Glasgowbury unleashes some of the country's finest acts for a day
Glasgowbury 2010 review
Tuesday 27th July 2010
Perched high on the foothills of the Sperrin Mountains at Eagles Rock Glasgowbury unleashes some of the country's finest acts for a day thundered throughout Mid-Ulster. Celebrating its 10th anniversary the festival has grown to attract a capacity of 4,000.
Some light rain teased the afternoon crowd but eventually were treated to sunshine, a rare occurrence this time of year. Revelers were all the more appreciative as the broken clouds unveiled some breathtaking scenery. As far as festivals go Glasgowbury sports one of the most spectacular locations.
There was an early buzz of excitement as rumours spread of a surprise guest performance by last year's headliners And So I Watch You From Afar. Surely enough after a quick introduction by Paddy Glasgow the four piece erupted onto the G Sessions stage met by a hardcore fane base rammed into the tent, most of them branded with the band's symbol. The half hour set was nothing short of fucking mental with the band living up to their on stage reputation rocking every inch of the tent. 'Set Guitars to Kill' went down a storm and the crowd were treated to an encore.
From then on it was clear that the majority of campers had come up to the festival site. There as a real jovial atmosphere throughout the festival site with young and old making the most of the day. Compared to other larger festivals Glasgowbury was distinguished by the lack of obvious drunkenness or people mashed up on pills... for the most part anyway. As Cahir O'Doherty put it, "its good to be at a festival with ordinary people and no spides running up to you flicking e's in your face and sprinkling methadrone over your head."
A drumming group kept the party going through the day and proved a random crowd pleaser parading a little taste of Brazilian Carnaval through the Sperrins. Most acts failed to draw big crows to the main stage before Fight Like Apes. Not to say that they weren't good, as the Small But Massive Stage saw amazing performances from , The Jane Bradfords, Yes Cadets, and Cashier no 9. But with 4,000 people spread throughout 5 stages it was pretty inevitable.
The small G Sessions/Spurs of Rock stages were often over run with acts such as Panama Kings, and A Plastic Rose making the crowd go wild. In particular A Plastic Rose, who after a long sound fault mid-set recovered playing the shit out of 'Kids Don't Behave Like This' (if you haven't heard it check out the video on YouTube!). Fight like Apes brought a lot of fun to the main stage warming up the crowd for the final acts with hits such as 'Lend Me Your Face' and 'Tie Me Up with Jackets'.
The penultimate acts cranked up the tempo with General Fiasco being stopped at one point by security as the G Sessions tent was overwhelmed by the crowd. LaFaro, and Fighting With Wire ensured that Glasgowbury 2010 went out with a bang with FWW's Cahir O'Doherty hurling his guitar into the drum kit at the end of the blinding set, killing any chance of an encore but they couldn't have ended it in a cooler manner.
I'm struggling to think of any bad points of Glasgowbury, a BBC ATL banner that provoked a 15 minute detour before arriving perhaps. But screw it, got there eventually and had a great time. The facilities were clean; food and drink reasonably priced; the officials were pretty sound and at £30/40 for a ticket its unrivaled value for money. Cheers Paddy, Here's to another 10 years!
review by Andrew McLaughlin photos by Andrew McLaughlin
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