I could easily write a novel on all the things I saw and did at Glastonbury festival. I’ll try keep it as entertaining as possible. Here, have a photo:

The Beastie Boys setting up the stage.

The Beastie Boys setting up the stage.

Wednesday morning we packed our bags and got ready for the 4 hour trip to Glasto. It was a glorious day, everything we had hoped for but never expected. When we arrived I caught up with old pal Michael from Perth (now living in Bristol) who saved us a nice patch of turf to set up camp and introduced us to our new friends for the next 5 days. It wasn’t long before we were then introduced to just one of the festival’s delights on offer, pints of cider. We may have had one or two…

There were about 4 other shots like this... It seemed funny at the time.

Cider fiends

Opening the festival on Thursday afternoon were Maximo Park, the lineup outside the Queen’s Head tent was absolutely massive but it was worth it in the end, they put on a great set. Later in the evening we experienced the first bit of rain and it didn’t take long before we realised we’d need some wellies… urr, gumboots! You’ll see what I mean in just a moment…

Later we caught Beardyman do a set, he’s a beatboxer but loops his own beats and creates really thick tunes over the top… reminds me of Girl Talk, but this dude only uses his voice (no decks!). After him we caught East 17. Michael and Ellen had a soft spot for them having lived over here (we’re they’re from) when they were at their peak, so of course we had no choice but to go see them.

Sometime during the night we heard whispers that Jacko had died… At first we thought it was a pretty serious case of Chinese whispers, but nope, you all know it turned out to be true. Didn’t take long for stalls to start selling “I was at Glasto when MJ died”, and it was very quick for the MJ jokes to start flowing.

Friday was a great start to the weekend. Well, rain aside, but it wouldn’t be Glastonbury without rain and mud!

Mmmmm Mudelicious

Mmmmm Mudelicious

 One of the first bands I caught on the day were Fucked Up… That’s their name. And they were. But they were also the most nuts band I’ve seen in a while. I thought the festival had peaked way too early, easily one of the best sets all weekend. The singer guy spent 3 quarters of the set in the crowd, making his way at least 50-60 metres to the back and singing from their, climbing the scaffolding, everything… They actually remind me a lot of The Bronx and if it really is true they’re touring together back at home later in the year then I command you to go see a show, they are NOT to be missed.

Moving on, I caught a bit of The Specials and made friends with some guy named Tim. Making friends with complete strangers happened quite a lot, makes for lots of fun between sets whilst bored and waiting.

Neil Young was the headliner tonight, can’t say I enjoyed him too much back in Sydney earlier this year though this time he absolutely nailed it, enjoyed every minute I spent watching him… Not the highlight for me, but still a great time nonetheless. Best part of the set was Down By The River. He jammed on and on and on in this song, seemed to go on forever but in one of those ‘He better not stop’ kind of ways.

Saturday morning started of with Peter, Bjorn and John. One of those bands you’ll know quite a bit by but don’t realise it… Pete has the energy of Howlin’ Pele from The Hives (something about the Swedes I guess) and really got the crowd going. They’re incredibly tight for a 3 piece and had a really nicely layered sound about them. Totally wasn’t keen to see them (I was pretty much just tagging along with Drew) and I walked away converted. I want to see them again sometime.

Met up with Anthony (fishkopter, for all you forum geeks playing along at home) from Brisbane and hung out for a bit, and also posed for some photos. I can’t even remember half the bands we saw during the day (I really need the programme to cross-check, but it was definitely chockers with band after band after band), but we did see the White Lies (really wishing I was home in time to catch them again… anyone going to Splendour make sure you get on down to see them) and of course Bruce Springsteen. Brucey went alright, left lots of people disappointed that he didn’t play Born In The USA, but hey, he’s the Boss! Oh I almost forgot… speaking of Bruce, he came out on stage to play a song with The Gaslight Anthem. It was amazing. Oh and Mel (I know you’re reading this), sorry about those texts, I was just a little bit excited and I knew if anyone cared it would be you haha…

So the weekend was going crazy quick, it was Sunday before we knew it.

Up one section of the festival there’s this tower on a hill which overlooks the whole thing:

View from the tower. I couldnt get the whole place into the shot!

View from the tower. I couldn't get the whole place into the shot!

It’s crazy to see just how big the place is! Apparently it’s something stupid like 4 miles from corner to corner. Who knows? But I can tell you this – it was bloody far! It would easily take upwards of an hour to walk one side to the other, and that’s with light traffic.

More beer and cider, more strangers who even provide the entertainment for themselves between sets and more music. Some of the best sets were from people I never expected anything from, including Tom Jones and Status Quo. No jokes. Brand New also played an incredible set and tore the place up playing a whole bunch of tunes off Deja Entendu (Sic Transit Gloria was well pumping) and Devil & God, and they even threw in 2 new tracks… Get excited people the new album is going to be on par with Devil & God if these songs were anything to go by… Also snuck in a recording of one of the new songs. I was going to try and upload it but at 300MB I might have to wait till I’m back home.

Goddamn, one of the best weekends of my life and I get the feeling I will be making a return in the not too distant future 😉

That post was a little longer than I expected and I still didn’t get to talk about half the things I wanted to! I think I’ll leave it there. but before I do, here’s one last picture of the aftermath:

Monday morning

Monday morning

And since I forget so easily, I’m gonna write down everything I saw

Thursday:
Maximo Park
Beardy Man
East 17

Friday:
Mr Hudson and The Library
Bjorn Again
Gabrielle Cilmi
Regina Spektor
Fucked Up
N.E.R.D.
Fleet Foxes
Lily Allen
The Specials
The Ting Tings
Neil Young
Bloc Party

Saturday:
The Broken Family Band
Peter, Bjorn and John
Rolf Harris
Eagles of Death Metal
Spinal Tap
The Temper Trap
Dizzee Rascal
Pete Doherty
The Gaslight Anthem (with guest appearance from Bruce Springsteen!)
La Roux
Kasabian
White Lies
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Jarvis Cocker
The King Blues

Sunday:
Status Quo
Art Brut
Brand New
Tom Jones
Madness
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Blur