Glasto round up
The Pyramid Stage awaits Blur
Having finally removed myself from my bed after a good 13 hour sleep, I can fill you kids in on my highlights.
Firstly a mention to The Specials, I was really excited to see them as they’re not exactly the sort of group I’m gonna see playing at Koko on a Friday night and that’s exactly what festivals are all about. There’s something amazing about skanking to ‘A Message to you Rudy’ or ‘Monkey Man’ along with tens of thousands of other people while a 57-year old Lynval Golding is running all over the Pyramid Stage with the energy of a teenager who’s had too much caffeine.
A few of the stand-outs acts for me were Deadmau5, Friendly Fires and Bat for Lashes.
Ah Deadmau5 (last.fm/myspace), full time bezzler and Canada’s greatest export, you can just about see his new black mouse head from the photo below of him destroying East Dance Stage. His set started off heavy with a few choice numbers including ‘The Reward is Cheese’ and Diplo’s banging remix of Bingo Player’s ‘Get Up’ before taking off his fibreglass mouse head and dropping ‘I Remember’ to huge applause. He then took a minimal turn culminating in his signature tune, ‘Not Exactly’. Apparently he’s one of the most expensive DJs to book these days but from this performance he’s worth every penny.
I’ve never been enamored by Friendly Fires (last.fm/myspace) except when remixed by disco kings Aeroplane as below, but they are a fantastic live act. Lead singer Ed Macfarlane gets about the stage like the best of them and shakes his booty even better than Chapperdeemus does. In fact he reminds me of live performances given by Ghostland Observatory’s frontman Aaron Behrens which is high praise indeed. Anyway, ‘In the Hospital’ and ‘On Board’ turned into massive sing-a-longs and ‘Paris’ had everyone reaching for the sky. Job well done.
Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane remix)
I wasn’t expecting much from Bat for Lashes (last.fm/myspace), I like her stuff but never really found it inspiring however her live performace was superb. She got the crowd going on Sunday afternoon and put some much needed boom behind her tracks. Great stuff to chill out or dance to really. I’d definitely recommend seeing her if you get the chance this summer.
Here’s everything I saw in no particular order: Blur, Friendly Fires, The Specials, Bat for Lashes, 2manyDJs/Radio Soulwax, Deadmau5 N*E*R*D*, Regina Spektor, Crookers, Roots Manuva, Lamb, Bloc Party, VV Brown, Passion Pit, Easy Star All-Stars, Eric Prydz, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Lastly, unlucky to N*E*R*D* who had their set cut short and mics turned off due to technical problems at the before they came on. Commiserations to Pharrell and the boys!
