Why are you not going to Glastonbury this year?

shark jump = wifi, no?

rly tho

I think Jay-Z and other (c)rap music has no place at Glastonbury / am racist

Non-shock lurker-vote winner

haha

ah pronghorn

went for boring 'it's behind me' option - doubt i'll return now

i may actually be going to Primavera now tho - better line-up better weather etc.

I am hovering between "Not enough of my friends are going this year" and
"I have had two years of mud and don't feel like chancing the weather again". And also 'it is almost twice as expensive as it was 10 years ago'.

The last few years have been amazing regardless of the weather because of that 'knowing 40 people on site' big mob voibe and I'm not sure I'd enjoy it anywhere near as much without that.

Can't afford it, couldn't be arsed with the hassle of registering for tickets, my friends aren't going this year, in general it seems Glastonbury is SO OVER. Some of my friends are going to Bestival, I haven't decided if I'm going with them. For now I'm going to Rebellion in Blackpool to see a load of fat old men pretending to be punks, which I'm ridiculously excited about.

i'm as excited about Primavera as I am meh about Glastonbury. still haven't booked my flights though.

all of those perfectly valid reasons for not going to Glastonbury but fuck it. at least some of my friends are going and the weather might not be shit. in truth i'm sorta glad that there's this sense of glastonbury being 'over' because its descent in the last few years is a product of the opposite sentiment.

I am going, but there was noticeably downbeat Glastonbury coverage in the media this year.

Glastonbury has been in and out of fashion before. Back in the early 80s it was really unfashionable - the Face thought it was a laughable relic of the 60s and 70s.

i just don't think i could ever actually go to an event called 'Bestival'

Back in the early 80s it was really unfashionable - the Face thought it was a laughable relic of the 60s and 70s.

yes i often think about this - it's TV coverage just seemed to creep up slowly during the 90s - C4 didn't make that big a deal out of it, it's only when the BBC bought it up that it went super mainstream, or so it seems

this thread needs carmo- february callendar for some analysis.

Before C4 there was no real TV coverage at all. When did that start? About 1995, I think. I used to sit watching it in my mum and dad's house over a summer weekend with the windmills and the Tyrannosaurus Rex's Debora either side of the ad breaks.

'Cuz I'm a pompous indie-hating soulboy and a wannabe working class "socialist" who doesn't actually like people.

Yeah, I associate its rise in cultural capital with the height of Britpop, the Pulp and Elastica appearances etc, so maybe around 1995ish.

By 2003, the chief economist of a firmly right wing lobby organisation was spotted there - so it needs a bit of time in the wilderness.

It was 1994. C4 only did it for two years.

"Bit of time in the wilderness"

Like forever, amiright.

also it was only a few hours a day then. post-bbc3 bbc puts it on about three separate channels for the whole thing.

xpost

That's kind of the 00s malaise though, it'd be all over E4 if they had it.

Maybe only a few hours coverage in the 90s, but they had more focus/prominence maybe.

It was before youtube, so there was more urgency to see the clips on TV or you needed to make an effort to borrow videos etc.

i'm going to a secret invite-only glastonbury that nobody else knows about.

sorry. went for "i hate camping" but could also easily have been:

- The Pyramid headliners are generally uninviting this year
- I hate hippies
- I hate middle-class festival crowds
- I'd rather chop off my balls and bleed to death than go anywhere near it, ever

i'm going to a secret invite-only glastonbury that nobody else knows about.

ha ha, this is kinda happening tho with all these balkanised mini-festivals now happening all over the place. everyone trying to create their own UNIQUE vibe.

a two man tent, a 1/4 of skunk and some ipod speakers does not a "unique vibe" make.

It'd still be better than Glastonbury.

(am also toying with the idea of Bestival since the lineup for Connect looks shite)

the rumoured Glastonbury line-up does look shite and it seems perfectly pheasible that i could go and see Nick Cave, Rihanna and nothing else the whole weekend. but who cares? I never used to pay much attention to it anyway and it never factored into my decision to go before. if the weather's grim i will either go home early or pop to my friend's house for a shower. the only year i didn't enjoy it as much was the JCB through the fence festival. i'm gonna choose to look forward to it (and maybe resist reading this board).

i'm going, i'm very happy that the mad rush to register/buy tickets is down on the last couple of years, and i don't really care who's headlining. with that many stages there will always be someone decent on, and anyway i like wandering around the site running into people i haven't seen for ages. or people i see all the time in camden. whatever.

bestival is ace. as is latitude. except latitude clashes with truck this year (and camp bestival and benicassim but i wasn't gonna go to either of them anyway). what to do? try a day and a half at both and end up pissed off at spending the whole weekend travelling? maybe just go to slottsfjell that weekend instead.

Can i choose all of them?

I went for 'had two years of mud and don't feel like chancing the weather', because that's how I felt after 1998, the second year I went. I never really regretted the decision not to go back. From 1999 onwards I was a Camber kid, this year I'm splashing out and heading to Primavera.

Isn't Bestival one of the 'middle-class 30-somethings who don't really like music anymore' type festivals? (No offence to emsk, who clearly does love music, and I have no idea how old/what class she is.)

- I'd rather chop off my balls and bleed to death than go anywhere near it, ever

Please amend poll to include kthx

Also, "Would get my mod-suit dirty".

how about the less extreme, and less damning of others, "I've never been before. Just never really fancied it." ?

^^^ Hates peace and love.

JESUS CHRIST, MY BALLS! and this blood's never going to come out of this sof ... uuurgh

Where is the 'I am both incredibly hungover after 12hrs of drinking and coming down with a cold, and it's snowing outside and I can't even THINK about spending five days in a field getting off my tits' option?

Have never been to Bestival, but the lineup looks pretty good this year. Wanting to see George Clinton + MBV doesn't mean I can't be arsed with music any more.

Isn't Bestival one of the 'middle-class 30-somethings who don't really like music anymore' type festivals? (No offence to emsk, who clearly does love music, and I have no idea how old/what class she is.)

no it's cooler than that. i can see how it would look like that on paper, but it's more like predominantly-middle-class twentysomethings who like dressing up (as pirates mostly, but i don't think that's anything to do with bestival specifically) in the daytime and tripping their nuts off in the night. i dunno. everyone there seems very up for it, and the line up is always at least three-quarters good. also i've been the last two years and it's been FUCKING HOT AND SUNNY which obviously helps.

also, really, have never seen half the bands I intend to when I go to a festival, because festivals are so much more than that (man).

xpost

i like festivals where you have enough space for everyone. this is all of them except reading, i think.

JAY Z 'doing one' by all accounts.

overheard the next table at a pub in highgate who was excited about seeing jay zed in glastonbury

also: where is the "they sell brothers in pubs now, rendering glastonbury obsolete" option?

I like music but I don't like big crowds and not getting sleep. That is my reason. I also used to work at T in the Park and the litter really bothered me.

(So I can't say "I hate middle-class festival crowds" cos it's not the middle-classness of them that bothers me.)

My friends all went for the last time last year, when I could not go. Their reasons for not going anymore are:

- weather too terrifying last year to contemplate a re-run
- festival now full of coked-up wankers
- getting too and from festival a total nightmare, especially when coming from outside UK.

I think there is also an option 4 - friends getting old.

I am not going this year to save time and pennies, but I may go next year if I can find anyone to go with.

It still hasn't sold out.

Singer Amy Winehouse has taken to the stage at the Glastonbury Festival and appeared to throw a punch at a fan.

At the end of an unpredictable hour-long set she left the stage and in the pit beyond the front of the crowd, she seemed to lunge into the audience.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44788000/jpg/_44788511_amypunching_bbc226.jpg

Winehouse - in a blue sequin-covered dress - is due to return to hospital to continue treatment for a lung problem.

US rapper Jay-Z followed her on stage, poking fun at detractors Oasis by singing their track Wonderwall.

Winehouse appeared to lunge into the crowd near the end of her set
Oasis star Noel Gallagher recently said hip-hop at Glastonbury was "wrong".

Jay-Z's booking as headliner has caused consternation for some, but Winehouse said he had "got front to come here... with tunes you don't even remember".

She was disparaging about rapper Kanye West, repeatedly using four-letter words while talking about him during her set.

Yeah but nobody expected her to be such a whizzbang Vortex thrower!

this verne troyer cameo is another level of meta

yeah i mean i draw the line at autofellatio but he's just gone and blown that line to smithereens

speaking of smithereens, morrissey looks like he's carryin a leng under dat jacket. someone outta tell westwood

Oh dear God ...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44787000/jpg/_44787820_placard_bbc226b.jpg

Oh, and I was wondering what would be more irritating than Guardian bloggers being snarky about Crowded House.

That fucking door isn't green anyway.

for the merkins who can't use the beeb website: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=00B50EA8EBA2DC72

Verdicts?

All hail, Leonard Cohen!

He is pure class.

For those cunts I hope that lurking behind the green door is a fucking gas chamber.

Seconded. Leonard Cohen rolling through Hallelujah was one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life. that sunset.... the way he called the crowd "friends".... sheer class.

apparently Cohen refused to be filmed, so no part of his set can be played on BBC TV and radio.

He seemed genuinely taken aback by the affectionate crowd reaction. I just wanted to hold his head in my hands and say "don't worry mate, everyone really does love you!".

My Cohen experience was only partly ruined by the group of old-enough-to-know-better-than-to-be-so-selfish-shouty-and-fucking-obnoxious cunts screaming at each other, doing handstands and taking 473763643 pictures of each other "FOR FAAAACEBOOOOOOK" throughout his set, 7mm from my chosen spot.

dude, you should have chosen another spot. big fuckin' field.

so what else (musical or otherwise) floated thy boat?

Never before have I see someone move so little on stage and yet totally dominate it with his presence. Every time he doffed his hat and smiled this huge cheer went up.

He timed his set perfectly though, Hallelujah just as the sun went down = marvellous. Definitely one of the best sets of the weekend.

Also Booka Shade doing this huge, epic In White Rooms in the bigger dance tent = real shiver down the spine moment.

Is anyone going to Wild In The Country in Knebworth? My mate is selling two ticks for £50 each which is a bit pricey in my book, but the lineup looks quite good. Should I go?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1030641/Shes-terrified-germs-wears-outfit-twice-So-DID-fashionista-LIZ-JONES-survive-Glastonbury.html

Nice Marcello-esque edit in the URL

kill. kill. and indeed kill.

Even for her it's playing to the galleries, mind

Still better than (insert name of current LBZC beatdown target)

dude, you should have chosen another spot. big fuckin' field.

well yes, but they arrived at Our Spot where my friends and i had been for hours, and where we traditionally have met all other friends regardless of prior planning since about 1995, and then proceeded to act all cunty. we were determined to man it out and wait till they got bored and fucked off, but instead they got drunker and worse till one of our group upped and left (to stop herself lamping one of them), another had a quiet word which worked for about 5 minutes, and finally i flipped my fucking lid (haha hello, comedown stormclouds) and got into a huge argument and they somehow flattened my defence with slurred non-existent logic about me being "prejudiced" against other people "having fun"...no YOU CUNTSTICKS I'm prejudiced against selfish obnoxious FUCKBUBBLES with no whisp of a care for the people around them, ruining a unique and rare majestic gig experience.

apart from that, it was ace :-)

Well, what do you expect? Free for all (OK, £150-odd for all) Glasto and you're wanting "Your Spot" like it's got your name written on it or something? You want "Your Spot" pay land rent then you can fence it off etc. If that doesn't appeal then it's Henley Regatta time, I'm afraid.

Alexis Chancellor for the Grauniad was arguably worse than Liz Jonezzz who's only writing to the Mail gallery.

No sympathy on ILX shocker

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512514JRBYL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

we were just pissed off they decided to pitch up next to us when they had the whole place (and indeed many noisier gigs where their racket wouldn't have mattered at all) to fuck around in, is all. just one of them things. still a wonderful performance.

wow, i look a bit insane up there...

haha thanks dom, i was thinking more along the lines of Star Trek IV:

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/thumb/3/3b/Vulcan_nerve_pinch_punk.jpg/410px-Vulcan_nerve_pinch_punk.jpg

who is the bigger cunt: the cunt or the cunt that yells at the cunt for being a cunt?

(kidding, we were also sat near some obnoxious fucks at Leonard so i do understand. but rather than have the show spoiled for the sake of "our spot" we just, y'know, moved 10 feet to the left)

best flag: "fist me jesus", as seen at Santogold.

this is why i lost the battle, i think. it had been a loooong day. i should really have just followed my mate who'd voted with her feet, but somehow there was A Principle At Stake. gah.

fist me jesus flag was right at the front for god-botherin' neil diamond too! i'm sure their mothers were proud.

apparently Cohen refused to be filmed, so no part of his set can be played on BBC TV and radio.

for this alone he is now my hero. I am fed up of the endless mediation of concert experiences.

although after his accountant fleeced him perhaps he could do with putting out a tour dvd

looking forward to that 'leonard at glastonbury' dvd: ker-ching.

ha xp

Oh God, that Liz Jones article is like reading The Lex on home decorating.

Not only that, the stupid layout means I can't Babelfish it properly.

Also Booka Shade doing this huge, epic In White Rooms in the bigger dance tent = real shiver down the spine moment.

I hate you.

I just re-watched some of Amy W's performance and it was very, very bad. It's as if she's channeling Kim Gordon sometimes. She knows she can sing it right, or well, or hit the notes, but then she perversely fucks it up on purpose. It's like she's mocking herself.

I am fed up of the endless mediation of concert experiences.

Yeah, I'm sick of people being able to watch sport on TV too. If you can't personally attend an event then you should never be able to see it ever, it belittles the efforts of those who do attend.

Well, what do you expect? Free for all (OK, £150-odd for all) Glasto and you're wanting "Your Spot" like it's got your name written on it or something? You want "Your Spot" pay land rent then you can fence it off etc. If that doesn't appeal then it's Henley Regatta time, I'm afraid.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 14:42 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

tell that to bus mp3 kid haters.

I just re-watched some of Amy W's performance and it was very, very bad. It's as if she's channeling Kim Gordon sometimes. She knows she can sing it right, or well, or hit the notes, but then she perversely fucks it up on purpose. It's like she's mocking herself.

i just assumed that she was pissed.. looked at the BBC website footage while the sun was still out she was singing pretty good but then the later it got in the footage the more it was like "theyadakrito maketjlme to rebaita aa nooo o no o nooo"

She knows she can sing it right, or well, or hit the notes, but then she perversely fucks it up on purpose. It's like she's mocking herself cracktarded.

"I guess this is what the last days of Judy Garland/Janis Joplin/Edith Piaf must have been like" - see every hackbrained Radio 2 DJ.

Wild In The Country has been cancelled i see

wha

Poor ticket sales plus a key investor pulling out at the last moment.

Incidentally, did anyone else at Glastonbury see Franz Ferdinand do the unthinkable and actually turn up for a rumoured secret gig? I didn't think they could possibly be that good live but they were, new stuff sounds great as well, very big chunky choruses.

But the best thing of the weekend was Annie doing this extended, housed-up version of Heartbeat at the end of her set, it was like its own Jacques Lu Cont remix - so euphoric!

I am rewatching Jay-Z's set on the iPlayer right now and reminiscing.

I missed Annie :( so am going to try and see her next week at Cargo instead. Speaking of sexy scandinavians though, Lykke Li pwned the park.

xxpost

Saw FF play in Hull the week before. New stuff sounds completely brilliant, analogue keyboard noises and big fat 70s-sounding riffs and all. Album not til next year, apparently.