Righto. after a shower, a big nap, and many thankful prayers to the god who sent flush toilets (everything you've ever heard about Glasto toilets is TRUE), I'm ready for my big roundup of this weekend. First of all, if you go, don't pay the ridiculous £90. Jumping over the fence is criminally easy. 20,000-30,000 people wouldn't have suceeded if it wasn't. But walking from Castle Cary station to the site isn't (8-9 miles, 5 hedgerows, 10 fields, 3 barbed-wire fences, and 2 animal troughs later.....). And bring a sweatshirt. It gets damn cold. Okay, enough about the pleasantries, onto the bands. In order that I saw them: FRIDAY: -------------- A PERFECT CIRCLE -- Side project of the lead singer of Tool, Maynard James Keenan. I've loved Tool for years, but I've never seen them live, and this was the next best thing. Maynard's voice is simply amazing. So unbelievably clear, stong, and heartfelt. THE BLUETONES-- 6th time this year for me. the guys were really up for it, dancing around, having a great time in their new (in the case of Mark Morriss) pinstripe suits. Played for over an hour, and the usual setlist (see my earlier posts), including a cover of the theme from Minder. Did a fantastic, cheesy, link-hands-and-bow at the end, like only the Tones could. KENT -- I'm so glad someone posted about their new album, because I was dying to know when it comes out. Their set was so tight and polished, and they played alot from Isola, as well as Music Non-Stop. Excellent live performance. DAY ONE -- I have an album sampler, and I think they're a bit better recorded than live. Not terribly impressed with the spoken word genre, though, so it may be just me. BADLY DRAWN BOY -- fucking *fantastic* live show. He's so funny and spontaneous, taking requests from the crowd, starting songs halfway and stopping. Taking mobile calls from his mum in the middle of songs (okay, it was planned, but still, how funny is that??), and kicking the bouncers' heads. At one point, he jumped down in front of the stage and slalomed between the bouncers, only to make his roadies scamper after him. just a fantastic showman, and the songs are incredible enough to make the show perfect. I'm buying his album today. ELLIOT SMITH -- alot more rocking that I thought he'd be. Played mostly Figure 8 and XO songs, but sadly this performance is a blur due to my one hour of sleep on Thursday night. BLACK BOX RECORDER -- made the tough choice and saw them over Nine Inch Nails, and in hindsight, I wished I would've seen NIN. Their performance was just bland. Really disappointing. Very subdued without being shoegazy, they just seemed bored. The only fun this was Sarah Nixley's skin-tight (anatomically correct) white catsuit, made to look like a crash test dummy's. I'm sure photos will be everywhere. SATURDAY: ------------- CLINIC -- Pretty good. I liked the organ keyboards that they featured alot. Only knew one song, and they had a terribly short (under 30 minutes) set. COLDPLAY -- excellent live set. Played all the favourites (High Speed, Yellow, Shiver), and the rest were just as great. Really good crowd. for so many reasons, these guys will go absolutely huge in the coming year. I am ready to bet money on it. DEATH IN VEGAS -- just don't translate into a stadium band at all. Their club show in February was fantastic, so I know they have it in them, but this performance was just bland. I don't know what went wrong. MORCHEEBA -- Skye is soooo cute! she was running around the stage, shrieking like a little girl at the amount of peoplpe in the crowd ("You all do know that Travis are on right now, right??"), and generally winning the miss congeniality award. And their new songs were fabulous. Instead of the usual crowd response during new songs (ie: not quite sure what to do. clap hands?), everyone was just as into them as the stuff from Big Calm and Who Can You Trust. Fun, jazzy, soul-y, and instantly loveable. And the 2 soul backup singers and the strings and horns couldn't hurt... SUNDAY: ----------- JOOLS HOLLAND -- really fun jazz piano man, and he wins the award for the most people on stage at once. really great female singer, fun crowd sing-alongs. everything I expected, in other words. BADLY DRAWN BOY -- The For Carnation cancelled, so BDB came on instead. this time on a bigger stage,and earlier in the day, so he was a bit more subdued, but the songs were still there. one of the best songwriters to come out in a long time. OOBERMAN -- Jumping around like Bis on fire, screaming, pop frenzy. and the crowd with a median age of 15. all this, and the show was *good*! everyone needs a bit of geek rock now and then... YO LA TENGO -- a pathetic-sized crowd (the most Americans I've seen all weekend, though!) stayed for them, but it was really great to finally see them after hearing so much. a few parts were a bit too experimental for me, but the dancing for You Can Have It All stole the cake. With just a drum track playing, the two guys did the "bum-bah-bum" parts while doing choreographed hand movements and Georgie sang. incredibly funny. almost wee-ed my pants. BETA BAND -- I live in a wondrous, magical, and dream-like country where the Beta Band are broadcast on national television and worshipped by a crowd of thousands. Came out in full combat fatigues, and the show was beyond my wildest dreams. they did It's Oh So Beautiful, Inner Meet Me, B+A, a brand new song with a live rapper, and The House Song (plus 2 or 3 I've forgotten). the crescendo of my dancing frenzy came when Steve Mason jumped up on an amp to scream the French patois rap in the middle of the House Song. word-for-exact-fucking-word. I'm in heaven. A performance where I felt clapping and screaming my head off wasn't enough. I need more. DOVES -- pretty empty crowd considering David Bowie was on the pyramid stage (I'd already seen him in 95). Played nearly all the songs from Lost Souls, had a video screen, and switched instruments nearly every other song. very, very good. I've been trying to figure out who they sound like, but the closest I can come is a cross between Velvet Underground, Guided By Voices, and Badly Drawn Boy. maybe. The Cedar Room had already been stuck in my head for the whole weekend, and was reinforced by it as a closer... AWARDS: --------- BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE: (tie) Beta Band and Badly Drawn Boy (Friday) BEST COSTUME: Sarah Nixley, Black Box Recorder CELEBRITIES SPOTTED: Billy Bragg and Adam Devlin (the Bluetones) WORST GLASTO EXPERIENCE: the toilets!!!!!!! BEST GLASTO EXPERIENCE: the Green Fields on Saturday ODDEST PHENOMENON: huge dancing throngs surrounding any chip wagon playing a rave tape at 2am, after all the stages stop I'm sure I'll remember a ton else after I get my photos developed today, but this is a long enough email. Unfortunately, I missed the Lamacq Live Glasto special last night, so if anyone has a taped copy, I'll sell my soul and give you lots of goodies for a copy. please? melissa, finally washed.