For most music types the annual Glastonbury festival is a chance to enjoy some high quality live music from the comfort of your armchair. The return of the festival after Covid was I think, from the safety of my sofa a huge success. There were some great artists playing and the extensive BBC coverage meant that the music could be enjoyed both live and later via iPlayer.
I have seen some criticisms on social media and in the press, but from what I heard and saw I thought everything was excellent and I'm going to bore you with why.
Firstly I should declare as if you hadn't already figured it out that I am a guitar based rock and roll fan. I was a teen in the 1980's and 1990's and not only do I love the music from those eras, I love classic rock and roll. The line up of artists that interested me the most were, Crowded House, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, The Pet Shop Boys, Skunk Anansie, Jarvis Cocker and of course the best of all Sir Paul McCartney.
So first Crowded House. Absolutely brilliant. Great songs played with love and passion, and Neil Finn's grandson leading the singing on the last song fabulous. The band had a great rapport with the audience and clearly loved what they were doing.
Noel Gallagher. My son loves Oasis, he has all the albums, knows all the songs, can play all the lead guitar parts and is in danger of becoming the sort of bore at parties that I am about The Beatles. I felt that Noel is still trying to step away from Oasis, whereas brother Liam has embraced his back catalogue, Noel is trying to still forge his own path and so some of the Oasis songs lacked a little passion. That said they were done fantastically and the ultimate judge said he loved it.
My son and I argue about which of the Gallagher brothers is the better singer. I'm firmly voting for Liam, but without Noel's song writing and musicianship Oasis would not have been. I was there in the nineties and I still love them now. Maybe there will be a reunion one day, maybe.
The Pet Shop Boys did an excellent set of their greatest hits despite Chris Lowe appearing to be missing at the start, and Neil Tennant wearing what appeared to be an enormous tuning fork.
We also enjoyed bits of Primal Scream and Supergrass but ultimately there was one act that I was waiting for and it wasn't Diana Ross.
Sir Paul McCartney.
Paul is my musical hero. I have a Hofner violin bass. The first song I ever learnt to play was Let It Be. If you ask me I can probably play you anything he's ever written including those strange Wings songs that were never officially released like Waterspout. So to be fair I'm not entirely impartial when it comes to reviewing his performances.
In my opinion he showed exactly why he is the greatest pop star of all time. He played all the right songs and the audience were absolutely in the palm of his hand. There has been some criticism of his voice or the choice of songs but lets have some perspective here.
The guy has written hundreds of songs and thrown away some that are better than what many songwriters can manage at their very best. With such an extensive back catalogue to include everything would take days.
He's been entertaining crowds since the Beatles went to Hamburg in 1960. Sixty-two years later he's still selling out massive arenas. Yes his voice isn't that of a twenty year old, but he's just celebrated his eightieth birthday! I'd challenge any musician to do a near 3 hour set without flagging. I know once I've played for anything like 2 hours I've no voice left, he looked like he could have carried on for another hour at least. Mind you he doesn't have to pack up his own gear like we do.
Paul is a national treasure and someone that should be cherished. I doubt any of the younger contingent will be headlining the Pyramid Stage when they are octogenarians.
If you haven't seen his set I'd encourage you to get onto BBC iPlayer and enjoy it, along with lots of other artists performances.
Glastonbury without the mud and blocked toilets is a great experience, I recommend it.
