Glastonbury 2016

[Enjoyed]

So. Underworld on Friday night.
LCD Soundsystem on Saturday or Sunday (probably Saturday).
New Order.
Beck.
St Etienne (who I need to listen to more of - any recommendations on where to start?).

I'm chuffed to say the least.
And for the first time ever, I was completely correct in my predictions. Besides Animal Collective (whom I still believe will be announced later on).

Anyone else going?

[TJEFFS2000]

Yeah. How'd you know Underworld are Friday?

[Enjoyed]

http://www.underworldlive.com/events/

[androidgeoff]

AND FUCKING ELO
I would basically see every artist on there
goddamn that is a nice lineup...

[Enjoyed]

Come?

[WhiteNoise]

St Etienne (who I need to listen to more of - any recommendations on where to start?).

I've just been getting into them!

I'd say, like The Chems, best to start with the first album and work up. Foxbase Alpha is their debut and it's wonderful, regardless of version. There's US/UK versions and also a "Foxbase Beta" that acts as a remastered/remixed/tweaked/updated version of the album, it's fun to listen to in tandem with the original.

Skip their second album though (seriously, it's really dreary) and go straight to Tiger Bay - and make sure it's the original British version or the 2CD Heavenly re-release. The versions tamper poorly. It's smooth sailing from there on out though.

There's also a lot (I mean a lot) of singles/comps/EPs/fanclub CDs/soundtracks. Those you can dive into however you like. I would say "Places To Visit" foreshadows/transitions into the more experimental sound of Sound of Water. A bit like listening to Loops of Fury EP between EPD and DYOH.

Have a blast though. ELO, Two Door Cinema Club, Chvrches, M83, Mercury Rev, Raisin Murphy, Sigur Ros, Floating Points, Fatboy Slim, heck even The 1975 and Bastille too... I hope the birth of your first child lives up to this!

[Enjoyed]

I hope the birth of your first child lives up to this!

It has last year to compete with too. Chems and Leftfield. And Kero Kero Bonito, Hiatus Kaiyote, Hot Chip, Freestylers, Everything Everything, Charlie XCX, Lionel Richie!! (and the even better Shrinel Richie!!!)

Pearl's Girl on Friday night on the Other Stage though will truly be something else (fingers desperately crossed, of course)

[Wolkenkrabber]

Skip their second album though (seriously, it's really dreary) and go straight from Foxbase to Tiger Bay -

NO!!!!! I got into them through "So Tough". All of their first three albums are excellent.
The first time I saw St Etienne live (in the 90's) they did Hobart Paving (amongst others) from that second album and the whole place sang along - it was glorious. Listen to the psychedelic trip of Avenue or the super cool groove of Calico from that album too. Essential
First three albums are great. Everthing else is patchy.

[WhiteNoise]

NO!!!!! I got into them through "So Tough". All of their first three albums are excellent.
The first time I saw St Etienne live (in the 90's) they did Hobart Paving (amongst others) from that second album and the whole place sang along - it was glorious. Listen to the psychedelic trip of Avenue or the super cool groove of Calico from that album too. Essential
First three albums are great. Everthing else is patchy.

Okay, Mario's Cafe, You're In A Bad Way, Railway Jam and (I guess) Hobart Paving aren't bad. You should check those out. But none of the other songs go anywhere, and there's so much bad messy reverb on everything. It's like quietly listening to pre-Mezzanine Massive Attack in a subway station.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Never seen you this negative WN!
@Mr Enjoyed, decide for yourself, but the first three albums must be listened to. Then tell us what you think.

[Enjoyed]

So Tough wasn't that depressing. I get where WN was coming from, they certainly aren't as fun as anything from Foxbase Alpha.

I'm going to dig into Tiger Bay today, which features a few tracks mixed by Rick Smith if I remember correctly.

EDIT: The slower tracks are... pretty slow aren't they. They're nice enough but not want I want after I'm bopping away to Like a Motorway...

Meanwhile, the Silver Hayes line up was announced today.

Bob Moses, Leon Vynehall and Ekkah are a few I'm particularly excited about. But more importantly, one of my absolute favourite bands from the last 5 years is playing - BRAIDS. I'm super in love with them and can't wait to see them again. The last time was here in Portland and they were sublime.

[WhiteNoise]

I'm going to dig into Tiger Bay today, which features a few tracks mixed by Rick Smith if I remember correctly.

There's a strong Underworld sound on that record... you can hear parts of Born Slippy (Original) on Like a Motorway, Spoon Deep on Urban Clearway, and other recognizable loops here and there, I think.

I like how the slow songs are staggered in. You're never quite set up for them, but they're pallet cleansing in a strange way - it makes no sense for Former Lover to be track 2, but it's so disarmingly angelic and perfect it actually maintains the same energy as Urban Clearway, IMO.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Oh yeah, I forgot that Rick Smith was involved on this album on: Urban Clearway, Like A Motorway, and Cool Kids of Death.
And of course on this:

Tiger Bay was their most consistent album for me. Nothing felt like filler.
The physical singles were worth a go too. The Secret Knowledge mix of Pale Movie sounded pretty awesome back in 1994

And the Hug My Soul CD single had a splendid cover version which I remember going down well when they did it live:

[Enjoyed]

So Tame Impala and Jagwar Ma were added to the line up...

Pretty.

Freakin'.

Chuffed.

[Bosco]

Does 'The Syrian National Orchestra' mean Damon Albarn is included as well?

[Enjoyed]

Does 'The Syrian National Orchestra' mean Damon Albarn is included as well?

[Enjoyed]

Anyone else going?

[Wolkenkrabber]

So. Underworld on Friday night.
LCD Soundsystem on Saturday or Sunday (probably Saturday).
New Order.
Beck.
St Etienne (who I need to listen to more of - any recommendations on where to start?).

Just watched St Etienne on the BBC website live feed. Gosh Debsey is looking old. I guess they all are. Vocals weren't perfect but it was good, too bad it wasn't longer. They did a new track called Dive which was pretty good. Hopefully Enjoyed managed to catch them, it looked like a nice 'easy' crowd - not too packed in, on the relatively intimate Park Stage.

Last nights New Order performance was enjoyable, albeit a little short considering they were the last band of the night on their stage.
I didn't catch much of Underworld's set on Friday, maybe it'll pop up somewhere. Beck is due on the Pyramid stage in about three minutes. LCD Soundsystem play the Other Stage at 9.45...
Ha! I'm talking like I'm there. But I'm not.

[Enjoyed]

Braids...

Braids...

Underworld...

Braids...

Another excellent festival. Despite the ridiculously wet start (we arrived at 2am to sleep in the queue but the heavens opened and without a real waterproof coat I was sat in the rain for 5 hours).

Braids were incredible. I really love them. They're super super talented and seemed genuinely humbled to be playing at the festival. They were on top form and just so lovely and great and wonderful and impressive and I met the singer afterwards and I love them.

Underworld - If you'd like to see what I thought of them, go check out the full set on the BBC website. I'm the giraffe at the very front. You can see me properly during Two Months Off and a bunch of other times throughout.
It was a disappointing crowd. I was stood next to a girl who was "SO EXCITED TO FINALLY BE SEEING UNDERWORLD" who basically stood still the whole time. Still. Another set in which it was clear how much fun the band were having.
A little disappointed not to hear Pearl's Girl (still) but everything else was fantastic. Some new version of things like Dark Train and KoS were much enjoyed (excuse the pun).

I also saw Adele - she was super impressive.
Dreadzone - they played an old school set consisting of a bunch of tracks from my favourite album of theirs, 'Sound'.
Grimes - a lot of fun. Though no California and a poor representation of her set on the BBC footage (it sounded MUCH better there)
Raleigh Ritchie - AKA Greyworm from Game of Thrones. He was so nice and positive and happy and his music was way more enjoyable than I thought it would be.
Róisín Murphy - spectacular. Effortlessly talented.
Jagwar Ma - took some time to warm up but were on it by the end
Tame Impala - interesting to see so many Radio 1 listeners there and singing along (though NO ONE seemed to know Alter Ego when they played it)
LCD Soundsystem - I mean... It was LCD Soundsystem...

Wont be going again for a while. I'm either too old or just a little jaded by the whole experience.
I think I'd like to try somewhere outside of the UK.

[Bosco]

Good to see you enjoyed [:::straight face:::] yourself.

Glastonbury has always been an intriguing idea for me simply because of the lineups and lore behind it.

What keeps me from committing, is the money to get me there, and more importantly the weather. I don't want to be rolling in mud for the better part of a weekend, unless it involves me and a handful of unclad women.

I would say you should try Primavera Sound, they have impeccable taste. Plus, from people who I trust that have attended many different music Festivals around the globe, claim this is the best.

And you should try Coachella at least once. The conditions at this festival go unmatched. I buy passes every year, but it comes down to the lineup and accommodations available to me, to decide whether I attend or not.