Everything you need to know about Summer Music Festivals
The Festival season is upon us, I know for some people listening to bands in a field is there idea of hell, but in general I’ve always had a good time.
I wrote about Glastonbury a lot last summer and so in spirit of green loveliness here are some re-cycled posts!
Festival Checklist:
Including a link to my popular festival packing checklist (550 plus downloads) so if you need a checklist of what to pack for Glastonbury, Lattitude, Cornbury, T in the park, Cambridge folk festival, Isle of Wight, Hop field, Aberdeen International Youth Festival, Bestival, Bloodstock ,Connect Music Festival ,Creamfields ,Download Festival , The Glade ,Global Gathering ,Golowan festival ,Isle of Wight Festival ,Montol Festival ,Offset festival ,Radio 1's Big Weekend, Reading and Leeds Festivals ,Summer Sundae ,T in the Park ,V Festival ,Wakestock, 2008 Temple Festival ,Godiva Festival , End of the road,..
Why Glastonbury toilets aren’t so bad What to eat and drink at Glastonbury or other festivals Why festivals aren’t getting more middle class (they always where)
New Cross: Rock and Soul hang out. The excellent chippy on the one way system just round the corner from me is obviously the plaice to be. The owners are friendly and chatty and the food is good too. They cope with the nere do wells, street drinkers and cocky students of the area in a cheery accepting manner and even lift up your fish so the vinegar and salt gets evenly spread over your chips (the god is in the detail in retail) .
So good on them for making something of the times when one of the world's most famous men (a BASS player no less) stopped off for his tea.
Now that after years of indifference the country shows keen interest in the welfare of Scottish school kids (well how they get to school) and puts the clocks back and plunges the rest of us into 6 months of darkness and gloom. I thought I’d provide some interweb sunshine to boost you vitamin levels.
Preeeeepareeee the way of the …… The early 70’s were a time of conflict, the far and middle east were in turmoil, “the troubles” in Ireland were hotting up and even closer to home the West End stage was riven with competition . The battlefield, that unlikely source of conflict the “rock musical”. In the Blue corner we had Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” and in Red corner fresh from Broadway we have “Godspell”. Coming from a religious background these 2 shows played a part in our musical up bringing. In fact Tim Rice achieved that rare honour of becoming a playground/terrace chant:
“Jesus Christ superstar wears frilly knickers and ladies bra” Your football fans swapping Jesus for Franny Lee, Asa Hartford or whomever.
Godspell was more serious, more evangelical than Superstar and I think more popular in America than over here. If Religion and rock riffs may at the time seemed a strange marriage, how about Shirley Bassey and a controlled performance. Well here is one, I found it the other day and I must admit bought it for a joke. But I was pleasantly surprised as it is a little 2 minute gem, excellent singing and a groovy swinging funky background. Have a listen.
Nu Music: I am may be at the back the queue with this one but I’ve been listening to LCD Sound System’s new single “Someone Great” all the time this week. It’s a perfect mix of “lowlife” era New Order (but with coherent lyrics Barney!), newer electronica and towards the end the Blue Nile (hurrah) here’s the video which is well done particularly the beginning.
Half term fun: Looking for something to do with the kids? How about renting the John Wayne classic (only London based film) “Brannigan” (1975) and get them to try and draw a map of the Dukes journeys around London. Watch how he gets from Regents Park to Piccadilly by crossing the river twice or has that he has a flat in Battersea that has view of the Albert memorial! The kids will love the bit were he beats up “Leon Arras the man from Paris” and especially when he throws Baldrick into the Thames. Save time and money as the trailer will suffice.
Here name is still Rio: Proof you can’t teach old dogs new tricks Mr Le Bon and boys open a mental hospital for supermodels; girls on film indeed.
Sun , sun , sun... Here's a nice site if you want to make the summer last. A nice walk on the beach might cheer up the gloom well maybe not. If the darkness is still getting you down how about some talking animals (I know I know but they are funny) or better still swearing animals.
Lastly how about some Ramones to really cheer you up
Cultural short memory syndrome: Arcade Fire We know some critics can have short memories but this seems a bit of a turn around by Alex Petridis. Or maybe as the Guardian were sponsoring the event, everything including the poor organisation at this year Glasto had to be shown as rosy, that or Alex is a bit of suck up to whom ever he's interviewing.
Certainly, their performance at Glastonbury, anticipated by many as the event's highlight, fell noticeably short of expectation: while no disaster, they didn't quite set the sodden environs of Worthy Farm alight in the way that their forebears Radiohead did a decade before.
Here's what he said just 4 months ago: Review: Arcade Fire Alexis Petridis Saturday June 23, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Stage: Other Time: Friday, 9:20pm Highlight: It was a set liberally laden with anthemic moments, but Wake Up remains the most anthemic. Mark out of ten: 9
Where they'll be on the bill next year: If their trajectory continues at the current rate, it's not inconceivable that they'll be headlining.
The Arcade Fire have just been on tv . Now I really like the 'Fire and live they are awesome, my only doubts about them is and this might not be a problem, but are their hyper chaotic cult like live performances manufactured? The search for the REAL in rock is an ongoing problem and might be a Willow 'o' wisp, does it matter if they mean it MAN? The ' Fire performance from the Reading festival was as intense as when we saw them at Glastonbury , so do they tap into some primal force every night or is it an act? If they are acting does it matter? Does it have to be real to be true? I'm not sure, the effect of the audience is almost unnerving, where does it go from here? How many times can they rip loose like this? Anyway let's not think too much and just enjoy the moment.
Everything you need to know about Summer Music Festivals
