Glastonbury 2011 - Saturday Review

Saturday starts dull and overcast but thankfully not raining, the mud however is hard work in the sludge makes walking a thing not to be savoured. I start at 11am with a small crowd of other early birds to see Exlovers take to one of the dance tents, they are very enjoyable too. A set which gets better and better as more and more people manage to wake up and enter the tent. Latest single "Blowing Kisses" stand-out, their fuzzy, shoegaze charm is the perfect way to kick start the day.

Next came a bit of a gap in my schedule so I take some time out and sit towards the back of the park stage. Though, I'm soon tempted forward by the luscious sounds coming from the stage as The Balearic Folk Orchestra play some modern covers and sound utterly delightful. The problem with writing a review a week later is you forget which songs are played but a sensational rendition of one of the finest songs of the past ten years Sébastien Tellier's "La Ritournelle" was one.

After some lunch (noodles seems to be this years staple diet) Those Dancing Days come on stage around two o'clock and are utterly superb. I spend half the equally wondering why I'd not listened to them before and falling in love with each and every one of the girls. It's only normal to come back from a festival and purchase a few CD's (sorry not yours Beyonce) and TDD's both got ordered on Tuesday. The most glorious thing? The Scandinavians' even manage to bring the sun out, the sun! Wonderful.

It was almost three o'clock and I hadn't made a trip to The Crow's Nest, that's corrected in order to catch Guillemots. Their acoustic set is incredible. From a piano rendition of "Made Up Love Song #43" and "We're Here" to a wonderful "Trains to Brazil" which sees one of the groups old saxophonist joining the band impromptu - well I'm not sure it was to be honest, he did lug his saxophone up the great big hill and on Saturday getting up the hill was hard, very hard! I feel great respect for those who did it, let alone with an instrument (one of Stornoway got a cello up it!). The show is breathless, energetic and fun, definitely one of the entire highlights on the weekend. It's a shame I never saw them again over the weekend but this half hour set was brilliant.

Next come a trek, one hell of a trek (it what was now glorious sunshine). From one corner of the site to the other to see Emily and the Woods play the acoustic stage. I miss perhaps the first ten minutes but am entranced. There is a quite large audience and Emily is simply delightful. She plays tracks off both her EP's and with the success of another folkstress Laura Marling (who'll play The Pyramid stage the next day) I'm hoping Emily will follow her into the hearts of many household up and down the country. Her voice is gorgeous and she appears a natural on stage with no real sign of the nerves she talks of.

On my return to The Park I can see it's getting busy already, the not-so-secret 'Special Guests' mean the area fills up very quickly meaning I take place near the front to make sure I've a decent view. First though are Tame Impala who are frankly, absolutely awful. Their psychedelic 60's rock perhaps would sound alright played by some technically gifted musicians. Tame Impala are not, they play slow, badly and the whole crowd is bored, bored rigid. Almost as bored as the lead singer looks. The sound is muddy and it ends, thankfully, finally it ends. We await the 'Special Guest's or Pulp as we'd rather know them, here is the crowd shortly before they take stage.

Pulp of course were the polar opposite. They are unbelievable. A level above everything else over the weekend. Jarvis seems so sure on stage now, his banter less awkward and now hilarious and precise, delivering exactly the message he wants to put across. Then comes the songs which completely blows you away. The band may now bare resemblance to music teachers on tour but they are amazing. They play four or five different tracks than Primavera which pleases the fan-boy in me. "Mis-Shapes" fits the stage perfectly and getting some more tracks off 'His & Hers' is great "Joy Riders", "Acrylic Afternoons" are stunning.

Then of course there is the moment that everyone in the crowd has been waiting for, predictably they end with "Common People" and the entire park stage goes mental, it was a real 'I was there' moment. Jarvis does a quick quip to say that'd he'd like to make it five Glastonbury's, five is a nice round number. 2013 head-liners? They should be.  I've now seen Jarvis and co twice since the end of their hiatus and they're easily the best two gigs I've been to so far this year, I'm seeing them again at Wireless this weekend and they might just top it. Cannot wait.

After the euphoria of Pulp it's going to be hard for anything to compare. A couple of quick Brothers Cider's later and I'm ready to see my head-liner, Caitlin Rose. The other 50 or so people who chose to do the same will all say exactly the same. Fuck Cold Play, The Crow's Nest is where you should have been on Saturday night. A more intimate setting than the day before see's Caitlin feel more at home, smiling and joking with the audience and band-mates, it suits her down to the ground. The short set is charming, natural and utterly wonderful. After her own set Caitlin's friend Jonny Corndog plays a few of his own songs and Caitlin joins in on co-vocals, I remind myself to check out his music when I get home. After a slow descent down the hill as night takes over I watch Wild Beasts but they pass over me somewhat and I'm happy to end the second day of Glastonbury 2011, the highs make today perhaps even better than Friday.

Eye To Eye by Emily and The Woods
Pulp - Common People - Electric Picnic 2011
Blowing Kisses by exlovers
Those Dancing Days - Fuckarias

Primavera Sound 2011 Review - PULP!!!

I was going to do a review similar to my Great Escape one for Primavera, but I decided against it instead as I'm zonked. Instead I'll go straight into it and tell you something you probably already know, that Pulp were utterly majestic. It was like they'd never gone away. I didn't know until I returned home yesterday that they played a warm-up show in France on the way to Barcelona (just how good is the second encore from that show?!) but at Primavera they well and truly ruled the stage (the same setlist besides the second encore - we just had Razzmatazz).

Jarvis was confident from the outset, opener "Do You Remember The First Time?" was a perfect start and when you include "Disco 2000" early on in the set it surely is a sign of a band who know they could pull off their 'comeback' - and boy did they! My highlights have to include "Common People" purely because the crowd went utterly bonkers and boyhood favourites "This is Hardcore" and "I Spy" were superb. I'd only seen Pulp once before this and I'm already itching to see them again. Do not miss them this summer.

A brief synopsis of the rest of the weekend goes:

The Great:

The National - Probably the second biggest crowd I saw and they were utterly brilliant, even the (50%) Spanish crowd (they don't really move much do they?!) were well up for it and the show was brilliant, highlights "Squalor Victoria", "Mr November", "Terrible Love", "England" and I really could go on and on. Not particularly sure what Sufjan Stevens added on the two tracks he came out for (he was far too quiet) but The National were incredible. What a live band they are and it's good to see them getting the reception they deserve.

No Joy - I was in a great mood after The National and in anticipation of Pulp and No Joy certainly didn't let that falter for one minute, thirty five minutes of dirty, noisy guitars, heavenly. Full marks to the drummer too, some relentless energy and heavy pounding going on. I enjoyed them in Feb when I saw them and they were so much better here, though it was a shame not to hear "No Joy". Next time. If you haven't checked out their album 'Ghost Blonde' do so.

Of Montreal - Boy do they know how to put on a show, I was expecting madness and how Of Montreal delivered. Besides the colourful show, an on-stage wrestling side show show and Catalan flag waving the important thing is that they sounded absolutely bloody brilliant and really got the sober (no beer!!) going.

Perfume Genius - An early Saturday start was worth it to see Perfume Genius in the dark and deadly silent auditori, though clearly battling nerves (especially evident when Mike was playing the acoustic guitar - at least three errors were made) the show was utterly captivating and left the large crowd speechless, he really is one talented man, his songs are just beautiful and intimate.

The Good:

Tennis - Friday started well with a lovely sunny set from Tennis, their live sounds was more expansive than on the album and it worked really well, Patrick's guitar lines and the added dimension of a live drummer especially. A perfect setting for them with the distant noise of the sea after a lovely sunny day. The last song, no idea what it was (a cover?), was a big departure from the rest and worked really nicely, I think they found themselves some new fans and I heard good things of their Saturday afternoon show the next day too..

Smoke Fairies - One of only two acts I caught at both The Great Escape and Primavera, I enjoyed them again very much, they looked pretty nervous though and much of their humour stage interaction was missing. Still when you have their stunning voices, guitar work and song-craft that hardly matters.

Islet - A prelude for the bonkers antics of Thursday were the mad-but-not-quite-Of-Montreal Welsh experimentalists Islet, a few sound issues besides their early Thursday show went down a treat. The intense percussion is certainly my favourite aspect of their set, really good.

Cults - Much like Friday and Tennis, Cults got an evening crowd doo-woping about with their cutesy 60's style pop. The sound quality could have been better and their was far, far too much hair on display but Cults are destined to be one of the acts of Summer 2011 and the set was definitely enjoyable, "Abducted" and "Go Outside" getting the best response.

Warpaint - Warpaint keep getting tighter as a unit, they looked to be having a great time in the Saturday sun, I expected them to play a little longer (the set didn't make an hour) but what we did get was, as ever, brilliant. Stella keeps on stealing the show. Next up for my Warpaint ears is Glastonbury - looking forward to it already.

Soft Moon - The Soft Moon certainly win the award for youngest dark-synth pop fan award, with a boy of around three (perhaps a band members relative?) having a great time looking on from side stage for the first half of their set. The set was thoroughly enjoyable, dark menacing synth beats which sounded enormous, a later slot would have helped them out more though.

The Disappointing:

Glasser - I was expecting something massive, her album is percussion heavy and fills the room wonderfully, perhaps it was because it wasn't the usual full setup but I found her show pretty underwhelming if I'm being honest. Yeah it was the edgy synth pop that fills 'Ring' and yes Cameron's voice at times soared through but I think it fell a bit flat (at least for me). I'd certainly give Glasser another chance in a club environment and hope it was just a bit off this once.

The Bad:

Portal - The less said about the whole system the better. Anything that leaves a countless thousand people without the capability of buying any sort of drink for five hours should have back-up plans that can be instantly rolled out without waiting till almost ten o'clock.

Prices - €9 for a 750 ml beer. Seriously? Piss-take. €4 for 2/3's of a pint. Yeah, we were getting robbed. It's unusual for the street vendors outside to be the place to go for a cheap quick beer (and even they were trying to get €1.50 for something that you could by for €0.59 if you went 200 meters up Diagonal). Food wasn't much better unless you like your burgers being charged out at €6.00 and fries at €4.00 - thankfully the security was pretty lax and smuggling in the cheaper supermarket beer wasn't all that difficult.

Transport - Barcelona - surely it's not difficult to put on a few extra buses to get people home? There were apparently some on, I saw none. Just a couple of night buses so filled to the rafters you might as well have walked home - a two mile walk - perfect at 4am, yeah.

Sound Quality - as per most festivals, the sound quality really wasn't good. ATP stage especially stood-out for being pretty torrid.

I've left off a few bands I saw, I'm not here to say things are 'crap' and given how tired I am, I probably missed someone out! Overall, knackering, the football meant I missed PJ Harvey and whilst there are certainly some issues for the organisers to work out but Friday especially made the trip worthwhile.

The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
Pulp - Common People - Electric Picnic 2011
No Summer by No Joy

Primavera 2011 - Ten Bands to See (Part One)

I'm not sure I've recovered from The Great Escape yet, in fact I definitely haven't but in just twenty four hours it's time to set course (Ash Cloud permitting) for Barcelona and Primavera Sound 2011. A pretty stunning line-up for the three day event (with pre and after show sandwiched to make it a five day long affair for the hardcore). Here are ten bands that I intend to see over the weekend split into two parts, the first five below:

Pulp
San Miguel Stage: Friday May 27th, 01:45h

I'll start with the most glaringly obvious choice of the weekend, the return of the best band of the nineties, Pulp. Since Jarvis and co announced last November that they'd be returning from hiatus for a summer of shows (and then who knows) I've been as excitable as a three year old in a toy barn and now finally we are in the same calendar week as the first show...

In general I've not been a big fan of the mass reform culture we've seen the last few years, it seems a lot of groups are milking any remaining drops of the cash cow before it's too late but for Pulp I think it's going to be a totally different ball game.

What's the set-list going to be? Will we see some older gems alongside the more obvious tracks like "Babies", "Common People", "Do You Remember The First Time?" etc etc. Me, I'd like to see a couple of tracks from 'Separations' and definitely some off my favourite Pulp album 'This is Hardcore', one thing for certain it's going to be bloody awesome.



Perfume Genius
Rockdelux (Auditori) Stage: Saturday 28th May, 16:00h

I'm looking forward to finally seeing Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius live for the first time, he played in London last week but I decided to see Planningtorock (which was pretty great as you'd expect) so had to miss out, it would have been a much gut-wrenching clash if it wasn't for this early show in the seated Auditori which has the potential to be one of the most magical, sublime shows of the entire weekend.

'Learning' is certainly one of the best albums of 2010 its hauntingly beautiful and intimate nature in a quiet arena should translate into a show that's something a little bit special.



No Joy
Jägermeister Vice Stage: Friday 27th May, 23:00h

No Joy were absolutely brilliant when I saw them at Hoxton Bar & Grill back in February, half an hours worth of a deafening shoegaze wall of sound that was absolutely lovely on my ears.

On their debut record 'Ghost Blonde' the vocal is low in the mix and live it's the same with the two girls (on the live stage backed by two blokes on drums and bass who both add perfectly to the overall ambience) preferring to rock out their guitars, long hair covering their faces, it was frenetic and an absolute joy (yeah I know) full of fuzzy, pounding noise. I've frequently mentioned how much I love their self-titled track "No Joy" and I'm certainly going to be there to hear it again.



Glasser
Pitchfork Stage: Thursday 26th May, 21:45h

I was meant to have a date with Cameron Mesirow a while back but in the end I went to see TJF (again), meaning that this will be my first experience of a live Glasser show and I'm full of anticipation about finally breaking that duck.

Last years 'Ring' put Glasser on most peoples lips with its weaving cocktail of percussion heavy throbbing electronica, with Cameron's gorgeous vocals and a healthy dose of tribal chants and hand-claps it was a simply stunning debut and if the life show is any where near as expansive as the album, then it's going to be simply divine.



Of Montreal
San Miguel Stage: Thursday 26th May, 20:00h

I first saw Of Montreal at Cargo probably three years ago and then later supporting Franz Ferdinand and their weird hallucinogenic psychedelic live spectacle completely blew FF out of the water, their prolific output has been a bit lost on me recently but I still absolutely love their 'Hissing Fauna....' LP and their live show is a 100% mind-boggling enjoyment guarantee.

Expect grand stage designs, epic costumes, Kevin Barnes to spend at least two songs in the crowd and for it get even more random than you could possibly envisage.

Pulp #8 - End of hiatus

That says it all really! Pulp! Amazing news.
Wireless isn't the best in the world (maybe Glastonbury 2011?). Can't wait!!!

Go through the archives for some nice recordings.

I was obsessed with this as a kid: