinema Club.

These guys were excellent and at this stage in their career, a pretty new band. Formed in 2007, they wouldn’t release an album until 2010, but had released one single, “Something Good Can Work” which they played along wit “Cigarettes in the Theatre” and a few others.

Really great tunes and harmonies. It was very likely they would be on a much bigger stage in the future.

Then Jersey Budd. Well, it had to be Jersey, but such a shame he clashed with Tony Chrisite!!

The band was, Liam Hoochie – Bass, Peter Oag – Keyboards, Alan Coustick – Drums, Ben Pearce – Lead Guitar

Jersey was a bit hungover from the night before (I suspect a big Kasabian blow out after a stunning Pyramid Stage performance), but he was on form and put together a great set. I’d seen him acoustically back home, but not with a full band so this was a rare old treat.

Set List

• Just for Tonight
• Shotgun Times
• She Came Back (Tom Meighan is on the original)
• Wonderlands
• Bright Soul
• When We Shine
• Blind Man

Enter Shikari – I’d seen these guys at Reading before so we only watched a little bit of the while wandering through. Not really Nicola’s cup of tea, so we carried on to the Pyramid for a sit down and a couple of bands.

Tom Jones was up first and then Madness.

Tom Jones……I never thought I’d be going to see the Welsh Maestro!!! Ok, I wasn’t totally enamoured by this choice, but happy to go with the flow (I could always wander back to Enter Shikari if it was crap…..)

He was excellent, granted, he didn’t move quite as you would have expected in the old days (do any of us?!), but he could still sing very well, even with sound issues on the day. A set of classics followed and actually, his moves were pretty good really!!

Set List

• Hard To Handle
• Help Yourself
• Give A Little Love
• Green Green Grass Of Home
• Delilah
• What’s New Pussycat
• You Can Leave Your Hat On
• Sex Bomb
• It’s Not Unusual
• Kiss
• Unbelievable

Madness – Well, we had a great time with Tom Jones, so why not hang around for a few more classics. No messing, straight in with “One Step Beyond” and the crowd went mad!!

It’s great to see a band you wouldn’t usually bother with put on a top class show which was loved by every generation! Suggs seemed to be rising to the occasion and the band were having so much fun it was rubbing off on the crowd. Excellent.

Set List

• One Step Beyond
• Embarrassment
• The Prince
• NW5
• My Girl
• Dust Devil
• The Sun and the Rain
• Chase the Devil (Max Romeo cover)
• Clerkenwell Polka
• Bed and Breakfast Man
• Shut Up
• Forever Young
• House of Fun
• Wings of a Dove
• Baggy Trousers
• Our House
• It Must Be Love (Labi Siffre cover)
• Madness (Prince Buster cover)
• Night Boat to Cairo

We were tiring a bit now and decided to give Sharon Corr a listen at the Acoustic Tent….I think this tent and Avalon were our favourites, so I would expect many visits to them if we make it back (we do!) on the way out of site we passed by and saw a little bit of Glasvegas before heading off back to the car as we had to drive home tonight for work the next day. We would learn from this, that staying over Sunday night and taking the Monday off is a very good idea!!!

So how was it?

That was it, our first ever Glastonbury and very exciting it was too! We would definitely come back and didn’t feel like we had done it justice. Getting our bearing had taken some time, we didn’t see half as much as we wanted to, so already planning to try for tickets next year and do some of the bits we missed and relive some great moments.

We had an interesting selection of bands, many we would not normally see and some great favourites.

The B and B was superb and the said their etiquette was as long as we got tickets next year, then we would keep the room we had this year, which was a really nice way to do it………watch out phone lines we will be trying again in the Autumn!!