Glastonbury Festival 2011 - Review
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 8:40PM 
Looking over the festival site at sundown from the Park hill
It goes without saying that the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is a truly unique experience. The crowd of 170,000 that it attracts makes it the 3rd largest city in the South West for one weekend a year and no other music event in the world can you go to and get the sheer variation of performers that play at Glastonbury. This year we had everything from the legends that are BB King and Paul Simon, to the burlesque folk of Bellowhead and youthful energy and old school heavy guitar riffs of Stonefield, as well as just some outright crazy stuff that I can’t even begin to describe (pan celtic synth folk on the Mandala stage anyone?).
This year I wanted to have a slightly different festival experience and specifically sought out bands on the smaller stages that I’d never heard of based solely on fleeting recommendations or the two line description in the programme. The below reviews are a selection of the best that I saw over the course of the weekend, which is hopefully a little different to some of the more major reviews that you have read. Also, as I’d never even heard of any of these bands before, the reviews are very much based just on first impressions, so any additional bits of useful information that anyone can add would be much appreciated, as to go out and find all the information about songs and biographies etc would inevitably bankrupt me both in time and in bank balance and most readers will have probably forgotten about the festival before I can get around to doing it! My full photo album from the festival can be also be found here.
If anyone has any other recommendations about bands that you’ve come across totally randomly at festivals and enjoyed then I’d love to hear about it too.
Cocoon
Cocoon were the opening band I saw at the festival and performed on the John Peel stage at 11am on Friday morning. They are a French duet made up of Mark Dumail (guitars and vocals) and Morgane Imbeaud (piano and vocals). Also on stage they played with a bass player and a drummer. Their music consisted of gentle folk melodies and beautiful vocal harmonies which is really the highlight of their sound. The piano is played subtly and really just adds to the softness of their songs. They told the crowd how they were just playing at a festival in Jersey to about 30 people, one of which just happened to be one of the major promotors for Glastonbury, and he came and asked them to play. It genuinely looked like they were enjoying every minute of their set and they interacted well with the crowd. I was standing right at the front by the barrier and at a festival where the main acts can attract up to 100,000 people it was great to start the weekend feeling part of a really small and melodic set.
Stonefield
As far as I now understand, this band are actually on the verge of being quite big in Australia. They were on immediately after Cocoon and I was convinced to stay by the compere of the John Peel stage, who has a dramatic white beard and wore a John Peel t-shirt, and said they were going to be something special. I read the programme which described “Sabbath/Zep-styled rock bombast from the four Findlay sisters” and there was no way I was going to move from where I was standing at the front.
I have to admit to my surprise however when they came on stage and all appeared to be remarkably young considering the style of music that I was expecting from the programme notes, with the bass player barely looking older than 13 (I later discovered they are actually four sisters aged 21, 19, 18 and 13). This made it all the more refreshing actually to hear their own material which was really characterised by classic old school heavy riffs, and dazzling guitar solos, essentially the kind of music you too often hear played by ageing men with unshakeable drug habits rather than four young female Australian musicians.
The drummer is also the vocalist and has the kind of clear voice that you wouldn’t usually associate with this kind of music but it worked really well and the performance was enhanced by the freedom that the guitarist and bass player had at the front of the stage to energetically roam and head bang around. Definitely worth staying for.
Gabrielle Aplin
Gabrielle Aplin was the first of a number of acoustic stage singer songwriters that I saw at the festival and definitely the best. I didn’t know this before arriving at the stage and noting the general youth of the assembled crowd, but Gabrielle Alpin is a self promoted internet hit with over 5 million plays on YouTube. She has an amazing vocal range, especially for someone that is self taught as everything I’ve read since always points out that she is, and switches seamlessly between guitar and piano.
She’s released two EPs and seems to really be making a name for herself now, and at only 18 given the momentum she’s built up so far I’m sure she’ll be playing larger sets at the festival in the years to come.
3 Daft Monkeys
This world influenced folk band was recommended to me before I came and played on the Avalon stage, which is characterised by the folk, world and roots influences of the artists that play on it. They are actually quite big on the festival circuit and are Glastonbury regulars meaning they practically packed out the Avalon tent and also did a second set the day after on the Glade Stage. They are from Cornwall and have recently added a 4th Daft Monkey on drums and percussion so that guitarist and singer Tim Ashton can “give his left foot a break” from playing the kick drum as well. The fiddle player was absolutely fantastic and they even played (and encouraged the crowd to dance to) a Waltz towards the end of their set. Their performance was highly theatric right from the burlesquey clothes that they were wearing to the giant zebra stilt walker that came out for their last song. “Civilised Debauchery” was a song that really stood out to me and one that I’d recommend for anyone looking to sample their sound.
Otway Band
This band definitely goes down as one of the highlights of my festival. Band leader John Otway is an ‘almost rock star’ that has written two autobiographies and been attempting stardom for over 30 years, getting as close as attracting a dedicated cult following and two top ten hits 25 years apart. Otway has enjoyed fleeting moments of stardom, including coming 7th in the BBCs poll of “Greatest Lyrics of All Time” for his song ‘Beware of the flowers, cause they’re going to get you’, only as a result of a concerted effort by his fans given that the vast majority of the country has never even heard of the song and it came only one place behind ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles. He also enjoyed a brief chart resurgence in 2002 with his song “Bunsen Burner” which made it to number 9 and got him an appearance on Top of the Pops. The song’s success came after his fans responded to an interview during which he was asked what he wanted for his 50th birthday and he said “another hit.” It was also due in no small part to him advertising online for people to come and heckle him on the B-Side, a cover version of House of the Rising Sun, which resulted in 1,000 people turning up at Abbey Road studios to heckle him on the day he was recording. Otway told the studio they were part of a choir and then proceeded to credit each of the 1,000 or so hecklers in the sleeve of the CD single “because, when you credit someone in a CD, they don’t just buy one for themselves, they buy one for their mum, their wife, their children.”
Aside from the general legendary status of Otway, he and his band performed a great set spanning the 30 years or so that they’ve been trying hard to be rock stars. The highlight was their song “We Rock” which Otway said was written after they decided they needed a big stadium rock track, so they looked at Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and decided the chorus had too many words and so decided to drop the “Will” and the “You” which were deemed superfluous.
Otway will be playing with Wild Willy Barret at the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham on 22nd August so if you are anywhere near there I would urge you to go along and witness the legend that is John Otway.
Omar Souleyman
How to even begin to describe the music of Omar Souleyman! Whatever I write won’t do it justice so along with my vague attempt here I will also direct you to this YouTube clip of Souleyman performing his song ‘Haram’. He is hugely popular in Syria where he has over 500 live and studio albums that have been released in his name. He also comes on stage wearing a finely combed moustache, traditional Syrian tunic and head-dress and sunglasses looking like the coolest man in the entire world. I believe 2011 is the first year that he has made an attempt to release his music outside Syria and he was completely holding the crowd at the West Holts Stage in the palms of his hands. He didn’t speak a word of English to the crowd, he didn’t need to, just putting his hands in the air and clapping was enough to send people into a frenzy.
Souleyman’s music blends a traditional Middle Eastern vocal style and string instrument with happy hardcore style beats which just makes the crowd keep on and keep on dancing. Someone at the front was telling me that he apparently wears bright coloured shell suits when not performing in his traditional clothing and subsequent Googling appears to confirm this as being the case.
Raghu Dixit
Another true festival highlight that lit up the John Peel stage Sunday lunch time with his uplifting traditional Indian folk melodies and truly engaging stage presence. I was immediately endeared to him and his band during the first song when all the power on the stage un-expectedly cut out, but they continued to laugh and smile while trying to help fix the problem before resuming with a too short set of great tracks. I’d knew beforehand that Raghu Dixit was the winner of the Songlines Best Newcomer award so I expected to enjoy it and music wise I did so more than any other band that I saw at the festival.
He and the band spent good time telling the story and meaning behind every song before they played it and I counted at least 4 different languages that were sung during the course of the set. The real highlight was their last song ‘Har Saans Mein’ which he started by trying to teach the crowd the words to the chorus for with varying degrees of success amongst the people around me, but we all enjoyed trying!
Other Highlights
Of course, I didn’t spend the whole festival seeking out random folk and roots acts! Other more mainstream highlights that I really want to point out are the mesmorising vocals of Fleet Foxes on the Other Stage on Friday afternoon. Along with Bright Eyes, who played straight after, they really contributed to making the Friday of this years Glastonbury probably the best day of live music that I’ve ever experienced.
I also must mention the legend that is Jarvis Cocker performing a ‘secret’ Glastonbury comeback gig with Pulp on the Park stage which was literally packed with many thousands of people. In the days of twitter and smart phones keeping any gig secret amongst the 170,000 people at Glastonbury is nigh on impossible so the huge crowd was not at all surprising.
One of my favourite bands at the moment, Stornoway, opened up the Pyramid stage at 11am on Saturday only 2 years after winning the Glastonbury ‘emerging talent’ competition for unsigned bands. Their album ‘Beachcombers Windowsill’ is filled with great tracks that myself and the crowd gathered at the front of the stage had a great time singing along to. They’re also going to be playing at this year’s Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham which I’ll be heading to.
Finally, I’m not usually a fan but the Pyramid Stage headline slot on Saturday night was filled brilliantly by Coldplay who had practically the whole crowd singing along with their arms around each other bringing out a great festival spirit. It was made extra good for me as I initially couldn’t find my friends and was stuck listening to some of the most depressing popular music released in the last 10 years while on my own tucking in to a “Growler” sandwich (baguette filled with chips, and bacon topped with melted cheese) and a can of Strongbow. Just as I was starting to loose all hope I felt a certain Mr. Pete Ash jump on my back and re-unite me with the rest of my friends so we could sing along to the rest of the set all together at what is truly the greatest festival in the world.
Reader Comments (1)
Adam Do try a WOMAD festival. They have them in various places round the world, but the main one id in the west country. The Caseres one in Spain is a brilliant setting in an old Arab town.