a dangerous age in rock and roll

So as the last of the plastic bottles are gathered into the recycle skips at Glastonbury the weekend showstopper nominated by the press was not the so called "controversial" appearance of headliners Metallica but the Sunday afternoon appearance of Dolly Parton. Who actually had the largest crowd of the weekend with all the other venues on site emptying out leaving the performers wondering why they'd bothered showing up at all. Such is the fickle nature of an audience once they get the possible chance for a sighting of a legendary name.

Dolly had quite unexpectedly found herself crowned this years 'Queen of Glastonbury'.
She'd even written them a song especially for the occasion as she sat in the tour coach watching the thousands drag there way through the mud to the various stages scattered all over the site. The song was appropriately called "Mud", pronounced by Dolly as "Muurd". It had a chorus of "Muurd, Muurd, Muurd, Muurd, Muurd". And everyone joined in. "There you go.." she said "you've got your own song now".
With all the ease of a Las Vegas top bill she chatted with what she referred to as the "Glastonburr" audience and young and old were transfixed, singing along with anything they new the words to. Glastonbury had by now transformed into a holiday camp with Dolly as the head red coat with rhinestones. Glastonbury 2014 had found it's true soul.
So now Dolly's caravan rolls on, Glastonbury being just one more notch on her considerable hit list. It's "9 to 5" if you get the drift, and the 68 year old Dolly doesn't look like her country caravan will be stopping anytime soon.

Same with Robert Plant who played the day before, Saturday at a similar time of day, to a large crowd who'd gathered in anticipation of a set by his Shape Shifters. This audience were a more discerning bunch of hipsters, seeing themselves as the heart of the real Glastonbury audience. Not your crummy day trippers and pop pickers here.
And this lot got little chance to sing-a-long because Plant gave them little to recognise when the songs intro's began. So even when he did cover a Zeppelin classic he was part way into it before most spotted what it was. A masterful tactic. Plant was not going to have his set lost in thousands of voices bellowing over his band.
And the Shape Shifters were free flowing and superb musicians. The music sparked, they jammed occasionally and created some of the best moments of anyone there. Plants voice in fine form. It had a superb balance of ethnic diversity, blues and rock and roll. They all looked like they had a ball.
Why on earth would Robert Plant want to return to Led Zeppelin right now. The guy is 66 years old and surely wants to explore what he can because he probably well knows their may not be much time to do that. You just never know.

Like the news at the weekend, although not at Glastonbury, that Jeff Beck was admitted to hopital needing some serious care. So far no one has said what the ailment is. Surgery was mentioned. Ouch.
Jeff is 70. And 70 years old is appearing to be a very difficult age for the rock and rollers. The lifetime of road tours are taking it's toll and the body is beginning to scream back.

A recent interview with Eric Clapton in Uncut revealed a surprisingly forthcoming 'slowhand' on turning 70 next year. He admitted it could be the end of touring for him.

"The road had become unbearable. It's unapproachable, because it takes so long to get anywhere, and it's hostile out there. Everywhere. Getting in and out of airports, getting on planes, travelling in cars. I like my life too much to have it ruined by other people's aggression..."

Later adding in the interview,

"I've had posture problems playing heavy electric guitars on stage, one side of my body scrunches up, the lower gives me back problems from time to time. At the moment I've got tendanitis, which means that if I make a barre chord I get pain all the way up my arms into my neck and shoulder".

Blimey Eric that's a whole load of Ouch.

Curiously by Monday morning organiser of Glastonbury, Michael Eavis, said he thought he could keep the festival going until it reached it's 50th Anniversary in 10 years time. Wow. Maybe there was something in the air that weekend.

Then this morning news arrives that after 50 years a Farewell Tour of The Who is about to begin.
With Townshend now 69, and Daltry, 70, they too have declared life on the road is just too much. Daltry said about it being their last gigs -

"It just has to be really. We can't go on touring for ever. As a singer, I don't know how long my voice will last. It will go. And the grind of the road.. it's incredibly tough on the body at this age"

The Farewell tour will be a short series of gigs in the UK and the USA. Nine being in the UK in November and December followed by the States later.

Over the weekend too, Bobby Womack had made it to 70, and now he's gone. One of the great soul voices and a life that was as hard as it was good. His resurgence in the last years of his life was a miracle and a delight. Bobby Womack left some genius moments in music.

It's been a strange few days.

the glastonbury effect

Glastonbury begins proper today with the usual gloomy weather forecast : expect rain.
and given the usual accuracy of the computer predictions of UK weather this will mean anything from showers to a biblical flood.

So far this year with little or no coverage of music festivals the BBC have obviously been shaping up for a full assault on Glastonbury as the official "get down with the kids" weekend.
And this morning an on-location news reporter was there at first light to remind us what we were missing as they interviewed three hapless campers who'd been hi-jacked on their way to a clear run at festival ablutions.
That now abandoned in the hope that all their mates would be seeing them live on TV, if indeed any of them were awake, they gave us all the much needed scoop at gawd knows what time of the day this was.
The three reporters stooges stood looking slightly dazed as he excitedly quizzed them in turn...
"So who are you looking forward to seeing then?"
A disheveled part Goth girl replied grinning "well er.. you know.. like...
every fink !".
"yes.. thank you.... and how about you, what's going to be the band to look out for?"
A young guy obviously not taking any chances on the possible downturn in the weather is dressed in a bright yellow cagoul and all weather gear as if he's about to take part in a world junior yacht race, nods his approval at the question.
"well er.. er.. Dolly Parton?.. and er...
the drink".
The reporters raised eyebrows betrayed his surprise to learn that Dolly Parton was even at the festival let alone the idea she'd be performing to the likes of plastered yachting scouts.
"and you?" as he pressed on to the third of the happy campers, a sullen looking dude with palid features and wearing a tatty red T-shirt which he's obviously slept in since last Wednesday sparks the interviewers observant eye..
"how about you.. oh.. you look cold" offering up an expression of 'you idiot'.
The dude ignores him.
"what about the headliners then this year? who are you going to see"
The inappropriately dressed one blinks back,
"Well there's Metallica... should be a laff... cuz no body'll know what to do.. cuz it's not their sort of crowd... oh yeah" a grin breaking his motionless face
..and the drink".
The reporter now with the latest festival lowdown dismisses them by simply turning his back..
"And back to you in the studio"

Oh yes we've all learnt much. The music's the last thing we're here for.
The main objective is to get pissed.
Peace and love comes to Glasto once more.

The headliners you'll be missing today (Friday) are Arcade Fire. Metallica (Saturday) Kasabian (Sunday).
By the way Blondie opened Glastonbury and played at the dreaded time of 12.15pm and reportedly didn't move the earth or the clouds because she didn't play all her old hits but added some new material. And as we all know you must never do that. Ever ! . ... for chrissakes.
Anyone with any sense will be at Sonisphere next week where at the very least you'll get to see the spectacle of Gary Numan hold his own against biplane dogfights, the Prodigy, Iron Maiden, and yet again Metallica (who are obviously trying very hard to expand their fan base).

glastonbury unfayre

The music festival season in the UK is underway. Not that we'd know that from watching any of it's coverage on TV. Unlike previous years when wall to wall footage of say, The Isle Of White Festival, has spilled over from the BBC3's "yoof" channel, this year there's been none. They probably realised the huge cost of the army of support that goes into a live broadcast has resulted in 70 highly paid technicians doubling up on overtime and having a long weekend off once the filming is underway. No doubt the esteemed public broadcasting will be keeping their camera's dry for Glastonbury and chucking their all into that.

And Glastonbury this year has caused somewhat of a controversy. Which is long overdue when it comes to rock and roll festivals. Who can remember the last time one even raised itself above the most common complaint, that of high prices.
But this year the Grand Poo-bah of Glastonbury, Trevor Eavis, made the controversial decision of awarding Metallica as the main headliners on Sunday night. Good grief can this be true, the American metal band and their legion of fans arrive in the home of the perceived world of the new age and post hippy hipness. Surely somethings got to give.
And it did. Amongst a whole load of complainers who objected most strongly to Metallica being at the festival was not because of the music, or nothing so mundane as the worry of a turn out on biblical scale of metal maniacs amongst them, but that Metallica's front man James Hetfield, does some hunting and is also going to narrate “The Hunt”, a new TV series about bear hunting in Alaska.
The social media was consequently lit up with rage by the usual burger scoffing tweeters having one of their big moments and started the modern day action of the outraged...
another online petition.
Which of course is the best way to register your protest when you can't be bothered to move your rear out of the armchair. There's also been much talk about this all not being in “the spirit of Glastonbury.”
So much for free speech in the home of the hipster peace camp.

Anyway Trevor Eavis has replied to the doubters
"There's no other band in the whole history of the festival that has been so keen to play, they will do the best set of their lives here."
Having thought the whole protest thing was about the music and missing the point entirely.
Frankly, it will do everyone a lot of good to hear what James Hetfield is actually going on about with "The Hunt" misguided or not, and also for everyone to hear something that they wouldn't normally hear.
That was the idea of the 'music festival' in the first place wasn't it? A festival of music. Where you'd hear a folk singer come on next to a rock band, next to a top jazz player, next to a funk band etc etc. Just have a look at the lineup at some of the early festivals (Monterey, Montreux, Woodstock, Isle Of Wight,). Not too many music fans complained after being at one of those.

And Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs will tell you it's all going to be really good...

glastonbury 2013 (part 2)

"How you doin' Glastonbury.. !!"
It's the go to phrase for every band when faced with the sea of faces stretching back into the festival horizon. The sun is out. Everyone is happy. The music is everywhere. 100 stages of it.
The biggest decision of your life for 3 days is which stage and what time.
At the same time you'll understand, rending any overview of the event impossible or pointless.
Glastonbury presents such a mass of performers it can also end up with the bizarre juxtaposition of John Lydon and Public Image Ltd singing "anger is an energy" on one stage and veteran C&W singer Kenny Rogers on another singing "You've painted up your lips an rolled and curled your tinted hair."
Although when it comes to engaging a crowd in between song banter Kenny has it completely nailed. Natural sense of humour and without a hint of pre-planned dialogue the sea of faces laughed and reacted with ease.

On the other hand the shock or need of addressing and engaging this sea of faces can leave what appears the most hardened rockers coming over a bit, well how can you put it... "lame".
Take for example Friday's headline 'Arctic Monkeys'. As tight and hard rock and roll outfit as you can find with Alex Turner's moody and sullen delivery, yet somehow he felt compelled to ask the sea of faces to "..sing Happy Birthday to my mum who's somewhere in the crowd". It's a phrase he might well be advised not return to again. Sort of eclipses any energy built up in a set.
Look guys, as much as we understand the love you might have for mum it's not really a great rock and roll moment when a crowd sings this because 1. It's been asked to and wouldn't have otherwise. 2. It's a ghastly tune,
The older performers are less intoxicated with the gooeyness of the moment and talk calmly with the sea of faces.

Seasick Steve did just that. That and battling with his homemade guitars that were reacting to the open air with an obstinacy to be somewhere else for the opening chords until Steve manhandled the tuning back into shape. Eventually they succumbed to their bosses wishes only to de-tune themselves for the next song. "did you hear that..? " he cheerfully asked "sounded like a washing machine". It did too. But who cares, Seasick Steve with John Paul Jones on bass and drummer Dan Magnusson always work their blues out.

Saturday of course was the big event. The Rolling Stones on the Pyramid Stage. Organiser Michael Eavis had waited decades for them to except the gig and last night the show rolled out onto the Stones' custom arena stage ready to take Mick's energetic pacing and prancing. The rest of the Stones are less animated so require less room, apart from a few feet for Keef to shuffle over to Ronnie or shuffle to the front to throw a few guitar shapes.
The presence here of their old lead guitarist Mick Taylor on a couple of numbers seemed an odd counterpoint considering he mainly strummed his way through a couple of songs with one lead break chucked in, and quite inexplicably played an acoustic guitar on 'Tumbling Dice' which remained unheard throughout.
With Bill Wyman on site with his band it might have been considered worthwhile and appreciated by die hard Stones fans to ask him to join them for a couple of songs . For what ever reason that did not occur.

The Stones set about compiling their show from their back catalogue of hits by the year. The only problem with that is after the Brown Sugar/Tumbling Dice era they sort of dry up making it seem like that's when the Stones did too.
But a surprise addition in the 1967/8 era was greeted with some anticipation, '2000 Light Years From Home' from their often unfairly derided psychedelic 'Satanic Majesties Request' album. Actually it would be preferable to hear that stuff these days than Mick rather inappropriately singing "Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good (a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should.. A-huh.
From a 70 year old man that just sounds plain creepy. Dump that song man.. it's over.

Anyway if anyone thought we were going to be treated to anymore than a track from 'Satanic..' they'd have been disappointed from the off, Mick informed us "..not the whole album... just this" seeming a little reluctant to do just even that track. They launched '2000 Light Years..' with some spaced out improvisation that sounded more than promising until engaging all boosters for the trip into space with a rather drunken version of the song. Slightly staggering and sorely missing Bill Wyman's majestic bass line, Keefs mistimed riff beneath Mick no longer singing the light ethereal vocal of the original, but barking out the lyrics much like er.. well the rest of the set, sounded just like they hadn't played it for 2000 years.
Mick's highest vocal range of the night being the between song cajoling of the sea of faces with high pitch shouts of "OW" through what seemed like most of the second half of their two hour show.
It was an odd way of solving the between song banter problem.
But the Stones show always is a spectacle and that's how it ended. In lots of spectacular lighting to the sound of You Can't Always Get What You Want.
It didn't rain on The Stones so they would have been happy. A few of the sea of faces were interviewed by gabbling BBC presenters who informed us "they were the best band they'd ever seen".
Yes, The Stones Roll on and on and...
Glastonbury finishes tonight with 'Mumford And Son'. Everyone will sing along. Bet someone say's "How you doin' Glastonbury.. !!"

Seasick Steve with stubborn hubcap

The Strypes don't care where they are.

glastonbury 2013

So the annual mudfest that is Glastonbury has begun. Good news for all, is despite the initial 2 inches of clay the weather sets to be fine over the weekend so festival goers will not have to purchase over priced waterproofs for the rest of the weekend.
The first up on the main stage today was Liam Gallagher and his Beady Eye. He had claimed he wouldn't play the festival again because it was now full of 'celebrities' and it had lost touch with its hippy roots, but when the chips are down for an extra boost to his recently released 2nd CD you can rely on Liam to do the right thing. His post gig comments of "great vibe" might not be the final word.

With the festival seeming even larger this year with over 100 stages it's going to be a struggle to work through the list of who's actually playing let alone make the gig in time to see the band. !00 stages! is that even possible.
The list of performers is endless. (see above)
Tonights main stage headline group are the Arctic Monkeys. Tomorrow the Stones. Rumours, yes always rumours, are abounding that Bowie might make a suprise appearance. One word "unlikely", unless he plans an inpromptu 'Dancing In The Street' with Stoneage Mick.
But the Stones are the big draw for the Festival and with live BBC television on overdrive to show as many highlights alongside the mangled words of over excitable presenters there's going to be plenty of chances to see parts of the show. The rest will no doubt appear as a very reasonably priced DVD later in the year.
At 200 pounds a ticket, and only knows what tout ticket prices are by now, this years pop bonanza is set to be a success for the Eavis company down at jollity farm.
Anybody bring the sun block?