Bare Naked Ladies - review by : Matthew Charlwood & Michelle Wheeler

Glastonbury Festival 1999

Friday 25th to Sunday 27th June 1999
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£83

Pyramid Stage, Friday 25th June

Friday early afternoon and we are eagerly anticipating the arrival on stage of the fantastic Bare Naked Ladies from Canada. Time for a quick beer before they arrive and the crowd is looking quite up for it - even though it's very early in the festival and they need a little warming up. In this department the Bare Naked Ladies did not disappoint - opening with the current favourite - "It's all been done" it doesn't take the crowd long to get moving and the beautiful weather along with the lively semi-acoustic style of BNL truly helps everyone get into the festival spirit.

A lively set follows with the highlight being an impromptu call-up for a young security guard. Initially, BNL begin with a superb rendition of Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" (referring to the security guards) and follow by a stage front interview of said security guard. This is followed by the most memorable sight of the guard strumming the lead guitar whilst being helped with the chords through a playing of a classic Beatles tune.

Throughout the whole performance, BNL were on top form comedy wise, stopping in between each song to liven the crowd up with jokes, such as the safety announcement featuring the location of the nearest fish and chip stall! BNL also thanked the crowd for coming to see them headlining Glastonbury - asking the crowd tongue in cheek - "this IS the headline slot isn't it?".

Showing style to the end, BNL finished with short renditions of several popular tunes of the moment - accompanied by live "beatbox" provided by one of the vocalists - including "Pretty fly for a white guy" and "The titanic song".

All in all the set was one worthy of more than a 1:45pm slot and left the crowd absolutely buzzing and looking forward to the rest of the sets to come with more than a little of the "beat that if you can" attitude!