Festival review by : Steve Hills

Glastonbury Festival 1999

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

Getting high at Glastonbury on Skunk....Anansie

I overheard a conversation that some people were having. One person was being asked whether they were going to Glastonbury for the sex. "Not really" was the response. They were then asked whether they were going for the drugs. "No" was the reply. They were then finally asked "So why are you going to Glastonbury then?" To which was response "I'm going for R.E.M. mate".

In fact there are so many reasons to go to Glastonbury. Most of which people who have never been don't really appreciate. Sure there's the "sex, drugs and rock n roll", but there is also theatre, circus, comedy, films, the market, the spiritual side of things, the healing field and even the chance to throw fruit at a Hollywood filmstar. I've been for the past 5 years, and I have to say that during the time the festival is on there is no where else I'd rather be. I love it, even the mud!

Hailed by many as the best yet this year, I couldn't disagree. Which is a good thing as the festival was dedicated to Jean Eavis, Michael's wife who died a few weeks earlier. It was moving to see how many people turned up to pay their respects on the Sunday morning. But quite rightly so, because if it wasn't for them the world would be without the best festival that there is. Of course I can only say that as an assumption as I have not been to all the festivals by far, but can they really get any better than this?

So what were my top five performances this year?

Just missing out were performance by the Manics, Texas and Gomez. There is what I call "The we're not worthy effect (to play at Worthy Farm)" where most bands feel that it is an honour to play the festival, and are taken back by the crowds and response, and are visually and vocally moved by it. They go out there and have a great time. There is no doubt that the Manic Street Preachers are a fine live band, however they notoriously hate playing festivals and this came across. They just didn't seem to have that spark required for a great Glasto performance. Texas did a bit of a Robbie Williams. They weren't quite as successful as he was, but probably didn't have as much to prove as he did a year earlier, but nonetheless entertained the crowd with ease and was thoroughly enjoyed by all including themselves. I didn't manage to catch all of the Gomez set, as there were major clashes on the Friday night - REM, Beautiful South, Kula Shaker, Chemical Bros, Fat Boy Slim, Faithless, Marianne Faithful and Gomez all clashing. But if I had managed to catch it all I'm sure it would have been one of the highlights as they truly are a great band.

So my top 5. My first shout goes out to the band and album that I am currently raving about to friends and that is Travis. Unfortunately their set fell during the short period of time in which it rained over the weekend thro' the day, coincidentally as they were singing "Why does it always rain on me?" But the rain didn't spoil the enjoyment of a band that have matured incredibly with their latest album.

At number 4, are the Fun Lovin' Criminals who were just simply immensely enjoyable and a lot of fun and a total surprise.

My third favourite performance were the mighty REM who played to a huge huge crowd, the biggest I've seen at Glastonbury and were stunning, with "Losing my religion" being the singularly most enjoyable four minutes of the whole festival. Everybody sung along - it was just great.

Second best in my opinion were the Beautiful South. By no means the coolest of bands, but at Glastonbury it's all about being open minded and prepared to listen to any kind of music as long as it's good music, and the Beautiful South are certainly "good", probably the best at what they do - and they sounded great. The crowd lapped it up.

But the best was left to last. All along I couldn't understand how Skunk Anansie had got the gig of headlining the main stage on the last day. Surely they were not big enough? However they certainly proved themselves worthy, just like Pulp did a few years a go, and put on an absolutely stunning performance.

I just can't wait until next year!

(For the record I also saw Bjorn Again, Barenaked Ladies, Blondie, Gay Dad, Wilco, Hole, Pavement, Eliza Carthy, Hurricane #1, Joe Strummer, Super Furry Animals, Underworld, Dr Didg, Yothu Yindi, Dogstar, The Corrs and Lenny Kravitz)