Glastonbury 2019

[Skip997]

 

"Excuse me", "thank you, thank you", "have some water, I know you're 'white lining', at least I think that's what he said, not exactly sure what it means, but could probably guess.

The focus of Glastonbury 2019 was the environment, but to be honest the only difference I saw was the lack of plastic bottles, not surprising as it no traders were allowed to sell them this year.

To me this was the polite festival, the most civilised yet, the most Caucasian yet and the most middle class yet. It's safer, cleaner and more sanitised than ever, which is both a blessing and a curse, as it's lost it's edge and is rarely if ever able to shock, but thankfully still able to surprise.

I'm going to skip to Friday as I have no memory of exactly what I did before that, except for eat, sleep, visit folks and make use of the Greenpeace climbing wall.

First up, and a late start, just as I like, Ms. Lauryn Hill on the Pyramid stage. I had this down as a possible highlight, she's a class
act with an interesting history. I'm not sure to this day whether it was a poor performance or if it was the microphone problems which were the issue. Either way it was a pleasant but overall disappointing show.

Next up, again the Pyramid, Stormzy, the darling of the Grime scene (UK HipHop). I love it when the Eavis family, probably Emily in this case, have the nerve to give the headline slot to interesting contemporary acts, instead of boring tried and tested rock/indie bands or 'has-been' old rockers. After all it is 'The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts' and not as one of the Gallagher's once claimed 'a rock festival'.

For me this was almost a must see, although John Hopkins on West Holts was tempting. Got there early, got near enough to the front, endured the hour long wait as they built the set, and it was spectacular. He opened well, alone on stage, yet again doing a reasonable Tupac impression as he did in 2017. Then it changed as I guess he had to for a more diverse crowd than he's used to, coupled with the chance to enhance his reputation and the need to do something special considering the venue and worldwide TV audience. It was big,
spectacular and admirable in how he used acts local to himself on stage, but it wasn't 'HipHop enough' or radical enough for me. Chris Martin, he of Coldplay, a band I've never seen, nor have I any wish to, made an appearance, he was dreadful, three minutes of tuneless dirge in duet with Stormzy. A final observation on the crowd, I was on the edge of the "mosh-pit' and even that was ridiculously polite, nothing like I remember from my youth.

Into the early hours of Saturday and on till sunrise and beyond, somehow I end up at The Glade, there's a huge crowd, and some DJ playing, he's pleasant enough in my current state, but nothing special. I'm wondering why The Glade has an unusually large crowd until I'm told it's Fatboy Slim playing. Second time I've seen him and he really isn't anything special. Next up Late Nite Tuff Guy, this is good, this is like old school House music, he's got me dancing. The venue closes with DJ Spikey back to back with Tony Andrews, I keep dancing, three hours passes very quickly. The rest of the night is vague, mostly Drum and Bass, probably.

Saturday, unsurprisingly another late start, thankfully as it's far too hot and humid to doing anything other than hide in the shade, eat lots and drink as much water as possible. From what I've heard this saved me from what some are describing as the worst Pyramid Stage performance ever, Janet Jackson. Apparently she had similar microphone issues to Lauryn Hill.

Seven o'clock, West Holts, my favourite of the big stages, it has the best acoustics, often the best crowd, and consistently the best line up over the weekend.
"Stop all that scratching and give me a beat", it's Neneh Cherry time. Now this is more like what I hoped for from Lauryn Hill, she was powerful, strong and relevant.

Two years ago I saw one of the best live performances of my life, Kate Tempest. That afternoon she brought people to tears with a quite stunning brilliant show. This concerned me as I walked over to The Park Stage to watch her for at least the fifth year in succession, she was on a 'hiding to nothing' for only something 'out of this world' could compare with 2017. To be fair she was again very good, but only very good, had this been the first time I'd seen her I may be raving about this gig.

What to do? The Chemical Brothers or Wu-Tang Clan, musically an impossible choice. I went with the later as they were on West Holts. They came on to Gravel Pit, their best, although never quite the same without a female vocal. So what now, they've kinda peaked, and unlike Beyonce who opened with Crazy in Love eight years ago on The Pyramid, I couldn't see where they could go from here.

Overall it was a decent show, the highlight being the DJ demonstrating classic HipHop turntable techniques in spectacular fashion, but not what I'd hoped for.

Midnight to sunrise and beyond, Sunday morning, was in some ways a repeat of the early hours of Saturday, one venue and hours of dancing
to Drum and Bass. I may have briefly seen a couple of bands, and made a visit to see some old friends in a back stage bar, but I definitely danced.

Twelve thirty pm is too early, no one, other than Vicars, should be performing at that time on a Sunday morning, so I failed to see Hollie Cook. Never mind, there's still Koffee, the 'up and coming', highly rated Jamaican reggae star. She's very talented, charismatic, and extremely confident for a 19 year old, but it was a bit too "rocky" for me.

I've always liked the name 'Fat White Family', so I went and had a look. I enjoyed it, but am unable to say anything other than "twisted". I've also always liked Daman Albarn, Blur and especially The Gorillaz, so why not have a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. Well I'll tell you why not, they're dreadful, like a rock version of Chas and Dave, but worse, I lasted one and a half songs.

This presented an opportunity to 'take a flyer' on Billie Eilesh, on The Other Stage, recommended to me early in the weekend. A huge crowd, clearly this girl is popular. This was something else, a truly mature and exciting performance from a 17 year old. Strong, powerful and challenging, surely one of the highlights of 2019.

Next up back to The Park for another unknown, Little Simz, a female UK rapper, and another young woman with supreme talent and confidence.

If I were to pick one stage over all my years at this festival as the one to give me the most spectacular gigs, you'd probably guess at West Holts, and you'd be right. From memory: Faithless, Estelle, Freestylers, Qui 3, Black Star Liner, Nile Rogers and Chic, Public Enemy, Kate Tempest and Justice. I'm sure there's many more. Now I have one more to add to the list, Janelle Monae.

This was a gamble, I'd never heard of her let alone heard her, but I liked the write up. The thing is I feel I have to get Sunday night right, and the competition is strong. On The Pyramid, The Cure, guaranteed to be a  good show, and by all accounts it was. On The Other Stage, Christine and the Queens, bound to be spectacular, shocking and fun, apparently it was.

Janelle Monae, born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and producer. Her musical styles have been described as "a soaring orchestral trip enlivened with blockbuster vocals, mysterious imagery and notes of Sixties pop and jazz".The Guardian has noted some of her influences as: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince, Outkast, Erykah Badu, James Brown, Grace Jones, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Bernard Herrmann, Funkadelic and the Incredible String Band. Matthew Valnes likens her dancing style in the music video for "Tightrope", to that of James Brown.

That describes her far better than I could, suffice to say that she was brilliant, as were her band and dancers. It was also a fairly political show. Comfortably my highlight of the festival, and if you've not seen it, have a look online, it's bound to be out there somewhere.

So on to another night of Drum and Bass, interspersed with a bit of 'reggae' from Zion Train, when the D&B became a bit too dark, till dawn and beyond.

Here ended another Glastonbury festival.

 

[Skip997]

Just in case you missed it

[fred quimby]

I love ever year for various reason. But 2019 is my top year. Just everything fell into place, think I have written about it before. 

[Skip997]

6 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

I love ever year for various reason. But 2019 is my top year. Just everything fell into place, think I have written about it before. 

One of my favs, had a great time, even when my mind was being twisted by some "far too dark" DnB

[Nobby's Old Boots]

What does the "reasonable Tupac impression" line mean?

[CaledonianGonzo]

"We were talking about Janelle Monae, born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and producer. Her musical styles have been described as "a soaring orchestral trip enlivened with blockbuster vocals, mysterious imagery and notes of Sixties pop and jazz"

 

[Skip997]

Anyway she was damn fine with more costume changes than Beyonce (maybe).

[Rufus Gwertigan]

TLDR.

I had a cool time with my 32 year old son. I was in bed early and he was happy to party on his own. We watched the Cure together on our final night and he was amazed that I sang every song word for word.

 

 

 

[blutarsky]

I enjoyed myself. 

[kalifire]

Bit hot. Stormzy and Janelle both incredible.