Underworld - review by : Nick Foard

Glastonbury Festival 1999

By eFestivals Newsroom | Published: Fri 9th Jul 1999

Glastonbury Festival 1999

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

Pyramid Stage, Saturday 26th June

As last year's headlining act on the other stage Underworld managed to get thousands of mud laden boots dancing, despite the strain of foot deep water on calf muscles. This year the energy was felt by the most up for it crowd of the weekend. They had, as Karl Hyde pointed out, been promoted to the Pyramid stage to play with the big boys and they lavished the opportunity.

Naturally, the crowd pleaser was there in the form of Born Slippy, although this was in a far more condensed form than the previous years epic, and it felt like a token gesture to all those who had turned up on the basis of that track alone. The real highlights came in stunning renditions of tracks taken from Beaucoup Fish. 'King of Snake', 'Moaner' and 'Kittens' pounded there way through twisted mixes whilst 'Jumbo' brought home the sublime beauty of Underworld's writing.

Throughout, Karl confirmed his place as one of today's most enigmatic stage personas, dancing like a wild animal and basking in the delight of a crowd which was set to explode. There was no 'Rez' as an encore, but the boys can be forgiven. The energy, the visuals, the dancing and the sheer enormity of the music meant this was one of the most breathtaking shows I have ever seen.