Mindie
West Midlands Indie Scene

 

 

 

Friday 23rd

Cay - First band of Glastonbury. Not too band but there was something missing as the didn't sound as good as on record but this was probably due in part to their new additions to the band.

 

Stewart Lee - Glastonbury isn't complete without seeing Stewart Lee. As ever the Cabaret tent was behind schedule so we caught a couple of the acts before indluding a funny scetch about nightclub bouncers. It was an extremely funny routine with some new scetches and some old ones which even though you knew the ending were still as funny as ever

JJ72 - Another band who wern't as good as on record. It was quite a big crowd for the New Bands Tent which is now even futher away to walk to. Lots of good fun though.

Idlewild - Were as ever on form. I manged to get right up at the front and quickly moved back as it was a constant crush and you couldn't dance or anything. The crowd was enthusastic but didn`t seem well versed with some of the older songs.

Day One - We caught a fait bit of their set before Badly Drawn Boy came one. It's very difficult to describe what they sound like but it is loungecore.

Badly Drawn Boy - This was my first experience of the BDB live experience. Even after reading reviews of past gigs being chaotic nothing could have prepared me for what would happen. He pretends to shoot us playing shooting sounds on his keyboards and also uses the keyboard to make a ringing sounds and pretends that his mum has rung him on his mobile phone. The songs sounded fantastic with Pissing In The Wind one of the best. There was no Road Movie but Damon did play a short blast of it when someone requested it and also some of My Friend Cubilas.

Elliot Smith - It can be realy hard to judge a band on first listen when you havn't heard much of ther songs but after the fantastic BDB set before anything would pale in comparison. However I found the set boring.

Black Box Recorder - Wow is all you could think when they walked on stage with Sarah Nixey wearing a white rubber catsuit from the Art Of Driving video. It was another great preformance which helped you forget how cold it was in the new bands tent.

Saturday 24th

Soulwax - They can be very frustrating at times with some fantastic tunes diluted my some lacklustre songs. They played another great version of Poplife complete with Casio guitar!

Badly Drawn Boy - Thanks to one of the bands not turning up we were treated to another dose of BDB. I nearly missed it as I was back up at my tent. I was extremely suprised when I stopped to turn the tape over on my tape player to hear BDB drifiting up from the second stage. So cue me getting ready quickly and running down the hill. It was another great set with yet another impromptu sample from Road Movie (will I get to hear the whole song live?). There was a touching moment at the end when he played Epitath and his girlfriend came on to sing the last verse.

Coldplay - Quite a good preformance from indie's next big thing. They didn't play many of thier early songs which was a shame.

Wannadies - A fantastic set from the pop indie masters. It was virtualy a greatest hits set with constant dancing a lots of fun to be had by all. The new songs were just as good as the oldies, You And Me Song was as always fantastic.

Feeder - A band that doesn't seem to know where to go, the stereophonics way or the rock way. Insominia was the best tune and they passed the time nicely.

Elastica - My first ever Elastica gig, what would I make of them? I enjoyed them a lot and was entertained by their on stage antics. I wasn't prepared for the Dadada cover which wasn't as good as it could have been I feel.

Death In Vegas - Was pretty mindblowing at times and others slightly plodding. Dirge which is my fave DiV song was brilliant but Aisha was pale in comparison missing Iggy Pops vocals greatly. All this however was just a small starter to what was to come next.

Flaming Lips - What can I say? Whatever I write down will never convey how I felt about this set and how good it was. I only caught a few songs of thiers at Reading last year but even that was enough to give me a taste of what they were like so I eagily waited for the band I wanted to see most at Glastonbury. They only took a small bit of the stage at the front with a massive video screen behind them with a gong and flowers on the stage. It was a great preformance with Wayne using fake blood, hand puppets which were projected on the screen miming to the songs and fake snow thrown towards the crowd. All the songs were fantastic and before they played She Don't Use Jelly Wayne explained that some bands don't like playing songs that made them famous and are expected to play every single time but that they still love to play it. One image that stuck in your head was that of an execution in Vietnam played over and over and gave power to the song it opened to. The crowd were absolutly in raptures and seemed to enjoy every second. When the Lips went off the calls for an encore were the most enthusiastic I have ever witnessed. I was as though every single person in the tent wanted to see more. We were not to be disapointed when they they returned to give us a rendition of Over The Rainbow which described the night perfectly an antidote to the mediochrity on the main stage. Absolutly stunning.

Sunday 25th

Dark Star - I`ve seen them a few times now and this was another samey set but still good. They are a band that are a lot better live than on record with the drummer who is outstanding being able to do dance beats at will.

Six by Seven (or perhaps not) - They didn`t play and no-one in the tent knew what was going on. Rumours were flying around about who might play but none would have guesed who it would be. It turned out that the infamous anouncer at the new bands tent was to give us a solo set. It was a mixed bunch of songs the best of which was a song about the Glastonbury mud having so much drugs dropped in it that smoking it would make you high. Confettie blowers covered us with confettie (obviouslty!) and some of the stage crew did some silly dancing in the background for some of the songs.

Ooberman - They were back to do thier residency at the new bands tent. We got all the live faves and a new tune in the form of Heavy Duty which was to be an internet only single. The realy joy to be had was with Shorley Wall which was very emotional especialy when we were treated to the poem at the end of the song which set the whole mood of the song. I bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Yo La Tengo - Another band I havn't seen before or heard much of before this evening but this was another good set. SugarCube, their hit was played much to the delight of the crowd and thier synchronised disco dancing was great as well. At the end you wanted to hear more but alas it was not to be.

Doves - After Ooberman and Yo La Tengo, Doves didn't seem so good. It was an ok set but after the long weekend I needed something more upbeat and not so mellow.

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