Photo from The Guardian
When you go to see a popular band or musician there is a sentence that you don't want to hear, "This is a new one...". You tend to go for a sing-song to the hits, especially when you pay good money for a bigger show, it isn't so much of a problem with an unsigned band because you want to see them develop. I touched on this point when I saw The Stranglers a few years ago, although they did it right. At a festival you are pretty much there for a sing-along, and at Glastonbury the sing-along is usually one of the unexpected highlights. This is an area where the festival excels itself, I don't really know off the top of my head if any other festival has the room for such an eclectic range of genres that they can put The Who, Foo Fighters (if Dave Grohl hadn't broken his leg), Kanye West (a bit of a penis but obviously popular) and such acts as Lionel Ritchie and Burt Bacharach. This used to be reserved for Sunday afternoons and unofficially known as the irony slot but the irony seems to be slipping away as these gigs are genuinely popular and provide enjoyment for all ages. It might have began with Rolf Harris (it was a different time back then and Rolf Harris was still loved by all as a cartoon drawing, wobble board wobbling, funny noise making national treasure) and he went down a storm. Status Quo played the Sunday afternoon irony stage a few years ago and this was the first time I noticed, after regarding them as a joke, that everybody likes them, as I wrote last year. Dolly Parton was another case in point, as was Shirley Bassey. For some reason or another they seem this year to have expanded this concept to Saturday too.
This afternoon I watched online the entirety of Burt Bacharach's appearance and was amazed at the amount of songs under his belt. Of course he is predominantly a songwriter and comes from the era when songwriters and singers were two different things altogether and being a songwriter was a bit like working in a factory. For an audience who wanted to hear hit songs they could sing along too there was probably no better place to be than in the sunshine in front of the Pyramid Stage. Bacharach was aided by a trio of singers who could have been plucked at random from the advert marked 'eyes, tits and teeth musical theatre starlets' who did a fantastic job of taking it in turns to lead each song. Every one a hit, he captivated the crowd and even sang a few numbers himself although he did warn that his voice wasn't great. This was the easiest of easy listening which gave me a craving for some scampi in a basket.
The Sunday Alternative Podcast #43 (Saturday edition) is available from here.
The Sunday Alternative Podcast #44 is available from here.
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June housekeeping
The audio book of Bowie Day (a short story inspired by A Christmas Carol) will be released on August 31st. In the meantime the book can be downloaded to your Kindle from here.
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steveEoliver@gmail.com
