Jump to content

The worst sets at Glastonbury


Leyrulion
 Share

Recommended Posts

18 minutes ago, Greenelk said:

And Van Morrison 2005 - My memory here (and it might be wrong) was that he played a pretty good set, and then something happened to piss him off, he threw an almighty strop, stormed off the stage, and left his band to play the final few songs without him.  As he refused to have his set filmed, I can't look back to check if that is actually what happened.

Sounds entirely plausible!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

I just recall standing there, watching while my pint slowly filled with rainwater as Bono pissed around with some international space station bullshit contemplating that it was the first and only time I’ve felt utterly miserable at Glastonbury.

I always forget I've seen U2.

It's like you said, it's not like it was bad at all...I think I just mentally blocked the entire thing out due to the utterly miserable weather. Can't even remember what we did after the set. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

Not a single mention of U2 so far.

It was terrible, but there’s a fair degree of mitigation here. They tried gamely but the weather just made it impossible to enjoy.

For me U2 weren't so bad - basically because a huge group around us were shouting in unison "Pay your .... taxes" every time Bono talked. They got so good at it we were all laughing, joining in and the weather didn't matter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, hfuhruhurr said:

For me U2 weren't so bad - basically because a huge group around us were shouting in unison "Pay your .... taxes" every time Bono talked. They got so good at it we were all laughing, joining in and the weather didn't matter.

I mean, it is important that we never lose sight of the fact that Bono is a massive c**t.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m a U2 fan but they never really looked like they’d nail that set. Were there some odd choices in the setlist as well? I remember the closer/encore being a bit of a damp squib.

I love the Boss but felt he also played more of a ‘fans’ set’ rather than a festival-friendly one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Gingerfish79 said:

Also, Dizzie in 2013. Dishonourable mention for The View - who, if I've got my years right, missed their set at Williams Green in 2013 as they had gone AWOL somewhere on site.

I was at that non-appearance by The View. Seem to remember they'd supported kasabian in Leicester the night before and story was they never made it to Glastonbury at all. 

Edited as seen the replies that it was due to a family bereavement and not them losing the run of themselves the night before. 

Edited by El Matador
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Gingerfish79 said:

Also, Dizzie in 2013. Dishonourable mention for The View - who, if I've got my years right, missed their set at Williams Green in 2013 as they had gone AWOL somewhere on site.

The View were also horrendous when I saw them on the Other stage in 2009. My mate was complaining they weren't playing any songs from the first album, they actually were, they were just murdering them so badly they were almost unrecognisable.

Loved their earlier albums & was fortunate to see them at a small gig in Scotland before they were famous which was superb. Truly believe they could have been massive if they'd actually played like they were capable of at festivals where you have an opportunity to win new fans, but get the impression they just got off their face at every opportunity & wasted their talent. Sadly a very typical Scottish story

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The start of U2 was great and then it really started pissing down. And some of the song choices and placements were bizarre. 

Theyve never really known how to finish gigs though. Saw them in Rome where they started with Vertigo and finished with All Because of You, Yehweh and...... Vertigo. 

Even on the last tour they were sending people home with Love Is Bigger and 13. Abysmal stuff. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, The Nal said:

The start of U2 was great and then it really started pissing down. And some of the song choices and placements were bizarre. 

Theyve never really known how to finish gigs though. Saw them in Rome where they started with Vertigo and finished with All Because of You, Yehweh and...... Vertigo. 

Even on the last tour they were sending people home with Love Is Bigger and 13. Abysmal stuff. 

It's not like they haven't got anything big to end on...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've listened back to the U2 set many times and it sounds great. I maintain if they'd ended with something like in God's Country and New Years Day it would be looked back on more fondly. They played some absolute bangers.

I'd also like to look back without the memory of pulling my hood up too late. It was full of water by the time I did it, which all ran down my neck. Nice.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Not a single mention of U2 so far.

It was terrible, but there’s a fair degree of mitigation here. They tried gamely but the weather just made it impossible to enjoy.

I have seen U2 12 times over the years and Glastonbury was by far the worst. Still enjoyed it as a fan of the band but as you say the weather didn't help. It's a shame that they did have to reschedule as I think in 2010 with the glorious weather they would have been a hell of a lot better. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, The Nal said:

The start of U2 was great and then it really started pissing down. And some of the song choices and placements were bizarre. 

Theyve never really known how to finish gigs though. Saw them in Rome where they started with Vertigo and finished with All Because of You, Yehweh and...... Vertigo. 

Even on the last tour they were sending people home with Love Is Bigger and 13. Abysmal stuff. 

The 1st time I saw them was on the 87 Joshua Tree tour and they finished with 40 which is a great song to finish on. Wish they'd still do that! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, dondo said:

The 1st time I saw them was on the 87 Joshua Tree tour and they finished with 40 which is a great song to finish on. Wish they'd still do that! 

Big fan of the All You Can't Leave Behind tour when they squoze 40 in between Bad and Streets. Quite a moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, dondo said:

I have seen U2 12 times over the years and Glastonbury was by far the worst. Still enjoyed it as a fan of the band but as you say the weather didn't help. It's a shame that they did have to reschedule as I think in 2010 with the glorious weather they would have been a hell of a lot better. 

I didn't watch them (Was at Primal Scream on the Other stage) but I also thought the same that if they had played the intended slot in 2010 with the great weather etc it would have gone down a lot better.

I wonder if ME or EE will invite them back to have another crack at it or if that's it done now for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

I wonder if ME or EE will invite them back to have another crack at it or if that's it done now for them.

Surely it's not a case of "if they're invited back" - if U2 want to come back then an act of that status isn't going to be turned down, regardless of the perception of their last performance, unless the festival already has 3 headliners locked in. Same applies to any other suitably large acts on this thread - Oasis, Springsteen, Radiohead. The Who. Not Rod Stewart though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Ddiamondd said:

I feel like the clamour to book U2 ran throughout much of the 2000s, when their stock was extremely high riding off All That You Can't and How To Dismantle. Live 8, iPod adverts, ubiquity in the charts, record-breaking tours, a huge run of success for a band 25 years in.

I remember them being an ongoing rumour for El Pointo as early as 2007/8, and by 2009 we more or less knew they'd be playing 2010.

So the delay was rough luck. When their set came around in 2011 the parodies of Bono were at fever pitch, the tax evasion story had ballooned (literally...), and they were coming off a pretty bad album. Get On Your Boots? Come off it. Wasn't long before the Apple giveaway controversy, too.

On the night the weather fucked it up, but it's been part of an ongoing downward trend for the band anyway. 

The Stones caught the Glasto hype bang on. U2, it was far less the sum of its parts.

I posted a fuller version of this story once before, but the short version: They were booked for 2005 (and as I remember, Michael even hinted that he wanted them in 2004). I don't know how it looked contractually but I know the band were proceeding as if it was confirmed - one of the few pieces of genuine "inside information" I've ever had. Then they were offered a "too good to turn down" exclusive deal with what eventually became Live Nation (think it would have been either CCE or SFX at the time), and plans changed at very short notice. It didn't just torpedo Glastonbury - the contract covered all manner of things they'd previously done "in house" or with long time partners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, incident said:

I posted a fuller version of this story once before, but the short version: They were booked for 2005 (and as I remember, Michael even hinted that he wanted them in 2004). I don't know how it looked contractually but I know the band were proceeding as if it was confirmed - one of the few pieces of genuine "inside information" I've ever had. Then they were offered a "too good to turn down" exclusive deal with what eventually became Live Nation (think it would have been either CCE or SFX at the time), and plans changed at very short notice. It didn't just torpedo Glastonbury - the contract covered all manner of things they'd previously done "in house" or with long time partners.

Wow, love that! A genuine bit of fascinating info. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Callum_96 said:

I've only got two that spring to mind and that's The Cribs 2015 and New Order 2016 both Other Stage. Every time I've seen The Cribs previously and after they've been amazing but that was a proper off day and New Order was just boring, Bernards voice sounded horrific and it was encapsulated with an awful cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart to close!

Is that when they were on early? I remember enjoying it but I did fall asleep standing up to be fair. I watch their set on the reading mainstage from that year quite a lot, they smashed it even with the demographic shift away from their general crowd now. Was their weakest album they were touring at that point (although Pink Snow remains a killer finishing track)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, found home in 2009 said:

The View were also horrendous when I saw them on the Other stage in 2009. My mate was complaining they weren't playing any songs from the first album, they actually were, they were just murdering them so badly they were almost unrecognisable.

Loved their earlier albums & was fortunate to see them at a small gig in Scotland before they were famous which was superb. Truly believe they could have been massive if they'd actually played like they were capable of at festivals where you have an opportunity to win new fans, but get the impression they just got off their face at every opportunity & wasted their talent. Sadly a very typical Scottish story

Saw them at the long gone Astoria in the early 00s and it was absolutely fantastic.  I am not Scottish but the crowd clearly largely was and one couldn't help but get carried along by the bonhomie.  And the band were tight.

Roll forward to 2019 and i was stood in one of the covered venues at Kendal Calling net to a chap with nothing on his feet.  The mud was absolutely beyond compare and he didn't care due to the intoxication levels.  it took me a while of trying to figure out why he looked familiar.  it was Kyle Falconer and he had not yet done his set. They loved a swally 🙂

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, priest17 said:

Is that when they were on early? I remember enjoying it but I did fall asleep standing up to be fair. I watch their set on the reading mainstage from that year quite a lot, they smashed it even with the demographic shift away from their general crowd now. Was their weakest album they were touring at that point (although Pink Snow remains a killer finishing track)

They were on early yeah, think just after The Charlatans. I don't know what it was they just felt off, I think the wind might have hindered them a bit sound wise, especially where I was stood 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Zacko said:

I've had the U2 set on this morning, definitely looks better on TV than it felt in the crowd. The steam (?) etc rising up from the crowd and the stage looks fantastic. Bono's voice is pretty on point as per usual. 

 

I still looks great on TV (like a different gig almost!), but I was cold and miserable and could barely hear it in person (and I moved around the field a number of times to see if I could get a better spot, but no matter where I went it was Killers '07 level of awful sound). I didn't mind the song choices that much as there wasn't much they could play that I wouldn't know, but they have enough in the canon to blow the roof off the place and they didn't come close unfortunately (dare I say it, Edge sounded better with Muse the year before). 

Edited by Toilet Duck
Typo!
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...