Glastonbury Review: Part Two

(If you missed part one, scroll down or look under archive xxx)

Saturday:

Seriously hot Saturday, but that did not deter me in checking out The Phenomenal Handclap Band. I was very impressed by their set, fusing sounds of 1970s New York with funk and electro; slightly reminiscent of CSS as seen in ‘15 to 20’ but do have a glance at their MySpace page. Next it was off to see Kate Nash, and her set marked a definite steer to punk, shouting and screaming, perhaps trying too hard, especially when she smashed up her piano at the end. I was not impressed by her new material; I think by having this punk influence it’s taken away some originality, distracting the listener from her subtle poetic lyrics as seen in her first album. Although I must praise Kate Nash for highlighting the fact that the music world is still dominated by men and encouraging women in the crowd to pick up a pen and a guitar and create music.

I hate to admit it, but Shakira was one of the highlights of the festival. She pranced about on stage, inspiring the audience (including myself) to copy her dance moves to ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ and ‘Whenever Wherever’. Until then, I hadn’t appreciated Shakira, but her distinctive voice, her heartfelt lyrics as in ‘Underneath Your Clothes’, and influences drawn from world music has certainly changed my judgement. And I admittedly enjoyed ‘She-Wolf’… Scissor Sisters up next and they just blew me away. They’re back with a new album after a long break, bringing back new found sexiness. ‘Fire with Fire’ and ‘Nightlife’ were my favourite songs of the set and got the crowd going wild, especially when Kylie (badly kept rumour of a secret act – rumour has it she may be headlining next year) joined them in their rendition of ‘Any Which Way’. Old hits such as ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’’ were played, as well as what must be my favourite cover of all times: a disco-themed rendition of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’. The Scissor Sisters are brilliant performers (with interesting costume choices, I might add) and thoroughly enjoyed their set, closing on ‘Filthy/Gorgeous’.

Muse was the headliner for Saturday, and boy, aren’t they just the stadium band? Lights, lasers and the volume pushed up to max, they gave a performance of a lifetime. Material from their most recent album was played, ‘Uprising’, ‘Resistance’ and ‘Undisclosed Desires’; songs inspired by conspiracies, Orwell, rebellions and the universe, interspersed with dramatic interludes paying tribute to ‘Heartbreaker’… breathtaking. ‘Feeling Good’ and ‘Plug in Baby’ had to make an appearance, as well as a representative for poor Bono: The Edge. ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ was a touching moment, and as for an encore, a simple harmonica melody was played and you knew straight away what was in store. Of course, the explosive ‘Knights of Cydonia’. Epic.

Sunday:

Sunday was a little bit of a come down for me; too much sun and too much walking. So, in search of shade, I sought the BBC Introducing Stage and checked out rising talent Broadcast 2000, followed by a surprise short set from Laura Marling. It’s hard to believe she’s only twenty and is able to come up with folksy lyrics full of wisdom and life experience. Temper Trap sounded good, and managed to catch the last bit of their set, good stuff. But I regret not seeing Grizzly Bear and Ray Davies (my excuse is that I caught a cold and was slightly exhausted). Shame.

MGMT was one of the biggest disappointments for me. I felt there was a lack of energy amongst the band, and the sound quality was quite poor. From where I was standing, the audience were definitely not feeling it, and their new material did not go down well. Their set was partly saved by ‘Time to Pretend’ and ‘Kids’ at the end, where the band invited people on stage to dance and embrace the hippy spirit. Over to Faithless. Now that was a dilemma: LCD Soundsystem or Faithless? At much pain, I went with the latter. Their set was warmly received; loops and rhythms galore. ‘God is a DJ’ and the classic ‘Insomnia’ featured, and ‘We Come 1’ created a nice sense of unity amongst the crowd, ready for…

Stevie Wonder. What a great way to end a festival? Nice bit of soul at the beginning and onto a brilliant cover of The Beatles ‘We Can Work It Out’, mixed in with some wonderful cheeky narrative provided by Wonder before introducing the next song: ‘this relationship has turned into a relation-shit’, prior to ‘If You Really Love Me’ just had me in hysterics. I relished his Motown section where he was transformed back into his younger set when he drunk the ‘magic potion’. ‘Fingertips’, ‘Uptight’ and ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ were perfect, and ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ made the audience go all romantically soppy, with desperate attempts of some members trying to call their loved ones back home only to realise the networks were jammed…I tried to do the same thing as well. A couple of notes on bass symbolised the oncoming ‘Superstition’ and the audience went literally mad, only to be brought back to Earth with ‘Happy Birthday’ played lovingly to Michael Eavis.

What else to say? Glastonbury was pure magic. 5 out of 5 stars.

Glastonbury Review: Part One

SUGAR PILL HQ sent Miss Jenna Corderoy to review what is perhaps the best music and performing arts festival the Earth has to offer…of course its Glastonbury, celebrating its 40^th anniversary this summer.        

Life is not the same when you return home from Glastonbury.  As soon as you’re on board the coach on Monday, you’re rocketed back into the world of stress, routine and knowing that the television will structure the rest of your holiday until you go back to your university/college/9-5 job.  It’s simply not fair.  Why can’t life be more like Glastonbury? 

As a first time Glastonbury-goer, I couldn’t help but notice (and I know this is a gross generalisation) that people there are…happy?  Chilled?  Excited?  You know that feeling where there are hardly any constraints forced upon you when you pass through the gates: you can dance where you like, eat what you like, and wear what you like without judgement.  It’s a pretty concept when you think about it. 

But enough nostalgia for now, let’s commence this review, throwing in the odd anecdote here and there.  Actually a lot of anecdotes; apologies.          

Wednesday and Thursday:

Wednesday was spent travelling, ogling at Stonehenge through the coach window and feeling underwhelmed at the size of it, lugging too much stuff around the site and spending 2.5 hours looking for tent space.  I’m not complaining; we found a space by the 24 hour burger van so I was pretty much sorted for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.  After dumping my stuff, it was time to survey the site, alongside sipping proper cider and generally feeling happy.  Even got myself a mini-pupillage after chatting to some guy in a poster shop.  The exploration lasted until 3am, taking in all the magic at Stone Circle. 

Thursday really brought home the weather we were going to endure for the next couple of days.  Freezing at night, blistering hot by 8am.  Waking up in a panic because it was too hot to breathe was not pleasant, and scrambling out the tent gasping for fresh air highly reminded me of the rhino scene from Ace Ventura II.  Other than that, seeing Boy George made up for it.  Although 40 minutes late starting, his short set was entertaining, throwing in Culture Club classics such as ‘Karma Chameleon’, and a nice little cover of ‘Always on My Mind’.  He also sang a few gospel songs like ‘Down by the Riverside’, giving his new wave set a complimenting twist.   

Spent the rest of the night at the electronic dystopian world of Shangri-La. 

Friday:

Kicking off Glastonbury was the loveable Rolf Harris playing all his didgeridoo classics, and then it was off to see the The Magic Numbers.  I’m not a massive fan of their music, but they delivered a tight set mixed in with all their indie hits: perfect for a Friday afternoon.  Next was Miike Snow, who, admittedly, I had never heard of, but I certainly enjoyed their music and judging from the size of the crowd, they had amassed a large gathering which will only increase for the remainder of the year and 2011.  Their sound is refreshing, indie but with dashes of prepared piano as seen in ‘Silvia’, chilled dance rhythms of ‘Black and Blue’, and dark fuzzy electronic sounds of ‘Billie Holiday’.  Stuck around for Canadian twins Tegan and Sara who will no doubt be making more of an appearance in UK charts for 2011.  Indie, nice harmonies and lyrics – yeah, they go down well.  Strayed over to Bonobo over at the West Holts stage for some chilling, percussion and base heavy tunes.

Needing shelter from the blistering sun (and regretfully missing out on Snoop Dogg – my excuse being that I was quite ill on that day), I took to the Acoustic stage to see Turin Brakes, who sounded quite bitter that they weren’t on the main stage this year.  Their set was not extraordinary, I’m sorry to say, you know, just the same twee stuff, although I thoroughly enjoyed their take on Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’.  Florence and the Machine was a popular choice for many festival goers.  A strong performance, she whirled and twirled in her floating pre-Raphaelite inspired dress, whooping with delight.  There was a mention of a second album, and offered the crowds new material in the form of ‘Heavy in Your Arms’ – darker, rockier and more dramatic when comparing it to songs of the first album.  Maybe she should have left ‘The Chain’ alone, but all in all, the set was enjoyable, placed against a beautiful backdrop of a sunny Friday evening. 

I was stupidly excited over seeing Hot Chip, and their act was definitely one of the many highlights of my festival experience.  Geeky, but oh so cool; they’re just simply amazing.  I questioned over there choice of kicking off with ‘Boy from School’ instead of something more dancier, but their set grew more and more energetic as the evening progressed with ‘One Life Stand’ and indie anthem ‘Over and Over’.  I wished I stayed for the end of their set, but I had to get myself to the front for Gorillaz.    

All I can say the Gorillaz set was a visual spectacular, complete with comic strip videos and military-themed outfits, sprinkled with incredible guest appearances on top: you just didn’t know where to look.  It was that great.  Seriously.  The only regret I had was that I hadn’t listened to ‘Plastic Beach’ before going, but not to worry.  The set was opened by a video of Snoop Dogg dressed in a captain’s suit which drew laughs from the crowds – but I felt slightly disappointed that he wasn’t there in person.  I should have placed more trust in Damon Albarn, the trickster, for Snoop came on stage at the end. 

Obviously pretty much of Plastic Beach was played, throwing in the mix was ‘Kids with Guns’, ‘Dare’ with Shaun Ryder, ‘Feel Good Inc’ with the wonderful De La Soul, and ‘Dirty Harry’.  ‘Melancholy Hill’ made me want to buy the album as soon as I was back in sunny Hainault, and the appearance of Lou Reed just made my evening that extra special.  Although he did get many looks of ‘who are you?’ ‘I thought he was dead’ or my personal favourite ‘he looks like my nan’.  There was a musical interlude where Damon introduced a little known band; nice introduction to eastern music for those who have no idea about world music.  I felt it was badly received by the audience from where I was standing, which was an unfair judgement, as the band were, in their own right, very good.  Sadly, their act caused comments such as ‘Damon’s an arrogant twat’.  Oh well.  A good fraction of the audience left at that point, but that only created plenty of space for me to dance with a handsome Radiohead-loving stranger. 

Playlist for 10/05/2010

Some admin:

If you missed the show, you can listen again (if you like):

http://www.cur1350.co.uk/index.php?action=view&id=1293&date_id=13756&module=schedulemodule&src=%40random4512b1fa8373a
The lovely singers are Shayan and Rachel from The Yapps - here's their fan page:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/The-Yapps/112150332160053?ref=ts
And....if you have some spare time you could have a look at Jenna's review for Kept Impulses Tour:

http://cambridgetab.co.uk/reviews/review-kent-impulses-tour/
And as for the playlist...we had...

Stillness is the Move - Dirty Projectors
Water Curses - Animal Collective
Devil's Haircut - Beck
Candy - Paolo Nutini covered by The Yapps
Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John
Built to Spilt - The Plan
Give Blood - Ray Machine
Boyz - mash-up of M.I.A. and The Very Best
Fight for this Love - Cheryl Cole covered by The Yapps
Track 4 - Washed Out
Magnificent Seven - The Clash
Lucky - Mraz covered by The Yapps
A42 - Nedry
Help I'm Alive - Metric
Listed Buildings - Los Campesinos
Madder Red - Yearsayer
Don't be Upset - Jeffrey Lewis
Crush with Eyeliner - R.E.M.
Take It In - Hot Chip
Idle Day - Beirut
Crystallised - The xx

Missed the show?

Wellllllll you can listen again:

http://www.cur1350.co.uk/index.php?action=view&id=1293&date_id=13756&module=schedulemodule&src=%40random4512b1fa8373a

The playlist will be up soon, but in the meantime, why don't you read Jenna's review of 65daysofstatic?:


http://cambridgetab.co.uk/reviews/review-65daysofstatic/

xxx

TOMORROW, YEAH?

Hey guys

We're back with a vengeance tomorrow on the airwaves, 7pm - 9pm.

Please send in your requests!

Only at www.cur1350.co.uk

The SUGAR PILL team
xxx

Playlist for 3/05/2010

Hot Cake - The Fall
Taxi Cab - Vampire Weekend
Canary Wharf - The Wavve Pictures
Monkey Man - The Specials
Cemetery Gates - The Smiths
Pala Tute - Gogol Bordello
Lion In A Coma - Animal Collective
Bulletproof - La Roux
Creeper - Islands
Keleya - Moussa Doumbia
Should Have Taken Acid - Neon Indian
I Start To Run - White Denim
We Own The Sky - M83
Warm Heart of Africa - The Very Best
Harder Better Faster Stronger - Daft Punk
Help Me Somebody - Brian Eno and David Byrne
One Fine Day - David Byrne

***Ode To Joy was the Stylophone answer - no winners this time***

Tomorrow evening. Be there.

Hello all.

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be back on the airwaves, 7pm-9pm, www.cur1350.co.uk.

This time, our special guest will be comedian MARC SHALET!!!

You'll loves it.

Jenna and Andy
a.k.a. The SUGAR PILL team

xxx