Glastonbury Festival 2011 music review

Every year I intend on looking at the line-up and discovering some new bands before we go by looking their songs up on You Tube. Mostly, I run out of time and don’t do it at all, or I do it too soon and forget their names by the time of the festival. Next year I will I will I will! I want to know more good music! Anyway, this is my round-up of the musical acts that I did go and see.

Friday, we were hanging around for ages waiting for my daughter’s friend who was late meeting us by the dance village as they wanted to watch Kesha together. By the time we finally met up, we decided not to bother going all the way to West Holts for Jimmy Cliff (we have seen him before) and instead waited by the Other Stage to watch Mumford & Sons. I didn’t think much of Fleet Foxes beforehand, but Mumford & Sons were brilliant – I really enjoyed their set. I didn’t know much about this band at all and only recognised one song, but that didn’t matter.

Then it was over to the Pyramid for U2. Not impressed to be honest. I liked their set list – they played all the old classics including plenty from the 90s I didn’t even realise was them. However, the first few songs just had patterns on the screens or an annoying spinning head picture, so we couldn’t see the band at all. This is such a mistake – the audience need to connect with the band by being able to see them – otherwise we may as well be sitting in a wet field listening to the radio! Bono didn’t say anything to the audience till 4 songs in, and little else after that. No atmosphere what-so-ever; we went home after enduring an hour and watched some of the rest on the telly!

(My daughter loved Kesha by the way!)

Ellen and the Escapades were all the way up at The Park at 11am, and having seen them twice last year, decided to give them a miss this year. Shame; a great band for The Park. Very annoyed with the timings today – so little I wanted to see all festival, but they put three people on at once – Isobel Anderson, Rumer and Jessie J. Opted for Jessie J on the Other stage and she was fantastic. God, what a voice! And so much energy – it’s such a shame she’d broken her ankle so had to do the entire set sitting down – well, sort of bouncing really. Shame she’s had to cancel everywhere else this summer, I’d definitely recommend going to see her even if you’re not really a fan.

The next band we watched was Coldplay. They are such a great Glastonbury band. We saw them at the Other stage years ago, then I think they clashed when they were on The Pyramid last time, so glad we saw them again this time. They have such great songs; much better atmosphere than U2, but wasn’t blown away. The mud causing mobility problems meant we didn’t try and catch Lee Scratch Perry, which Chris is annoyed about.

Sunday, first of all The Pierces at The Park. Rain is a big fan, which is why I knew of them, and they were great. Shame they didn’t play Secret, but Sticks and Stones was fab and we were right at the front with dancing fans which was cool. Then wandered slowly down and caught the end of American Pie by Don Mclean – the only song I wanted to hear anyway! Then stayed by the Pyramid for Laura Marling and Paul Simon. Last year I saw Laura Marling at The Park (nearly didn’t see her because nearly didn’t know who she was) and she was great, but she was best at The Park. Everyone was boiling hot, tired and restless, and she just didn’t manage to reach us half way up the field. People all around were chatting. You have to be close up to enjoy her songs I think. Shame. Then Paul Simon was rubbish. We were just too exhausted by then to go anywhere else, and didn’t particularly like Plan B afterwards either. Pendulum were really good – can’t believe I didn’t know about them! Very Prodigy-like and they really got the crowd going – task that really can’t have been easy with people dying in the heat! Hope I see them again and more into the crowd next time.

(Annoyed I missed Imelda May at the Accoustic tent – I’d been looking forward to seeing her) Stayed put for Beyonce who was bloody brilliant! I was up and dancing throughout and so was she! And she sang amazingly well for all the movement to go with it! Where were all the guests though? She introduced Tricky, whose microphone I think wasn’t working, but no-one else joined her! This was a real surprise considering how many collaborations she’s done. We were hoping for Lady Gaga or Shakira, but were at least expecting her hubby Jay Z to come on. But no! So that was disappointing, and caught us by surprise because we intended to leave a bit before her set finished so we didn’t get caught in the traffic. But she played for less than 90 minutes and caught us off guard, so we had to sit for hours in traffic to get home again. Loved singing to the top of my voice to Alanis Morrisette’s You Oughta Know; and shaking my bootie to Crazy In Love. Uh oh Uh Oh Uh Oh!