Festival review by : BadgerBird

Glastonbury Festival 2000

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June 2000
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£89 including booking fee and postage

Daily capacity: 80,000

There is no doubt in anybody's mind that the Glastonbury Festival is the greatest of all the British festivals, possibly even the greatest in the world. So when purchasing my Glastonbury ticket I knew that I was in for one of the best times of my life. I wasn't quite prepared for THE bestest time.

For me Glastonbury truly started Thursday at about 2pm as we struggled to find the drop off point. We must of driven up and down the same 100 metres of road about a million times each time just missing the turning. We soon discovered why, the sign posts were covered by bushes and the entrance was in fact blocked by a bolted gate. But we admitted defeat and jumped out at the side of the road. As we plodded down the country lanes towards the site we could feel the rain in the air but just prayed it would hold off till we had pitched our tent. It did BUT it decided to rain while we were in the toilets, the idea of sheltering in the toilets for the duration of the showers was far too appealing but we braved it and ran back to the tent. This was my biggest fault of the weekend as I then resembled a drowned rat. These downpours meant that yes we did have mud. But to be honest it was the fun sort of mud. The type that you could slip and slide in, but not the type you have to wade through, it was also the type that dried off over night leaving Friday pretty much mud free. The only mud to be found at Glasto after that was the type that the gentlemen punters created near the bushes, thanks lads next year can you please learn how to use the toilet's.

The festival was already in full operation on Thursday the only thing missing was the music acts but come on admit it who actually goes to Glastonbury for just those?? As I wondered round the site I discovered what became my favourite chill out spot of the weekend. Just off the side off the Jazz World field was the cabaret's Flag field, and in the top left hand corner was The Tibetan Pray flag tent organised by Shirley Jones. There were festival revellers both young and old sat in there painting flags expressing their feelings about life and or the festival. The majority that I spotted on the Thursday were praying for good weather, someone certainly answered these prays. By the end of the festival all the flags were strung up outside the tent from huge flag poles and with the backdrop of the last of the festival sun it looked absolutely amazing.

From my favourite chill out spot to my 2 favourite calorie burning areas, Joe Banana's Blanket stall and The Kodak Stage both situated in the main market areas. The Kodak stage was pumping out banging techno 24hrs until the early hours of Monday morning. Joe Banana's on the other hand was a blanket stall by day and magically by night turned into a Mecca for those who didn't want to go to bed after the headliners. I have to admit that dancing between a blanket stall and the toilets did freak me out at first but the mixture of crusty traveller's trance and techno with the occasional serving of cheese had me bouncing off the trees!!! The added bonus of Joe Banana's was it's ingenious location next to the meeting point which double up as the chill out lounge.

After I'd boogied myself silly I wondered up to the stone circle it was now getting light and the sun was just about to make an appearance. Everyone waited in eager anticipation and as it first peaked over the Somerset hills, everyone cheered, banged drums and danced. A truly warming moment at an incredibly cold time. As I wondered back to my tent through the healing fields I heard in the distance Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful world", and at that moment it certainly was.

I woke up Friday morning to the soothing reggae beats of The Wailers. I knew there would be an advantage at some point of camping near the main stage apart from the Flushable loo's. The sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue as they played classics like "Get Up Stand Up" and "Buffalo Soldiers". I even managed to get out of my tent to dance with the other sleepy campers around me. After dozing for the majority of the afternoon waiting for more mates to arrive I wondered down to the dance tent to catch Chicane.

In my opinion the dance tent is much bigger this year but it's possibly just that the lay out has been sorted out. Instead of having the stage at the back it's now at the side, making it just appear so much more roomy.
The "mashed up" crowd danced to the warm up tunes all waiting for Mr Chicane to appear. He opened with his new single "No ordinary morning". The female vocalist's (who ever she was) soothing voice spread throughout the dance tent creating a chilled atmosphere which I certainly needed after the previous night!!!! As he transcended into "Halcyon" the tempo rose and steadily became incredibly uplifting, I swear that the bloke stood next to me started to float, this certainly could've been drug induced but the music most defiantly got him there. Gradually he moved into last summer's Ibiza classic; "Saltwater" or as known by me, the Maid Marion one. You could tell that the crowd adored this track as screams of "CHOON" and day-glo whistles were blown. One girl started to direct the planes that had appeared on the screen's using her glow sticks. Spanish guitars and a flute made an appearance for the next song, the older "Offshore" which has been broadcast to the nations homes via Grandstand and various advertising campaigns. This acted as a much needed rest before the big finale; the number one single "Don't Give Up" much to my disappointment Bryan Adams did not make an appearance but instead he was plastered in an incredibly sickly yellow on the two back screens. Of course the crowd went absolutely mental and rightly so as this is certainly the song that assisting in making Chicane's recent album "Behind the Sun" a top 10 chart topping success. To be honest I was slightly disappointed by Chicane's performance. It only lasted 45 minutes and his repertoire was far too predictable. But saying all that, I still enjoyed myself dancing in the afternoon to Chicane's Balearic Trance.

I decided that an evening hanging out by the Pyramid stage would be a great idea that night. I wasn't counting on it being quite that cold. But I was in for a few surprises as the evening drew to a close. The first was the Counting Crow's melancholic version of Oasis' "Live Forever" never have I heard Oasis sound so darn good. The second was Macy Gray, I was expecting to hear her album relayed in a slightly different order. But in fact what I actually got was a bloody good show!!!! Macy had a fantastic presence on the stage and a superb rapport with the audience. She encourage everyone to get naked, which caused one lad to do a mooney at the camera while on his mates shoulders. She told all the ugly people to shut up and generally had a laugh. The most heart warming moment was certainly when she played "I try". I could barely hear her over everyone else singing. There were groups of people hugging and swaying with their arms linked, a truly beautiful moment which could quite easily bring a tear to the eye, if you're an emotion wreck like me!!!. People had told me that Macy Gray was amazing live and I was reluctant to believe them, but I really should've listened cos she was great.
To be honest the headline act bored me. But everyone else I spoke to said that The Chemical Brothers were amazing. The best position would probably be a lot closer than what I was. I was waiting for mates right at the back by the disabled viewing point, so the Chem bros. were about 17 miles away, the music was irritatingly out of sink with the visuals, and I couldn't see what was going on!!!! Oh yeah and it was bloody cold!!!!!!! I tried to boogie along to "Hey Boy, Hey Girl", "Music: Response" and "Out Of Control" but I ended up sitting on the floor getting smoke in my eye from the surrounding bonfires made of plastic. An early night was certainly what was needed.

I woke up Saturday morning refreshed after such along sleep; surely it's unhealthy to have 10 hours sleep at Glastonbury!! The sun was shining hard, that smell of cooking sun-tan lotion was mincing in the air. More and more flesh was being shown and Asian Dub Foundation were playing down on the Pyramid stage. For one in the afternoon the crowd was exceedingly large. ADF use a mixture of stereotypical Asian rhythms, and 'phat' western drum and bass styled beats. The lyrics are beyond infectious and contain strong political meanings. They entangled songs from their new album "Community Music" and their debut "Rafi's Revenge". They still hold a strong political torch for the Free Satpal Ram campaign, and at the end of their set mentioned about their website where you can sign a petition to free Satpal Ram. They also mentioned some other good causes; Amnesty International, Jubilee 2000 and Drop the Debt. I think this is one of the true beauties of ADF, their complete passion for connecting their music to the issues that they truly believe in. ADF are perfect for a good dance in the sun, and a lot of the crowd followed this advice. The camera men had a bit of a play about, showing close ups of people "chilling" out in the sun smoking spliffs and showing off a few special effects. I think even a non-ADF fan would've enjoyed this set, it's hard not to fall in love with them.

For the run up to Morcheeba I decided to sit outside the dance tent taking in the tunes. I managed to catch Rinocerose, who from what I heard were amazing. Matt Cantor & MC Tenor Fly from the Freestylers, which had the dance tent splitting at it's seams. Artful Dodger which I hid from as soon as I heard that irratating Re-Rewind. Maybe I should've given them the chance but to be honest not in this lifetime!!. I managed to catch a little bit of Bentley Rhythm Ace before I trotted off to the Jazz World Stage for Morcheeba. I was quite happy to sit down and chill at this. I couldn't see the stage as I positioned myself directly behind the mixing desk. (Don't ask me why) I was satisfied just to hear Skye's voice. She seemed pretty stunned at the turn out, and who can blame her when her competition was so strong. They cleverly introduced their new material either side of old classics. There wasn't one moment were I was bored. Their new stuff sounds equally as good as their old stuff if not 10 times better.

After the last song faded away I missioned it up to the Stone circle, and I mean a mission. It seemed that the whole festival was trying to get up there to watch the burning of the wicker man; a truly spectacular sight. I walked back along the old railway line. The glade looked amazing, completely packed with the green laser shining over everyone's heads, I have no idea who was playing but it certainly sounded like someone good. We then went to check out The Tunnel. Which to be honest was a bit of a let down, it was just a tunnel which you walked through, with some classical music playing. The walls were lined with Monged out people which made it slightly difficult to walk through, but at least it was being put to some good use.

When I arrived back at my tent I was slightly alarmed to discover the tent flaps open. But instead of discovering missing belongings, we had an addition. A smelling Scottish man who had obviously stumbled into the wrong tent. Cheapest security guard you can buy, and he left us some scrumpy!!!! Which we chucked away!!!

My Sunday morning wake up call was not appreciated, "Land Of Hope and Glory" was being blasted out of the Pyramid stage by the Yeovil Town Band. I'm sure it was really lovely but it hurt my fragile little mind!!!! Later in the day Jools Holland managed to completely fill the Pyramid field. The weather was absolutely perfect for Jools' summery rhythm and blues.
At last years Glastonbury one of my highlights was watching The Herbaliser at the Jazz world stage, but because of the heat this year I was kept outside of the dance tent during their set. There was a very large crowd forming around the dance tent and to be honest it sounded absolutely amazing, leaving me slightly disappointed. But I managed to burn my nose so there was a positive outcome!!!!!
The rest of the day was spent again chilling outside the dance tent, everything seemed to be about half an hour late so I haven't got a monkey's uncling clue who I was listening to!!! At some point I wondered past the other stage as Muse where playing. They sounded really good not what I was expecting at all. The crowd was also pretty large. I felt really proud of them actually, as they are like me Westcountry folk!!! As I walked away from them down the old railway line, they did a superb cover of Nina Simeon's "Feeling Good". I reckon the Muse lads were feeling pretty good at that moment, since it wasn't long ago they were playing in Exeter's Cavern Club. Which if you knew Exeter at all, is roughly the size of one of those large Eurohike Dome tents!!!!

As the sun started to set Basement Jaxx appeared on the Other Stage. It seemed quite empty but by the sounds of things everyone was over at the Pyramid stage watching David Bowie. Basement Jaxx put on an incredibly lively performance, combining their salsa beated dance music and impressive lighting creating a carnival atmosphere. They played all their classics from their debut album like "Yo-Yo", "Rendez-Vouz", "Red alert" and "Jump 'n' Shout". Unfortunately I didn't get to see the whole of their set as the lure of Mickey Finn, Aphrodite and MC Fearless was just too much to battle with. The dance tent was absolutly packed with masses of sweaty bodies dancing away to the dark Drum 'n Bass. You could feel the energy that Mickey Finn, Aphrodite and MC Fearless imbued into the dance tent. MC Fearless did a fantastic job at working up the audience with his cries of "2 left thumbs" and "Make some noise yourself" and the crowd certainly did make noise. But who could blame them, it was an incredibly powerful set perfect for the end of the festival. MC Fearless counted down the last 10 minutes, which really got the dance tent going off. We all pumped away knowing just how much longer we had to go, this certainly hyped us up no end!! Even at the end of the countdown, they sneaked in one more which MC Fearless dedicated to the dance tent 2000, what a dance tent it was, absolutely amazing.

Back at the tent the traditional cries of "Bollocks" began, but for the first time they were somewhat endearing as they travelled around the whole of the festival site, in a loop of gentle echo's.

The Monday morning of Glastonbury is always the worst come down, but this years we had beautiful sunshine. As the camping fields become increasingly empty I look down at my diary and realise there's only 362 days to go till next year, I can't bloody wait!!!!

review submitted by
BadgerBird