Mardy

I'm going to try and keep relatively restrained here on my views on the inherent classism in taking something life changing and beautiful and astounding and culturally vital, which those dance tracks were/are, and then playing them on 'proper' instruments in an attempt to give it some form of faux legitimacy and meaning. It is genuinely barbaric in the true sense of the word - It's absolutely artistically bankrupt and anti-creativity. I tell you had bad it is, and this is some f**king statement, but I'd rather listen to an hour of Liam Gallagher's witless bellowing than one minute of Hacienda classical. Now look what you've made me do there. I'm off to scrub my brain clean. Hope you're happy now.

Look at that photo. Look at the depths of despair in all of their eyes. Beaten. Defeated. Like a Labrador on a daytime telly RSPCA advert. How do you think yer man from the Levellers would have reacted to being called Britpop in 1994? That shows all you all you need to know about their integrity. A medium sized back of cash and he'll willingly sh*t on his past. There's only one way of life, and that's your mortgage company's.

I haven't got enough words for how angry this makes me. I thought Hacienda Classical was the nadir of popular culture, then I saw that Shiiine Weekender, which makes me want to join Al Queda and fight for the end of Western civilisation.. And now this. A new low.

London closest, but another date for me on this, one of the ones that Richard Dawson is supporting on. Buzzing for it. Dawson and Mitski? Puts the likes of the bullshit Suede/Manics, Smashing Pumpkins/Weezer and Boo Radleys/Cud pairings in the f**king shade, eh?

Hmmm. but it's 'Contemporary Performing Arts' right, and that collocation makes all the difference. I'm taking this definition from the Tate "The term contemporary art is loosely used to refer to art of the present day and of the relatively recent past, of an innovatory or avant-garde nature"

It's a bargain if you go and see (and enjoy) the big ticket acts. If you're wandering around the Avalon/hanging out at the 50p tea tent/sitting in the stone Circle, not so much. @Woodersonbought it into sharp relief for me the other week, with a superb observation "If scale isnt your thing (don't think it ever has been for you) then current iteration of Glasters ain't for you.". More than anything else, that's crystallised my thoughts on where I am with the big G. Notwithstanding that, think I'll try for tickets next month, then see where we are after that.

New Allah-Las album also out today. Might have to hide from the record shop fella for a week or two.

New Goat album out today, but am hesitant as the last one was pretty poor in places, like an even shitter RHCP. However, have just got a message from the record shop saying I pre-ordered it, so am lumbered.

Brother I've given up this fight, fair play to you, Calgon, for keeping on. 'No, but you know, I love music and, I've got really wide eclectic taste, everything from Fleetwood Mac to Blondie, don't pigeonhole me, and also, don't go dissing my music cos you know, as long as people like it it's all fine. Just a couple of things though, ALL modern pop music is shite, not like when I was young, and secondly where are the future Glastonbury headliners going to come from cos I don't see anybody capable of stepping up and that's definitely their problem and not mine'

Excellent post. That's really got me thinking. If there were no campervan pitches, what do you think it would do to demand for the festival as a whole, and the demographic of attendees?

Hold on, I'm confused G-man, whose side are you on here? For or against?

Funnily enough, I watched that the other day for the first time in years. Probably what put it in my head. Glorious stuff.

Sorry didn't mean to upset people, never my intention to piss off yer Scotdys, yer Stokesy10s etc. Won't happen again.

At its best, it does, your Stormzys, your Orbitals in the 90s, your Skunk Anansies, your Jay-Zs, your Archaoses, your Radioheads 1997, even your Billie Eilishes. All too often, and increasingly moreso now than ever before, it plumps for safe, popularity over innovation headliners, and it's to be celebrated when they do the right thing, and don't take the conservative (with a small 'c') option.

If you're booking a trailblazing Contemporary Arts Festival in 2015 with a reputation for pushing the envelope and taking risks, no way you should be picking FM above Kanye

Kanye was the right choice, regardless. He was at least vaguely relevant

I love Pulp, and that gig at Hammersmith earlier this year was fantastic, best gig I've been to this year, hands down, but if I were GFL, I'd be looking at them subbing rather than headlining. It's purely a nostalgia exercise for the faithful.

No way I'm going to see this. Have spunked 340 quid on 2 tickets, I want a few surprises next June. Why would I spend 20 notes to undermine the experience in a manky cinema?

Hahaha. The only only time I had regrets this year was the Wednesday night piss-up at the Ridge and Furrow and a drunken chat with you and the other usual suspects. If I could pay 100 quid just to come in for that evening and leave again, I'd jump at the chance.

Yes! Huge, huge element of that for me. All the time I was living abroad, it was my primary motivation to go as it was the only chance I got to catch up with friends. Now I'm back, after 25 years abroad , in the UK, I can do that more often, and we pretty much all go to EOTR these days too, a lot of that has gone. Excellent point.

I'm having a big ol' ponder about my Glastonbury experience, and for the first time in 17/18 years, have no anxiety about it. Think I've reached acceptance. I didn't go last year. First one I'd missed since 2007, and that's OK. There was little on the lineup that excited me, and if I'm honest, 2022 was not great really. I'm less and less interested in the big stuff, the Pyramid, the Other, whatever. I think I'm going to try for tickets for next year, and if we get them, do it differently. Or maybe even stick them back in the pot if I'm not feeling it in the Spring. I feel a sense of relief, like I've just left a cult. I'm not sure what I want if I go again, cos there is something special about the place, I guess i need to rediscover it, but it's not (for me) - a) seeing old washed up has-beens rebranded as 'legends' on the Pyramid. I despised these acts when I was 18, why should/would I have mellowed to them over a couple of decades - those c**ts don't get to win or b)seeing fair to middling indie bands play mid afternoon at West Holts/The Park in front of a mainly disinterested crowd. And I think I've done way too much of both of those over recent years. I suspect the answer lies in the SE corner. I dunno. The creativity there turns me on, no doubt. And there's something unique about the site as an event, but not, for me, the individual components. But overall, it's not going to be the music that's going to ever pull me back to Glastonbury.

Great counterfactual narratives of our time; The Man in The High Castle (Phillip K Dick)- The Axis powers won WW2 11/22/63 (Stephen King) - What if Kennedy wasn't assassinated? 2024 Headliners (Efests) - Foals are big enough to headline the Pyramid

Keane and Simply Red. Someone seal this thread in concrete and drop it down the Mauritius Trench

yeah, I was thinking that about the wifi - they lost over 2 hours worth of bar takings in the main bar onsite on a lunchtime/early afternoon in good weather; I'd imagine into the 10,000s in lost takings. Surely the cost of sorting the IT infrastructure out can't be that much.