My Glastonbury 2004 Report ::

2004's Glastonbury was my first year at the Festival, therefore I didn't known what she had in store for me in the next three days. I've come to the festival mainly for the music; Paul McCartney, Muse, Franz Ferdinand and The Magic Band high on the list of must see bands.

Got to the festival just before 5pm on the Thursday, and promptly pitched our tents in front of the Dance Tent. After an hour or so setting up the tent and getting ourselves sorted for the next three days of festivities, me and a friend went down to the Pyramid Stage to watch the football.

Tonight's game was an important Euro 2004 Quarter Final clash between hosts Portugal and England. After an early goal by Michael Owen, England seemed to be in control until the final third of the match, where Portugal managed to equalise.

After extra time, Portugal managed to go 2-1 up, and thankfully Frank Lampard managed to equalise. The referee blows his whisle and we are into penalties. Needless to say, England lost thanks to a poor attempt by David Beckham and Vassel missing the crucial spot kick. Portugal through to the semi final.

Being Welsh I was still gutted for the England team; they were the best team for 70 minutes+ and Campbell's goal shouldn't have been disallowed. I didn't come to Glastonbury for the football, so I got myself another can of Stella and cheered myself thinking about how cool the next three days will be.

Friday morning was great. Seeing two of my favorite alternative artists, Bright Eyes and Wilco was a feast. Although I felt that they didn't set the Pyramid Stage on fire, they gave solid performances. Glad to see the Wilco frontman onstage after his drug problems.

After grabbing some lunch and working out where everything was stage wise, we took the somewhat long walk from the Pyramid Stage to the Jazz Stage to see The Magic Band. I saw them at The Royal Festival Hall earlier this year and they were just as good. Lucas was loving the atmosphere; he was pulling faces and always screaming "yeah!" into his microphone.

In my perspective it was a shame that they didn't play any different songs to the last time I saw them, but it's a Festival, and they should play what they have rehearsed most and know the best. I've got some excellent photos of Drumbo and Lucas, I'll put them online today.

The rest of the afternoon revolved around the Other Stage where we saw Snow Patrol and Franz Ferdinand. I've never cared much for Snow Patrol, but their set was nice nonetheless. Franz Ferdinand was great - I love their music. This was my third time seeing them and they did themselves justice and gave a sparkling performance.

Now back to the Pyramid Stage to catch the rest of the days music. I was somewhat disappointed of Kings of Leon set. When I saw them last year at the Bristol Academy they were great, but they seemed somewhat subdued here. Maybe it was being on the Pyramid Stage, maybe it was because they had to pad the set out with new tunes, but I was hoping for an improved performance over the Bristol one. But hearing people talking behind me they thought the Kings were good - so that lifted my spirits about them slightly.

Now onto the headliners, Oasis. When that silly Blur Vs Oasis war was going on so many moons ago, I was in Blur's camp all the way. I saw Oasis as arrogant, over-hyped and up their own asses. Seeing them give a lackluster performance a few years ago at the Cardiff International Arena also didn't help their cause to win me over. But tonight they were great! The atmosphere was great - I wasn't expecting any loutish behavior, and I didn't see any either. Everyone was singing along having a great time. I was disappointed about people giving Oasis bad reviews the day after, because they had totally knocked me for six.

Friday ended on a high note, and set me up perfectly for the next two days. Oh how wrong could I be.

Waking up early Saturday morning I was greeted with rain; loads of it! Not bringing adequate waterproof clothes (luckily I bought along some Wellies) meant I darent go outside of my tent. Unfortunately the rain spoilt the Saturday morning and afternoon, meaning I missed the Scissor Sisters (glad you loved them Kev!) and Keane among Michael Franti and Sister Sledge.

When the rain slowly gave way to sunshine, we managed to make our way to catch My Morning Jacket. I last saw them at Bonnaroo last year, and boy have they improved! You can hear the Neil Young / Crazy Horse influence loud and clear with their crunching guitars, extended solos and somewhat idiosynchric singing. Next were British Sea Power, who are a personal favorite of mine. They never get much publicity, but their album was among the best of last year's releases. With branches hanging over their amps, and the odd Owl perched among the clutter, the Power gave a storming set with one or two new songs mixed in for good measure. Hope some of you guys saw them!

After British Sea Power it was time to chill out for a while before going to see the Black Eyed Peas, who I wasn't that interesting seeing much but I wasn't going to miss Macca for the world. (not even Beck). I caught about ten minutes of Starsailor, and I got what I expected, bland middle of the road rock.

The Black Eyed Peas were alright. Hearing the song "Shut Up" made me laugh a little since I usually hear the song being played in the Creation nightclub in Cardiff. I don't think I'd imagine dancing to this song in my coat and wellies! What would I have looked like in Creation! (Just as silly as I usually do probably!)

From the vibe of the crowd many people weren't that interested in seeing the Peas, and were probably like me waiting for Paul.

After the Black Eyed Peas finished their set we were on to the big one - Macca. I wasn't disappointed! It was great seeing the guy live and performing the Beatles songs we all know and love. Bring on the Beatles tunes - I don't want to hear some unknown solo compositions ;)

My Girlfriend's highlight of the set was the fireworks going off during Live and Let Die - probably the best ever "fireworks being timed to the music" thingy she said. I agreed :) McCartney was great and I really loved his set. Songs like Hey Jude and Yesterday bought tears to my eyes. A very moving show, to my eyes anyway.

A disastrous morning gave way to a triumphant night of music I was glad to have witnessed. The rain held off and hopes were high for an even better Sunday with performances from Supergrass, Muse and Morrisey among others.

The weather Sunday morning was perfect, sunny and alert. I marched on over to see The Zutons on the Other Stage. I thought their album was ok, but they totally blew my away here live. Coming onto the stage with bright yellow boiler suits, they gave stellar renditions of songs from their debut album. The woman saxophonist is especially pleasing to the eye ;)

Next up was The Divine Comedy, who gave a decent performance. Neil Hannon was in a talkative mood. He even dedicated a song to The Independence Party, which he promptly called them "A bunch of nobs" under his voice. Hilarious! I was a bit disappointed he didn't play more of his well known hits like "Something For The Weekend", "Everybody Knows That It's True" or "National Express", but I guess he doesn't do novelty songs that much anymore.

After The Other Stage it was onto the Pyramid Stage for the rest of the day with an excellent lineup that consisted of Joss Stone, Christy Moore, James Brown, Supergrass, Morrisey and Muse.

We caught the second half of Joss Stone who was impressive. I liked her new album, "The Soul Sessions", but I thought she wouldn't be able to cut it live - but I was ever so glad I was wrong. She was great.

Next up was Christy Moore, who I didn't know much about only that he had health problems and it's been a while since he's been on stage performing. Christy was excellent, he totally blew me away. I knew right away I was watching a legend. I'm definitely going to buy some albums of his. I was really getting into his set until the heavens opened up and downpour heavily for nearly and hour. I had to get away from the Pyramid Stage and find some shelter. I was really disappointed that it rained at this point, because Christy mesmerized the crowd and the rain spoilt his otherwise great set.

After the rain died down it was back to the Pyramid Stage for James Brown. This was the third time seeing him after Bonnaroo last year and opening for The Red Hot Chili Peppers at Cardiff International Arena last week. I wasn't expecting anything different from his set. His "team" was more interactive this time than the Chili's show, doing more backslapping than before. I don't know what everyone thought of his set - it's great seeing a legend live, but not when he's being carried along as much as what his backing band members was doing.

Supergrass was next, who replaced The Libertines after they pulled out due to "internal" problems. I would have much preferred to see The Libertines, but Supergrass were still great. They rolled out their hits and got the crowd jumping for joy. A sudden downpour didn't lessen anybody's spirits as the rain gave was to a beautiful, soul lifting rainbow.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat it was onto Morrissey, who I thought was good, but not great. The band was a bit shit, but the songs and Morrissey's voice were good enough to carry the music. Morrissey seemed to dig himself in a whole with his between song banter, but that's Morrissey I guess and that's why loads of people love him.

After Morrissey it was onto Muse. I was disappointed that a lot of people didn't stick around for their set - probably because people were more interested in seeing one of Orbital's penultimate performance on the Other Stage.

Muse rocked the joint! Coming on looking like a Mad Professor in his white lab coat Matt and his crew blasted into giant performances of songs like "Sing For Absolution", "Bliss", "New Born", "Time is Running Out" and "Plug-in Baby". Hopefully them closing Glastonbury has done wonders for their profile. If you like Bombastic Space-Prog Rock then you should give Muse a listen :)

So, the last band finishes and Glastonbury was over. After three days I was a happy man with loads of memories to take home. I was a little disappointed however that I didn't get enough time to see the other side of the Festival, the smaller events, the stalls and vendors, and other crazy things happening in the early moments of the night. Next year here we come!