I went to Glastonbury… It was as magical and wonderful as ever, despite the mud.
All images taken on 35mm film.
Rx
Glastonbury 2016
Category Archives: Music
David Bowie
I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring – David Bowie
Music has lost an icon. A legend that inspired generations, and whose music will live on forever.
Glastonbury Festival 2015
And so there is another Glastonbury over. I’ve got a serious case of the post-Glastonbury blues so I thought I’d share my weekend and daydream away back to Worthy Farm.
After an, ahem, eventful start (Fran!), we piled into our cars and off we drove to Somerset. We arrived at 7am and by 10am our camp was set up in the wonderful Park Home Ground, overlooking the Other Stage.
As the only one in our group of 12 that had ever been to Glastonbury before, I decided to take the group up to the top of the hill by the Stone Circle for the first night to give them an idea of the site and we were treated to the most majestic sunset.
It’s a truly magical place and I felt even more in love with it this year.
I didn’t see a bad act all weekend, but here were my two highlights:
Florence
I love, love, LOVE Florence and have followed her career since she played in a tiny tent at Leeds Festival in 2008. Her set was full of energy, excitement, emotion. She showcased her fabulous new album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, as well as the best of her back catalogue and a heartfelt version of Times Like These by the Foo Fighters. Every song was brilliant and her voice continues to give me goosebumps. What was lovely to see was how grateful and humble she was about the performance. It was incredibly moving, a real highlight of the weekend.
Lionel
Oh! What a feeling!! When we’re dancing on the ceiling! Lionel’s set was un-be-lee-va-bl! Glastonberry! Hellooooooo, is it me you’re looking for?! It was just a brilliant, uplifting, hilarious set. I adored it! And so did 100,000 other people, fantastic!
After a wonderful weekend, we all watched The Who together before heading home the next morning. It was wonderful.
Until next year, Glastonbury
Rx
Music of the minute
Every so often I like to keep you updated on what’s top of my current iPod playlist so here’s a few of my favourite tracks that have been circling my head for the last few weeks…
Jamie xx – Loud Places (ft Romy)
Oh Jamie, you wonderful, wonderful man. Everything you touches turns to beautiful, aural gold. I implore you to give this one a listen, just heavenly. This video is pretty sweet too.
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Hello 2015!
It has been a while. I know, and I’m sorry. The chaos of December, starting a new job, Christmas, New Year and a holiday means I’ve been a little busy of late. There’s no excuse, life just got on top of me for a bit.
So I thought to make up for my utter lack of posts I would do a bit of tidying up. If you look at my previous two posts, you’ll see what I got up to for the last two months with my final month in photographs posts. If you come back tomorrow, you will see a post about my brilliant holiday to Val Thorens in the French Alps!
But for now, let us have some music shall we? Here is a run down of my favourite songs of 2014.
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Music Monthly – September 2014
Having had a wonderful summer of music, I’m excited to share with you my next monthly music favourites. I’ve just got back from Bestival which was utterly wonderful. It was my first visit to Rob da Bank’s musical furore on the beautiful Isle of Wight – it’s like a mini Glastonbury!
Nile Rodgers was incredible – what a way to finish on Sunday night! Seeing as Nile has basically produced every catchy song ever written since the 1970s, the whole gig was a huge party – lots of singing, lots of dancing, it was amazing!
Another highlight for me was London Grammar. Their set was precise, emotional and euphoric. I adore their album ‘If You Wait’ and hearing it performed live was something truly special.
Disclosure. Whilst it makes me a little sick at how incredibly talented these two brothers are for their age, I can’t help but love them. I get completely mesmerised when watching DJs, I think they are so talented – but watching two DJs on different decks work seamlessly together to make this phenomenal music is utterly amazing.
I’m a massive fan of music from the 1980s and lately, it seems that’s all I’ve been listening to. INXS are brilliant, and I simply adore Michael Hutchence’s voice. His silky, charismatic tones just make me want to dance. Turn this up and get on your feet!
Finally, after seeing Back to the Future at Secret Cinema, this one has been on repeat:
What have you been listening to lately. I’d love to have a listen, leave links and comments below!
Rx
An awesome August
Well the last month has been pretty wonderful. I feel like I’ve had most of August off work and I’ve feel like I’ve barely been in London. It’s been brilliant!
First I went to the beach in Mablethorpe for a weekend with my friends. And as anyone who has visited the beach along the North East coast of England will know, it can be bracing, wet and down right cold but it is always the most fun.
Next, me and my housemates went to Croatia! We went to Split and Hvar and I cannot recommend it enough. The place is beautiful, the people are warm and welcoming and the company was brilliant. I basically spent the entire holiday with a smile on my face, it was glorious.
The day after I got back from Croatia I went to a wedding! My gorgeous friend Lucy tied the knot in Gloucestershire. It was a beautiful day filled with love and laughter.
Next on my adventures in August was Leeds Festival. I hadn’t been to Leeds in a few years but it was the first festival I ever went to – and boy was it good to go back! We had a massive camp, carnage ensued and a good time was had by all.
All in all, August has been awesome. Next on the list is Secret Cinema and Bestival and I cannot wait!
What have you guys been up to this summer? Hope you’ve had a wonderful August too!
Rx
Music Monthly – July 2014
As well as my months in photographs I thought I’d share with you some of the songs that have been a constant on my iPod over the last month.
Up first: Alt-J and ‘Hunger Of The Pine’
The first time I heard this I was hooked. There is something utterly captivating about Alt-J’s sound, which I have loved from the very beginning. I CANNOT wait to hear the rest of the album.
Next, the return of Jamie T with ‘Don’t You Find’
Jamie T is one of my favourite artists of all time. His music really spoke to me and I think he was on the cusp of becoming a voice of our generation after Kings and Queens in 2009. I was gutted he disappeared – I used to do a social media search for him every month or so, desperate for him to come back. And he finally has! This song is joyous – give it a listen.
Third comes Jungle – ‘Busy Earnin”
I’ve liked Jungle for a while now but seeing them at Glastonbury made me fall in LOVE with them! I bought their album (which I would highly recommend doing) and every song is brilliant. I could have put any one of their songs in Music Monthly but Busy Earnin’ has a truly excellent video. Let’s learn the dance!
Fourth comes Lana Del Rey. Well, the Cedric Gervais remix of ‘Summertime Sadness’
I’m not the biggest fan of Lana Del Rey. She mainly annoyed me during her Glastonbury performance with her constant posing. I do think her voice is good but I can’t listen to many of her songs in a row before I want to end it all. BUT, this remix of ‘Summertime Sadness’ is great! It really lifts the song and for me, this is summer in a song.
Golden oldie time now for my final song – Pink Floyd with ‘Wish You Were Here’
For a long time I avoided Pink Floyd but I have recently realised they’re brilliant. All those people were actually right about them… who knew? Anyway, this is a beautiful one.
What have you been listening to this month? What’s been your top song? Leave links and comments below as I’d love to have a read!
Rx
The Libertines, Hyde Park
I went to see the Libertines with Virtual Festivals last Saturday and they were awesome! Here is a copy of my review!
In a set that was plagued with crowd interruptions, The Libertines’ reunion was filled with energy, controversy and compassion – it was everything the crowd wanted from the band whose history has been so filled with drama.
The set was called to a halt three times due to crowd crushing (one person passed out), flare throwing and the crowd climbing the camera towers. After a patchy stop-start for the first few songs, Carl, Pete, Gary and John got into their stride and revived the audience with a roaring version of ‘Horrorshow’ followed soon after with a raucous ‘The Ha Ha Wall’. Deafening crowd sing-alongs then came in the form of ‘Music When The Lights Go Out’ and ‘What Katie Did’.
The guitars were tight, the bass solid and dependable and the drums kept everyone together. Each Libertine played brilliantly, and Carl and Pete sung as well as they ever have. The sound quality, which was at times patchy (as has often troubled Hyde Park concerts) couldn’t distract from the show of talent on the Main Stage.
When ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ came round, a song which used to be filled with such anger during their troubled times, Carl and Pete simply sang it to get past it. There was little dwelling on the song which became the theme song to the Libertines’ breakup. Instead the set focused on the happier times – archive images of the band filled the screens behind them adding to the sense of nostalgia.
My guest in VIP
The Libertines finished with a riotous ‘I Get Along’. Pete and Carl sharing mics and singing to one another made for an emotional end to a thrilling set, hugging and celebrating at the end until they were on the floor. Pete led a singalong of the hokey cokey before praising the crowd and the armed forces, and with Carl, performed a rather beautiful rendition of Siegfried Sassoon’s 1918 poem Suicide In The Trenches to finish. The frontmen were back as one once more.
There was high expectation on this gig after the success of the Glasgow warm-up shows and the boys in the band definitely delivered. Carl and Pete played with a confidence which was lacking in their 2010 reunion – they seemed more focused and much more comfortable together. The announcement of two more dates in London later this year confirms the band’s commitment to one another and hopefully rather than a reunion, this becomes a revival in the Libertines’ history book.
The Libertines at British Summer Time 2014 set list:
‘Vertigo’
‘Boys In The Band’
‘The Delaney’
‘Campaign Of Hate’
‘Time For Heroes’
‘Horrorshow’
‘Begging’
‘The Ha Ha Wall’
‘Music When The Lights Go Out’
‘What Katy Did’
‘The Boy Looked At Johnny’
‘Can’t Stand Me Now’
‘Last Post On The Bugle’
‘Love On The Dole’
‘Death On The Stairs’
‘Radio America’
‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’
‘Tell The King’
‘Up The Bracket’
‘What A Waster’
‘France’
‘Albion’
‘I Get Along’
Photos from my Virtual Festivals article (and my iPhone)
Did you go to the Libertines? What did you think? I loved it!
Rx
Glastonbury 2014
Glastonbury Festival is my favourite place on Earth. I have yet to find somewhere that I cherish as dearly and whole-heartedly love as much as Glastonbury Festival. Some of the people I love the most were there and I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life there. The atmosphere is incredible – like nothing I’ve ever experienced prior or since.
This year was my fourth Glastonbury and it was brilliant. Here are some of my highlights:
The Other Stage
Arcade Fire
Kasabian
The Park
Did you go to Glastonbury? What did you think? Leave links and comments below!
Rx
