First day of Glastonbury 2011

As if by magic the rain clouds gathered above in preparation for the start of Glastonbury 2011. well its on the menu isnt it and and wellie manufacturers rely on it to boost their low summer trade. if you go and return home without Glastonbury dried mud on your boots you somehow feel cheated. but not for me I'm home 200 miles away in the relative comfort of my home settling down in front of my High Definition telly with beer in one hand and a reefer in the other [oh echoes of the old Glastonbury days haha] with my feet up on the puffy I'm definitly feeling in old Hippy mode...peace man!...Turn on tune in drop out!...My spirit is free an my heart is passionate! etc etc so.....I settle back feeling pretty laidback and in anticipation of some musical highs and nostalgia flashbacks.




I sat through over 4 hours of BBC broadcast Glastonbury and the long anticipated appearance of U2 who the festival has been trying to book since the 1980s. you will recall when they finally achieved this last year in 2010 lead singer Bono hurt his back and the whole shabang was cancelled so....finally they would appear and set the place alight! hmm...the trouble with anticipation and building something up in your mind is we tend to over anticipate and expectations are exaggerated to a degree with the result that it just doesnt live upto the headfit. sadly the rain clouds opened up almost on quo as a bad omen and it poured down. but the enthusiasm of the audience which numbered tens of thousands didnt appear dampened at it...indeed you could feel the atmospheric High from the crowd...oh this is going to be good I thought as I sat in my comfy armchair semi drunk'n'stoned..I had a silly smile across my face and felt like I was there pushing an shoving in that heaving happy sea of people oblivious to the pouring rain and sticky mud...I mean its the best rock band in the world U2! hmm well..we all get swept up in the moment dont we even ole hippies like me haha.



anyhow the moment arrived and suddenly the band appeared on stage to a cresendo of applause'n'cheer..hey! The first choice of track wasnt a grabber like you'd expect from this band because they usually like to grab you by the balls early and hold you there for 2 hours but....the opener didnt achieve that. I started to notice things like the band members didnt display much spirit or enthusiasm...maybe it was the pouring rain? I mean multi-millionaire Rock gods are used to the best creature comforts and conditions..or maybe the were a bit nervous because of the big build up to appearing at this iconic festival for the first time? whatever they appeared to me to be dragging their feet a bit. another thing that struck me to was Bono..he looked old tonite. his forehead looked wrinkled and his face frowns deeper..ok these guys are now in their mid 40s but that isnt really old. he also looked a little overweight and moved in a wooden fashion...not the usual sprightly spirited Bono who normally steals the stage and grabs your eye etc no....for whatever reason it didnt all 'fit' tonite and I felt a little disappointed after about 20 mins. dont get me wrong there were emotional and exciting moments yes during the set but...it had patches of lacklustre. The crowd were screaming and cheering all the way but I've come to notice the new generation of Glasto-ites will scream'n'wave at anything put in front of them..I mean the TV cameras are there and mummy'n'daddy are watching at home so....yes a good show by the band but.....you dont want 'buts'




After the show you had the usual interview in the BBC tent festooned with plastic flowers and tacky Hippy type memoribelia like something out of a Clacton tourist shop. but even then the band members seemed out of sorts and unrelaxed. Bono came out with his usual crap about saving the millions of poor and the mystic aura of Glastonbury etc etc oh lord please listen to yourself at times man! so over all I felt a bit cheated and deflated...certainly not spiritually lifted by the music like I expected. I started to wonder did I have a bad batch of dope or crap supermarket beer? did I miss the vibe somewhere? am I tired or just too old for this?? no I dont think so. To put my cynical hat on this festival simply isnt living up to my memory of old. can you remember the original hippy festival of Glastonbury and the inspiration of those early Hippies who created it? it actually meant something special back then and was a show piece of the alternative society we were trying to create way from Straight society..it was a weekend vision of our new world that we dreamed of albeit in a youthful naive way. but it doesnt matter because you can always gleen the good bits from any dream. The event I was watching tonite didnt resemble that dream of old but a new model...like a car altered for trend/fashion purposes but was ruined in the process..or a remake of an old classic film that comes out ok but diluted in content and quality.




Glastonbury is still a good thing for its creation of community and fun...for the music and of course for business and jobs. thats the essence of it really today. its not spiritual but a corporate summer event..like an exaggerated village fete on the village green. a summer camp for middle class kids pretending to be hippies for the weekend with their designer multi-colored wellies and fake tans. its a meeting place for eccentrics and perceived multi-culturalism. for family outings and people to dress up in funny costumes and ape to the ever present TV cameras...a place for kids to escape their parents for a long weekend and be wild..its a like a Butlins summer camp for teens etc etc ok its good in one sense but devoid of the original concept. its simply now a corporate event and empty of meaning.



Even the usual BBC TV presenters came across as a little stale and just going through the motions...certainly no youthful enthusiasm from boring middle aged MILF DJ Jo Wiley with her posh accent and silly designer ripped jeans at the knee..oh lord thats become so crass and expected. is she trying to say I'm hip and rock'n'roll? it simply doesnt work Jo....you look past your sell by date. Then theres Mark Lamarr another radio 2 DJ and TV presenter who looks 15 years older then his 44 years. he presents himself tonite unshaven with a greying mess of stubble and hippy farmer hat and overcoat looking more like an extra in a Benny hill sketch...trying to portray a Hippy of old and not succeeding in fact he was born in that famous counter-culture year of 1967...summer of Love and flower power remember?...well I do anyway. sorry Mark it didnt work you looked a prat to my eyes. There was also that Aussie sound presenter Zac? not sure what he does or where he comes from? but he talks too much and tries to over emphasis his musical knowledge which irritates..over all a poor performance from the BBC presenters too.



On a serious note....There were a group of young protesters in the audience who had planned in advance and with the permission of the festival organisers to protest against U2's recent decision to shift their business organisation out of Eire their home country to avoid paying their tax rate. you've got to understand here that Ireland are currently suffering their 2nd worst recession in history and are in financial dire straits. U2 earned £120 million plus last year from various sales/tours and are estimated to be worth jointly £800 million so vastly rich beyond most peoples dreams yet they choose to leave their ailing country at its worst point to avoid the tax....all this and lead singer Bono makes a huge point of caring about his country and the under priviliged of the world etc etc how two faced is this!? Stay and pay your taxes U2..help your country when in need! I was disappointed when this young protest group with their planned demonstration to bring the tax issue to our attention were not allowed to be on camera. indeed as soon as they inflated their 20 foot balloon with words printed across it ' U need to pay your taxes 2' they had thuggish security guards jump on them and bundle them away...how un-Glastonbury in spirit.




After 4 hours slouching in my chair I felt totally drained of emotion and a little empty....deflated emotionally I mean instead of lifted. thankful that I wasnt there in the rain'n'mud like I wished I was 4 hours previously. Thumbs up to the festival and the thousands that still enjoy it but for me personally its a different animal that I dont recognise anymore....I'm off to bed to dream of days of old..oh it was such a special time back then...there was a magic in the air in Glastonbury 1970s model...a feeling of Camelot....isnt that what dreams are made of? CALLEN















Words of Wisdom...." The only things in life you will regret.....are the risks you didnt take "