| 2004
- Saturday
– We received a rude awakening on Saturday morning, as the
rain began lashing against the tent from around 6am. Despite our
best attempts to ignore it, we soon had to accept that the forecasts
were not going to be proved wrong, and another wet day was in
store. At first this didn’t seem too bad, with many happy
for a little relief from the sunburn suffered on the Friday. But
as we donned the waterproofs and wellies that had been untouched
since Wednesday night it didn’t take long to remember that
Glastonbury becomes a little less fun in the rain and mud. We
could hear the strains of Sister Sledge’s “We are
family” drifting over from the Pyramid, but that simply
finalised our decision not to go there, and to seek some undercover
entertainment instead. The nearest tent we came across was the
New Tent, which proved a great stroke of luck as it allowed us
to watch the new unsigned band BlackBud. They attracted a big
crowd, perhaps partially due to the weather, but also a testament
to their performance in the unsigned bands competition that gained
them this slot, along with an appearance the previous evening
on the Avalon Stage. The trio played some excellent bluesy-rock,
and in all likelihood will be returning to the festival next summer
with a recording contract signed long before. . |
| Our
biggest claim to fame this year is spotting a women who
is on the cover of that day's "The Times" |
|
More
camp than several fields of tents, The Scissor Sisters
(from efestivals) |
|
After
a couple more hours of seeking shelter, food and drink in a variety
of tents we eventually decided to venture back out into the open
air for some glam-disco in the form of the Scissor Sisters. They
played good versions of songs such as “Laura” (apparently
about US First Lady Mrs Bush) and Pink Floyd cover “Comfortably
Numb”, but their most entertaining aspect was the increasingly
bizarre announcements between songs. We could have done without
the update on Jake Shears’ encounter in a tent the previous
night, and Ana Matronic’s proclamation that “Ladies
and Gentlemen, we are mud” confused a few brains not properly
recovered from the previous night, but Ana began speaking more
sense when she started talking about barns: “There are no
barns here, because if there were we would have burned them down”
she announced, provoking a loud cheer from fire fans across the
field. Not content with this pro-arson statement, she then gave
her verdict on regional politics in the UK: “Hello to all
our English fans, we love you… in fact, the whole of Great
Britain - Scotland and Ireland too.” A loan voice in the
crowd yelled “What about Wales?”, but the crowd just
laughed at him and the well-aimed dig at his nation. |
| As
the Scissor Sisters ended we were faced with a bit of fast-walking
through the mud to get to the appearance of Keane on the Other
Stage. This was a better set than expected, to a huge mid-afternoon
crowd, although the biggest cheer was reserved for the brief appearance
of the sunshine. The singer Tim Chapman even had the confidence
to tease the crowd, asking “does anyone have our single
‘Somewhere Only We Know’?”, and then responded
to the cheers with “Then you should know this…this
is the B-side”, to which there were no audible groans, but
a noticeable reduction in enthusiasm. Their singles were eventually
played, and the crowd chanted “Keano” to show their
appreciation of a band who are also likely to return in a more
prominent slot. |
|
| Those
who had stayed at the Pyramid were greeted to yet more fire-action,
as first the Lost Prophets got the whole crowd chanting “Burn”
during their last song, “Burn Burn”, and then Ben
Harper knocked out his own tribute to barns with “Burn One
Down”. As the conditions improved into the evening, next
on the HMZ watching list were British Sea Power, a band whose
name proved so hard to remember that some arrived believing they
were about to witness a demonstration by Powergen. The set had
for some reason been decorated with several small trees, whilst
those in the front rows appeared to be waving branches, creating
quite a bizarre scene. Having heard quite a lot about BSP before
the festival, at times they lived up to expectations whilst occasionally
dipping towards just ordinary guitar-rock. The highlight was definitely
the chaos that ensued during their final song, as first a man
dressed as a giant bear began molesting the band whilst they played,
and then another bloke wandered around the stage randomly banging
a drum to no obvious rhythm or purpose. |
Joss
Stone gives the crowd a bone (from efestivals) |
|
| Next
it was time for our first proper visit of the weekend to
the JazzWorld stage, to watch the 17 year old soul star
Joss Stone. (edit: for the sake of decency I have cut
out Jim’s 500 word tribute to Joss Stone’s “lovely
bum” here because it was quite disturbing). She
played her cover of the White Stripes “Fell in love
with a girl” and new single “Supa-Dupa Love”,
as well as a fantastic version of Oasis’ “Don’t
look back in anger”, which many preferred to the lifeless
original they had heard the previous night. Joss showed
impressive stage presence whilst allowing her backing band
and singers their own time in the spotlight, as she disappeared
from view during instrumentals. Over at the New Bands tent
during this time, the less perverted members of the HMZ
team did their best to watch The Killers run through tracks
from their latest CD. However, even though we arrived 15
minutes before they were due to play, the crowds were streaming
so far out of the tent it was impossible to get a decent
view. Many of those watching from what must have been the
biggest crowd ever to accumulate at the New Bands Stage
will surely be seeing The Killers on a bigger Glastonbury
stage in future years. It was possible to move further inside
the tent for the appearance of Hope Of The States, whose
singer’s strange mumbling about the band not getting
on with each other detracted slightly from their powerful
set. |
| Back
in the JazzWorld field, the Joss Stone piking club fill
up from one of the many Mexican food stalls, and then stay
to watch as much as we could of Jamie Cullum, partly through
wanting to see him but just as much out of a desire to avoid
the Black Eyed Peas. Cullum adopts an unorthodox approach
to piano-playing, but the jumping up and down etc gets the
crowd going, and he begins with a cover of the Pharrell
Williams song “Frontin” which adds a bit more
melody and energy to the original. The performance is musically
very tight and well received, but by halfway through it
is time to head to the Pyramid stage for the weekend’s
headliner, Paul McCartney. |
| Dirty
men in raincoats listen to Joss Stone's music. |
|
|
| At
first it seemed we were in for an excruciating night, as the ex-Beatle,
dressed in a red blazer, seemed to be oblivious to linguistic
changes over the last 40 years, repeating how “Groovy”
it was to be at Glastonbury. But you quickly grow used to his
scouse patter, which becomes more interesting as he describes
various stories from his career, and time spent with John, George
and Ringo. |
One
of many "finger points" from Macca (from
efestivals)
|
|
They
early part of the set sees him alternate between his own
material and Beatles’ songs, before he began a mini-tribute
to his former bandmates, decdicating “Here Today”
to John Lennon, to a huge cheer, then “All things
must pass” to Harrison. “People then ask me,
‘what about Ringo?’” he announced, to
which a puzzled crowd replied “He’s not dead
yet”, but this wasn’t the answer McCartney
was looking for, and he launched into an acapella version
of “Yellow Submarine”, joined by virtually
everyone in the field. Another highlight of the main set
was the James Bond theme “Live and Let Die”,
accompanied by huge fireworks being sent up from behind
the stage and then shooting flames at the front, as if
fire-fans hadn’t had enough to please them already
today. The main set ended with “Hey Jude”,
although it was hard to tell at what point the song was
supposed to have finished, as following McCartney’s
departure from the stage the crowd continued to sing the
chorus until he reappeared. He returned having swapped
his red jacket for a red t-shirt bearing the slogan “No
More Landmines”, sparking some incorrect speculation
that this may have been what caused his wife to lose her
leg. That
was quickly forgotten as he continued with his Beatles
Greatest Hits theme with “Yesterday” and “Let
it Be”. |
| After
a second encore the show ended with “Helter
Skelter”, and finally “Sgt Pepper”,
and the crowd continued to sing along with every
word.
Still in the singing mood it was of course time
to head for the Cider Bus, and as we strolled across
the Pyramid Field we continued singing “Hey
Jude” , but changed the chorus to “Ci-der”.
This seemed a popular alteration, and by the time
we reached the bus several hundred people were joining
in as the song echoed around the site. The next
two hours continued along broadly the same theme,
as Beatles and other famous songs were changed to
include cider references and then heartily sang
by the Cider Bus faithful. Some highlights were
“We all live in the Cider Cider Bus”
to the tune of Yellow Submarine and “C.I.D.E.R.”
to D.I.S.C.O., along with the mocking of anyone
choosing to drink at the beer tent rather than the
Cider Bus. |
 |
Unlike on the previous occasions that this has happened
the staff at the Bus seemed to appreciate this praise,
and kindly rewarded the leading singers with some
free cider, which prolonged the sing-song. The HMZ
team, who had become separated earlier in the evening,
were eventually re-united around the campfire, where
the songs were less in praise of cider and more
to do with the “Dogging Tent”, which
sadly remained empty for the fourth consecutive
night. |
|
|
Confetti
& Fireworks at the Pyramid Stage during Paul McCartney's
set (photo below from efestivals)
|
| Saturday
night Cider Bus Singers (below and left) |
|
|
|
Buy CD's of artists who played on Saturday of Glastonbury 2004:
|
.
|
Paul McCartney - Back in the World (LIVE)
The Beatles - 1 (Greatest Hits)
Jamie Cullum - Twenty Something
Hope of the States - The Lost Riots
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Keane - Hopes & Fears
