GlastonTVbury

You may have missed it due to lack of advertising or broadcasting, but over the last weekend a surprisingly sunny Somerset field was taken over by Glastonbury. I was lucky enough to be able to watch it all on the television, living the same highs and lows as the crowd with the bonus of a daily shower.

The BBC, to their credit, gave pretty thorough coverage, even if every other performance shown seemed to include Florence Fucking Welch (her parents were very prescient). Along with the actual live sets themselves, there was a treat for all those stuck at home in the form of exclusive acoustic performances. These were performances conducted in a carefully designed and constructed studio that made the between-music links resemble coverage of the Chelsea flower show. I ain't dissin' the flower show, but i imagine there are better models to copy from when covering a festival such as Glastonbury. To continue the parallels however, Mark Radcliffe proved an Alan Titchmarsh-esque figure, providing a nice level-headed maturity in contrast to the puppy-dog eagerness of Reggie Yates and crew. The presenters proved perhaps the biggest irritant (especially Jo Whiley and her search for the next Glastonbury "moment"), but fortunately it was never too long before the next musical performance, or not musical, as was the case with the brilliant ping pong juggler and whip-cracking cowboy.

Now i have to admit that i didn't watch as much as i'd first intended, the combination of a beautiful sunny weekend and the depression arising from realising you're not actually there (again) proving too much at points. As such, i'm in no real position to pick out any of my own "moments", but the Flaming Lips looked and sounded pretty spectacular, and it would have been great to have caught LCD as they wind down their wonderful career. It was sad to witness the apparent failure of Gorillaz, particularly after the hugely sentimental success of Blur last year, and it was nice to see a beefed-up (and seemingly chavved-up) Kele performing with what looked suspiciously like a smile on his face. Snoop Dogg followed successfully and entertainingly in the footsteps of Jay-Z, Radiohead (well half of them) played a secret show which would surely have been amazing, and i was disappointed not to see any of what was apparantly a brilliant set by Hot Chip.

The impression from those who were there seems to be entirely positive, the baking sun and the great music taking the edge off a hilariously shit English football performance and adding as further incentive (if it were needed) that i need to get down there myself.