As summed up yesterday, Glastonbury’s main attractions kicked off Friday (watch full sets by Arcade Fire, Courtney Barnett, Temples, Interpol, Chvrche, HAIM and others – plus highlights and recaps of Jonny Greenwood, Parquet Courts and many more). Despite lots of mud and a brief electrical storm that temporarily put activities on hold, Glasto continued Saturday and closed tonight. Below are some highlights from yesterday and today.
Jack White continued to dominate music festivals the world over this weekend with a set heavy on White Stripes classics, jammed out by his eclectic band as if they were playing them each for the first time. During “Cannon” he threw in a tease of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” – as much a nod to the metal titans making their Glasto debut later that night as a reminder that Jack might play anything at any time. Heavy moments turned into folky sing-alongs, psychedelic moments became punk-ish, and the blues could flourish up at any point. Jack threw himself into the drum kit at the end of the set. As for Metallica, they played an intense set focused on material from each of their classic five first albums, particularity “Black Album” and “Ride the Lightning.”
Glastonbury booked plenty of acts to satisfy fans of every era of rock. Robert Plant’s fans braved the rain to watch rock’s eternal Golden God and The Sensational Space Shifters fuse folk, rock, world music, blues and electronica influences into new arrangements of Zep classics (Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You, Black Dog, Going to California, Whole Lotta Love and Rock and Roll). Meanwhile The Pixies returned to Glastonbury (last playing the fest a quarter century ago) with a set heavy on “Doolittle” and “Come On Pilgrim” classics but sprinkled with three songs from “Indy Cindy,” their new album (“Bagboy,” “Greens and Blues,” “Magdalena 318”).
As for younger bands, The Horrors featured songs from their new LP “Luminous” as well as 2009’s “Primary Colours,” playing just “Still Life” from 2011’s “Skying.” They also threw in a cover of Frankie Knuckles “Your Love” – not heard at one of their shows since they one-off debuted it at Reading in 2008. Warpaint struck just the right mood for the breezy, cloudy weather – playing half the songs on their self-titled new album and a bit from the rest of their catalog, including still unreleased “No Way Out.” Foster the People have loosened up since becoming ubiquitous at music festivals in 2011 with more percussion and – for lack of a better way of putting it – guitar noise. Yesterday they split their set equally between standout tracks from their breakthrough album “Torches” with material from their new record, “Supermodel.”
Additional full sets on youtube include (click links to watch): Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, Kaiser Cheifs, Dolly Parton, Lana Del Rey, Jake Bugg, The 1975, Bombay Bicycle Club, Kodaline, and Anna Calvi (and don’t forget to head here to watch Friday’s full sets – Arcade Fire, Courtney Barnett, Temples, etc). Other highlights from yesterday and today include MGMT, St Vincent, The Black Keys, Mogwai, Sharon Jones with the Daptone Super Soul Revue and Phosphorescent. Unfortunately full set videos haven’t surfaced for these, but these highlights make good teases:
The Future Heart 
1 Comment