Glastonbury Festival 2014 Review - Sunday

I'm awake early on Sunday and the decision has already been made with the friend that I am travelling with that we'll leave later on Sunday and get home in the early hours on Monday morning (I won't go into the details of what actually happened en-route home here).

I spend time packing up my tent, gear and taking it all back to our vehicle. It's really busy on foot today, especially at the main entrance where streams on Sunday day tickets (given/sold to local residents) are coming into the festival - some chronically under prepared for the mud around the site.

The day starts at midday with a trip to the BBC Introducing stage to see Furs. I'm really impressed. They are a band I've mentioned here a few times before but this is the first time I've caught them live and their set is fun and catchy, full of nostalgic vibes and tight melody throughout with heavier guitars than I perhaps anticipated set off by Elle's glorious vocals.

Next with a couple of hours free (I find Sunday's line-up to be the least inspiring of the three for my tastes) I take a trip around the festivals night-time hive of activity Shangri La, it feels like a really bad hangover in both decoration and the odd punter you see aimlessly walking around lost to the night before. It's not changed too much from the last time I was here in 2011 (I've never been here late, late at night, I don't think I'd want to)... It's a creepy carnival probably best not shown to your young kids!

I find Strummerville in a slightly different position than I remember it being and take the weight off my feet for a good twenty minutes. Sunday was the warmest, nicest day of the weekend so sitting on a comfortable sofa next to an open fire in early afternoon heat is not perhaps the cleverest idea of my life.

A few years back I can remember some late night live music around the campfire, I can see no sign of a repeat this year, if so, I hope I didn't miss anyone good.

After a brief trip to the circus fields it is back to the BBC Introducing tent for Lapsley. Glastonbury is most certainly not a Great Escape, that is new music really does not flourish here so I'm surprised that the audience is actually quite numerous, including fellow bloggers Breaking More Waves and Faded Glamour. I guess that makes Lapsley the equivalent of a buzz band!

Her set is littered with sound problems and I'm not the biggest fan of the pitch-shifted vocal. A (purposely) monstrous mutation of her natural, gorgeous vocals. The set is pretty good though, she is visibly nervous but her charm and smiles make that acceptable. It will be interesting to see if she can follow "Station" and make playing to crowds like this a normal part of her routine.

Next comes the days big event. The one everyone is talking about. The one hundreds of people are dressed in drag for. Dolly Parton. By now you've read hundreds of article about 'was she or wasn't she' miming. As one of the people in the crowd on this occasion I can genuinely say I don't care (although it does seem just a little too crisp). The show (for it was a show) was incredible, fun, amusing and the perfect highlight of the day (and arguably the festival).

Dolly, 68, bouncing around like she'd been on coca-cola all morning (or taken something somewhat harder) entertaining the biggest crowd of the weekend with her sparking personality, stories and songs. Sure most people only know "Jolene", "9-5", "I Will Always Love You" and "Islands in the Stream" but when you chuck in a song about Glastonbury mud, a rather long Bon Jovi cover and witty anecdotes throughout you cannot help but be enthralled. Just brilliant. Whoever booked her for the 'legend' slot deserves a medal.

It takes a while to get away from the Pyramid because of the vast crowds and I head to the more tranquil settings of the Avalon Cafe to see Only Girl. Early 90's R&B melody and modern soft-pop sensibilities combine for a stunning set of sparse electronic beats, keys and pure vocal, the new songs at the end of the set sound as good as the two I knew "Mountain" and "Bittersweet" and confirm Ellen as an artist we'll be hearing considerably more from shortly.

It's a beeline back to the Park next for what turns out to be my final act of the weekend St Vincent (I was originally thinking about seeing Alison Moyet but deciding it was getting late to to hit the road - I had work on Monday) .

I've seen Annie perform the St Vincent album a couple of times already so I knew what to expect, a marriage of the David Byrne horn influence and her own art-rock guitar shredding. It is exhilarating to watch, especially in the second half ("Huey Newton", "Bring Me Your Loves", "Your Lips Are Read" the closing trio of songs) when the rockier influences come out and amongst the theatrical feet movements and coordinated dance-moves, it's as she lets completely loose of the choreograph that you get to realise just how incredible Annie and her band are. The Guardian (five star) review calls her a "electro-funk Cleopatra". I'm happy with that.

We head out via the dystopia of Arcadia. After what we'd just witnessed, it's the perfect summation. Thank you Glastonbury.