Glasto 2008

It may have been a couple of months since I got back, but here's my post-Glasto roundup.

I think I arrived earlier than I have before. First weren't running the bus from Bath this year (boo!), so I got a train to Temple Meads and the shuttle bus from there. It all went pretty smoothly, and even though it started pouring with rain just after I got on the bus, it was sunny by the time we arrived on-site about 40 minutes later. They've sorted-out the traffic this year, so only buses could go through Pilton. I don't know where the cars were sent, but it made the bus a lot quicker not having to sit in all the plebby car traffic. Hurrah!

I'd sent my tent up and had a cup of tea by about 1:30pm, so I headed off to find some music. I spent a lot of time at the Small World Solar Stage where I caught Crystal Masters (sort of bluesy/country stuff), Celeste Lovick (who I thought was excellent - I bought one of the CDs she was selling), and Cornelius. I spent the rest of my Wednesday poking around the Green Fields and enjoying the site in its pre-mud state. Shrek III was inexplicably cancelled in the evening, but hey ho.

On Thursday there was a big fire at a scrap-yard outside the site, but the huge amounts of black smoke that hung around in the sky all day provoked some debate. I had discussions with random people about everything from 'terrorist attacks on music' to 'Street is on fire', but thankfully all were false. I spent most of the day catching the bands playing on the Bandstand, including The Doubtful Guest, who were as good as ever.

Friday kicked-off with breakfast at Henry's Beard, then Kate Nash on the Pyramid stage. I don't really know much about her, but she was ok. I stuck around for The Subways (who were unimpressive) and Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, who were ok. I then trundled off to the Other stage to catch Vampire Weekend, mainly thanks to people going on about how good they are. They were ok, but I think they suffered from the immediate downer that my brain adds to any Other Stage performance. I wandered-off to the Green Futures field to watch Caroline Lucas wipe the floor with some Tory in a debate entitled 'Can the Tories Deliver A Green Agenda?', one of a number of interesting events in that tent. I then strolled over to the Avalon stage to catch Hazel O'Conner, which was suprisingly good. I then caught a strange act called 'Dancing On Your Grave' by 'The Cholmondleys and the Featherstonehaughs', followed by a cute singer/songwriter called Hera from Iceland/New Zealand (another set I liked enough to buy the CD afterwards). There then followed a few hours of managing not to meet-up with some friends, but I did catch the surprise Franz Ferdinand set on The Park stage.

Saturday morning saw the site beginning to dry-up a bit after the rain on Friday, with the Pyramid Stage not looking too bad. First up was Shakin' Stevens, who was pretty poor actually. For some reason he now refuses to sing 'Green Door', which leaves 'This Old House' as the only song anyone cares about. Martha Wainwright was up next, and she was suitably barmy. I didn't catch her whole set though as I had to be at the Leftfield for 12:30 to catch Seize The Day, who were as excellent as ever. Immediately after them came the mighty Flipron, who I've probably seen almost as many times now as I've seen anyone. Then it was back to the Pyramid to see the ever excellent Crowded House, followed by a bit of James Blunt (who really isn't that objectionable - I don't know why he gets so much stick). It was then time for a comedy break, so I went to the Cabaret tent to see Simon Munnery, Jeremy Hardy and Mitch Benn - all excellent as usual. Jeremy Hardy just doesn't do enough stand-up. Then it was off to the Jazz World stage to see Imagined Village, who had Billy Bragg on for a bit. I can't really remember the rest of the evening thanks to cider overload, but I think I saw Massive Attack. I definitely ignored Jay-Z.

Sunday morning brought another very pleasant breakfast at Henry's Beard in the Green Fields, then on to the Pyramid stage to see Marina Topley-Bird. I also caught Scouting For Girls on the Other Stage, before heading to the Pyramid Stage to get a spot for Leonard Cohen. I caught the end of the unimpressive Neil Diamond and the better than expected Goldfrapp, before the highlight of the festival, Leonard Cohen. He was blinding, as expected... and I've managed to see him live! I never thought I would. All is well with the world.

Monday was lovely and sunny. I spent a good few hours strolling around and poking at the (now much quieter) markets. It really was a lovely, sunny day. After the nightmare of last year's departure (thanks to See Tickets awful bus planning, the weather, early starts, and other rubbish), this year was about a million times better. Just look at the lovely, sunny and mud-free bus station!. The mud came over the top of my boots there last year, and we were all close to being hypothermic. Good times.

Glasto

It has been an exciting old weekend. On Saturday Ally celebrated her 30th birthday. It was an excellent party, and photos will be appearing on Facebook very soon, I'm sure. I'm ashamed to say that I was the only person there not in fancy dress. I have an excuse though - before the party I went to see the always funny Stewart Lee doing his show '41st Best Stand Up Ever' at the Ustiniv. Support came from the also brilliant Kevin Eldon in the form of some amusing poetry. Stewart Lee's set was great as always - perhaps a little less confrontational than previous ones, but very entertaining none the less. Hopefully he will be at Glastonbury again this year... not that I'm sure that the naked man and Jesus with crucifix 'heckles' could ever be beaten. They were proper Glasto moments indeed.

Ah yes, Glastonbury! I was up for 9am on Sunday morning, ready for the annual madness that is clicking on refresh and redialing the phone for three hours until I get through. Sure enough, with three of us doing that constantly I finally got through and bought tickets at about half eleven. It's always a joyous moment, and I didn't even have to get the inconvenient coach tickets this time (although I'll still go by bus, of course). As the day went on though the tickets still didn't sell out, and they were still there by the end of the day. It was most bizarre, and obviously in hindsight I wouldn't have got up early and gone through the pain of watching timeout messages for hours. Tickets are, in fact, still there now. It's funny - last year I was hoping that the rain would put off some of the fair-weather fans (see what I did there?) this year, and it turns out that may have happened. However awful Jay-Z is, there are always so many artists for every taste that the lineup really doesn't make much difference, so I don't buy that line of reasoning. I really don't think that the weather and mud could be any worse, and even if it is, it will still all be brilliant. Can't wait.

2008

Of course it has been 2008 for some time... in fact, we're now in 'Q2' as sales types like to say in an effort to sound important. It has been a while since my last entry, and for that I apologise. Life has been busy, etc etc. However, I will fill you in on what has been going on as best I can.

My last entry was about mince pies if I recall correctly. You may be pleased to know that they were very nice. I have decided that the single most dull part of pie making is pastry, and lack of pastry is something that cakes have over the whole pie world. Actually, not just cakes - any sort of non-pastry topped dessert or sweet. Is a crumble a pie that just has a crust made of something other than pastry though? Hmm... I'll have to think about that.

So anyway, after the pies, Christmas and so on I went to France for a spot of skiing. There was a big group of us and we headed down in three cars to the alps for a week of snowy fun. French roads eh? Driving on them loses its novelty value after about ten hours, but we get there without incident. The chalet itself was very nice, and only a mile or so from the lift. We were also blessed with excellent weather for the time of year and fresh snow for most of the time. It was my first time skiing and although I showed all the aptitude of a blind bull on crack, I really enjoyed it. The downside was breaking a couple of ribs just over halfway through the holiday, which put me in too much pain to actually move much. Sport eh? Dangerous business if you ask me.

I've started a philosophy course with the OU. It has been very interesting so far, and despite going straight into my usual last-minute essay writing mode I seem to be doing ok at it. The tutorials are probably the most interesting ones of any course I've done for some time, and the reading is the sort of thing I like reading anyway. I may feel differently come exam time, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

A few weeks ago I went to Minehead and found it to be much nicer than I remembered it to be. I suppose that being off-season adds a lot to it, but I was most pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure why tourism usually does horrible things to towns, but Minehead has a good selection of independent shops and a bustling high street, as well as decently priced housing, and the sea of course. It was one of those places I could see myself living in... just not quite yet. Good place to bring-up a family though.

This year will feature several 30th birthdays for friends, plus a couple of weddings. Big events, and as we all know, big events involve lots of tomfoolery and tipsy shenanigans. I'm sure there will be a few amusing photos posted to various Facebook profiles as a result. I'm looking forward to it all.

The Glastonbury Festival will feature none other than Leonard Cohen this year! I can't wait. Well, I may not get a ticket of course - I've been lucky so far. I've pre-registered for the usual rush (which will happen on the 8th), so fingers crossed. The lineup is excellent (not sure about JayZ or whoever he is.. one for the kids I suppose), and the weather can't actually be any worse, right? I'm also off to the Two Thousand Trees festival (featuring the brilliant Flipron), plus a few others I'm sure. Oh, and Billy Bragg later this month. In fact he's just released a new album (Mr Love and Justice) which you should obviously go and buy.

Life is generally pretty much the same as it was 2007 in most ways though. Kate Winslet still hasn't come to her senses and married me, and to be honest she'd better get her skates on before I tire of her coyness. 2007 did seem to feature some big swings from high to low with that sort of thing actually - hopefully this year will be more stable. Generally the last few months have been pretty cool but they sort of fade into a blur when trying to remember them in bed at gone midnight, as I am now. I will try to keep the blog postings a bit more regular from now on... there's a lot to spout off about generally, and it sort of loses its appeal after months have passed. One of the reasons I have forgotten stuff is because I haven't blogged it - you know you're old when you keep a blog as a memory aid.