Glastonbury 2017 Review

Between 23rd - 25th June, many musical artists came to entertain the masses of music fans at the most famous musical event of the year: Glastonbury festival. As always, the line up was as varied as ever, particularly with the rise in popularity of grime artists, such as Stormzy and Wiley, and of course, there was the buzz about the three headliners: Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran. In addition, there was the question that gets asked every year: Who is doing a secret set?

The head honchos...any good?

So...the main buzz I think was the headliners. Two legendary bands who were used to the big crowds that come with performing at Glastonbury and a man where the biggest stage he had played so far had been Wembley stadium: yep, Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran.

Radiohead

Hmmm...how to sum up Radiohead. I thought I would try them for the purpose of this blog but...they're boring. Apologies to Radiohead fans who are probably cursing me now. However, I did know some of their songs so that is something. They started off the set with a song I had never heard (I later found out it was Daydreaming from their recent album A Moonshaped Pool), and continued by performing old fan favourites, including Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit and No Surprises. Lyrics from No Surprises, "Bring down the government/ they don't speak for us," were met with big cheers, considering the general election had happened a couple of weeks before. It was finished with Thom Yorke stating "Bye Theresa May. Shut the door on your way out." The biggest surprise came in the form of Creep, which Radiohead themselves admitted that they weren't a big fan of, hence the lack of plays it has on their setlists. The thing I was impressed with was the stunning light show that accompanied the tunes, putting on quite the spectacle, both for those watching it live at Worthy Farm, and for those, like me, watching it on TV.

Foo Fighters

Again...I'm not a massive fan of Foo Fighters but if you compare them to Radiohead...they are a much better headliner. They brought the energy that is expected with a Foo Fighters show, along with hit after hit, including My Hero, The Pretender and Best of You.  They also brought out new material, in the form of Run, ahead of the release of their new album Concrete and Gold in September. Furthermore, the drummer, Taylor Hawkins, also sang Another one Bites the Dust and Under Pressure, with the latter sending Dave Grohl back to his Nirvana days, as he took the role as drummer, while Hawkins sang. For fans, I believe it was worth the two year wait, baring in mind they had to cancel in 2015, after Dave Grohl broke his leg.

Ed Sheeran

I have to be honest...this was the headliner I was looking forward to the most. I was a bit dubious about Ed headlining Glastonbury, considering that his biggest headlining gig before this was Wembley Stadium. Ok...he has played Glastonbury before but not as a headliner. However, he proved he could do it. Armed with a guitar and a loop pedal, he played everything, from irish ditties, such as Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan, and beautiful ballads, such as the smash hit Thinking Out Loud, to the one that started it all, The A Team. Yes...there was the odd criticism on social media, such as those saying he was boring and thinking he was miming instead of using a loop pedal, but Ed proved them wrong.

Secret sets

It wasn't only the headliners that created a lot of buzz around Worthy Farm...it was also the question that is always asked every year...Who are the secret acts? Well...this year it was Elbow, who were roped in to celebrate 10 years of the Park Stage, and The Killers, whose set was on the John Peel Stage. The latter was particularly met with welcoming arms, considering that they are back, 5 years after the last album release, Battle Born (Yes...they did have a greatest hits collection release in 2013 but in terms of new releases it is 5 years). Putting on a set, which included favourites When You Were Young and Human, they also performed The Man, taken from their upcoming album, Wonderful Wonderful. Of course, no set would be complete without Mr Brightside. No wonder the tent got so full that organisers had to eventually stop people from heading over.

Other highlights

Ok...let me get this out the way...this is the year that politics practically dominated Glastonbury. To be fair...Glastonbury did occur a couple of weeks after a general election. I bet if anyone was there, you would have heard "Oh Jeremy Corbyn," sung to the music of White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, at least once over the weekend. In fact, even Thom Yorke briefly led the crowd into this chant during Radiohead's headline set. To top it all off, Jeremy Corbyn himself turned up to introduce Run the Jewels.

Other highlights include Liam Gallagher, who performed classic Oasis songs, Rock and Roll Star and Morning Glory, among others, as well as his new single Wall of Glass. However, the emotional moment was when he dedicated Don't Look Back in Anger to the victims of the recent terror attacks, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire and literally let everyone sing it back to him. Watching thousands of people singing this song was amazing as a television viewer. I'm sure it was even more amazing for people actually there. Just in case anyone was wondering...Noel did not make an appearance.

I also managed to catch Emeli Sande's set. All I can say is what a voice. She put on an energetic set, playing hit after hit, from Heaven to Read All About It. She also included newish songs, Highs and Lows, and Hurts, off her latest album, Long Live the Angels. I reckon she could be headlining in a couple of years.

Oh...and of course, I couldn't have a highlights section without mentioning my favourite band on the lineup...Blossoms. I am so happy that they got upgraded to the Pyramid Stage as it meant that more people got to see how talented they are.  Performing well known songs among fans, Charlemagne and Blown Rose, they proved that it was worth it to put them on a Pyramid Stage slot. They also performed new song, This Moment, their collaboration with Chase and Status. I maybe biased but I reckon that when the time comes, they would be a great headliner.

So there you go...my highlights of Glastonbury 2017. Unfortunately, the festival is not on next year, due to it being a fallow year for the farm, but it will be back in 2019...hopefully bigger and better.

Bring it on!

Em
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