2003 eamonn said: "Wot I saw at Glasto"

Very potted
Music

Mogwai sounded good but having them on the Pyramid stage on Fri afternoon didn't engage people the way they did as last band on the other stage in 2000.

The Frames really enjoyed themselves (Glen Hansard announced that he had cancelled his flight home and was looking for a tent. The following night he was spotted up at the stone circle in a relaxed state. They played each of their last 5/6 songs like it was going to be their last. I can live without them but it was fun especially with the die hard fans like Dermot, Emma and Nodlag jumping around to them. They did the the Willy Wonka bit, Celebration Time, Revelate, Motherfucker and so on.

REM I spent a good deal of REM trying to get in touch with Andy (ultimately failing) who was nearby so I can't really comment objectively. I didn't think it as good as their previous time (2000?) even though they played Fall On Me etc.

Interpol first band of Sat, broke into a run when I heard untitled, they played nearly all of the songs off their album and nothing else. About the only thing they said was 'It's fucking hot up here' - they were in their shirts, ties and v-neck pullovers. Devoid of personality (touring that album for 2 years would do that to you?) but I liked hearing the songs. There was a dust devil behind the sounddesk the during their set.

2 Many DJs starting off with The White Stripes 7 Nation Army is good. Mixing Nirvana into Daft Punk is even better. Later on in their set we got more familiar stuff from the album such as Dolly Parton and Iggy Pop. Generated a good bit of excitement for the only time I was in the dance tent (which needs a new look inside - those psychedelic dreamcatchers are passé).

Bill Bailey Had to raise the sides of the tent to see this, he is a very funny man, the pirate radio version of Coldplay's Clocks, doing Slayer, Portishead etc.

Super Furry Animals My highlight, they were beset by problems with the sound and with their projectors "We are Super Furry Animals and out projector is fucked", and the crowd wasn't that great, thinning out past the sounddesk (it would have been much bigger when they played earlier in the evening 4 years ago on the same stage). But you can't deny brilliant songs, Juxtaposed, Northern Lights (with the mysterious 4 lights in the sky over Radiohead - turns out that was glowsticks attached to helium balloons), Mountain People ("We are the Super Furry Animals and these are songs from the last century"), 2 yetis came on to beat the kettle drums at the end of this, Herman Loves Pauline, If you don't want me to destroy you, Run Christian Run, Receptacle for the Respectable and a host from the new album. And then The Man Don't Give A Fuck, starting with a Bill Hicks rant, and going on for 20 minutes with Cian creating a techno monster in the middle of it and all the rest of the furries returning in yeti suits at the end. I haven't jumped up and down so much in ages. Pity I can't find any photos of the yeti suits.

The Sugababes with band and singing well live. It wasn't perhaps the perfect communion of pop and a big Glasto crowd on a Sunday afternoon that I had dreamt of but it was pretty good to see them live all the same. They're getting better at the smiling and dancing. Lots of jumping for Round Round. Ex-Sugababe Siobhan Donaghy was in the New Bands tent at roughly the same time.

Sat on the grass outside Acoustic tent for Cerys Matthews and Beth Gibbons, CM drew a big crowd which makes it a nice comeback for her.

Sigur Ros on the other stage were good but I should have gone up further rather than be distracted not far from the back. At least they flung a guitar around and pushed over some of the drums at the end. And a big collective bow.

Buena Vista Social Club was a nice end to the whole thing. Again should have gone up further.

Other stuff

Seeing 3 or 4 bands a day seems to be the maximum I can do nowadays what with getting tired from running around, not liking being out in the sun for a long time and hanging out with other procrastinating, indecisive, people. Plus sitting around is what you want to do sometimes.

I must get a mobile phone and one that lasts the full 4-5 days. On the other hand so much time was sepnt trying to get in touch with people (and in queues to get phones charged) I wonder is it worth it.
Wish I had seen Lemon Jelly. Their music is ok but the new bands tent looked like a UFO had landed in the middle of it when I passed it on Friday evening.

Damien Rice seemed to be getting a great reaction from where I was sat near the glade, the following band had to cancel so he kept getting time for another song. Another irish band who wen tdown well was The Thrills who had a huge turnout, well pass the sound desk.

Meccadonalds was pretty good the 2 nights I went to it, once sort of Asian bhangra dance stuff, the other a UV diddley eye techno sort of band.

Andrew Beard!'s side cartwheels were great especially since he would leave his coat on and do it in the middle of a cafe.

There was a tragic death at Glastonbury. A mother of 1, 33 old Vicki Jarvis had an asthma attack on Sat, the distressing thing is that her partner didn't wake when she left their tent and she died without anyone she knew around her. More about it here. There have been reports of other injuries, usually caused by stupidity, people climbing trees, scaffolding while out of it but luckily I don't think anyone else died.