Rolf Harris

REVIEW

By Darren Spate | Published: Thu 19th Sep 2002

Friday 28th to Sunday 30th June 2002
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£97 plus £3 booking fee - all tickets SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 140,000
Last updated: Wed 7th Aug 2013

We got up on the Sunday morning as rough as anything, after watching Orbital the night before on the other stage and we all got dressed and plodded our way down to the Pyramid stage. We found our place in the unusually large day crowd and waited for the next act to appear, none of us really doing much just nursing our sore heads.

And then he appeared, the Glastonbury legend himself. People had told me that he is someone you must watch but I was still a bit apprehensive about someone who bothers vets on telly while I am usually eating my tea. But what a shock. This man is an A class entertainer. He knows how to work the crowd more than any other act I have probably seen and fair enough, his songs don't have the intricate melodies of say, Radiohead, but some of his songs have deep undertones and are very moving.

This man is in his seventies. For christ sake he should be at home on a Sunday afternoon having his dinner or a nap and here he is whipping at least 60,000 people at the Pyramid stage into a frenzy with his youthful vigour and permanent joyfulness.

Everything is here today: his wobble board, the customary didgeridoo. There are even kangaroo's in the crowd (not really kangaroo's, men dressed up as kangaroos on pogo sticks). He treats us to all the songs we want to hear: 'Two little boys', 'Stairway to heaven', 'Waltzing Matilda', 'Sun arise', 'Tie me kangaroo down sport' in both Aussie and English versions (the English version is 'Tie me kangaroo down sport' to the tune of 'Land of hope and glory'). And between every song he explains the meaning to the next song giving the songs more meaning straight away and trapping the crowd into listening. During every song, Rolf is dancing like a man possessed and regularly stops songs halfway through because the crowd aren't singing loud enough.

Other songs he performs today include: 'He aint heavy he's my brother', something about having a proper cup of coffee in a coffee pot, a song about a Meringue, and he debuts his Christmas single for us: 'Never mind the blisters Rudolph' (yes in the middle of summer) and tells us to buy a couple of copies each when it finally hits the shops.

Rolf is a true star and it is not hard to see why he has been in show business for so long. He has everything and the crowd that left the Pyramid stage when Rolf left, were all smiling a lot more than when they arrived.

In my opinion, next year Rolf should come back and headline on Sunday. If he does I will be there right at the front, dancing to 'Waltzing Matilda' with my wobble board.
review by: Darren Spate


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