John Otway

Glastonbury Festival 1998 reviews

Review by: Neil
Stage: Sunday
Day: Sunday

Every year I make a point of seeing Otway - one of the great Glastonbury performers.

Sunday, at the Cabaret Tent.
Despite the rivers of mud (still) flowing throught the tent, it was the fullest that I saw this tent all weekend (but I must admit to not being in there too many times this year.

For once Otway was solo, rather than with the Big Band or Richard. As Bob Dylan was in the area, he decided to do his Dylan impression, sing 'I will Survive' (the Gloria Gaynor hit) in his best accent.
This was followed by Bowies 'Space Oddity' sung in a Lancashire accent - it really suits it!
The crowd got to join in with the now famous Otway rendition of 'House of the Rising Sun', and it got a great response. More Otway staples followed, before Attilla the Stockbroker joined him on stage for a German version of Bachman Turner Overdrives 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'.

I felt that John was a little unconfotable with the performance - maybe it was performing by himself, or just feeling down due to mud & stuff, but the crowd seemed to like it, and this was the only performance I saw all weekend where a second encore was demanded, and recieved by the crowd.

I give him 8/10....not the greatest Otway performance, but pretty damn good!

review by Neil Greenway