The day started at the Pyramid stage, where we caught the second half of an act I'd never heard of. Fishermen's Friends are 10 middle-aged Cornishmen, who seem to predominantly sing traditional songs and sea shanties. It was clear that they attracted fans mainly from that area, as there were many Cornwall flags around us. They were very good, they included a version of Sloop John B after a very touching song about a Cornishman moving away to Australia to find work. The main reason we'd gone down to the stage so early was to catch The Low Anthem. I've been a fan of theirs since their second album, Oh, My God, Charlie Darwin. They didn't play several of my favourite songs and the heat made it difficult to enjoy them as thoroughly as I'd wished. Nevertheless, they were still impressive - especially in the fact that all 4 members of the band are talented multi-instrumentalists.
From there, we decided to seek refuge from the heat for a while before we trekked to the Other Stage for Noisettes. They bravely opened with best-known single Don't Upset The Rhythm. I can't think of many who are a better frontperson than the sublime Shingai Shoniwa. She put on an excellent show, engaging superbly with the crowd, most of whom seemed to be quite in love with her. I can't blame them. The highlight of the set for me was Don't Give Up.
We managed to find shade for our next act - as Dan le sac Vs. Scroobius Pip were playing in the Oxylers in West tent. I was unsure how they would come across live but my hopes were high. Their first album, Angles, is one of my favourite records of recent years and their follow-up, The Logic of Chance has its merits too. They were just superb, a real highlight of the festival. If you've never seen them live then I urge you to do so.
We then finally made our first trek up to the top of the hill in The Park. In the warm weather, it was actually quite tricky and I'd have possibly preferred to have attempted it in the several inches of mud we'd been dealing with for more of the festival. It was well worth it, we sat admiring the spectacular view while the music of The Bees gently floated across from the Park Stage.
View from The Park
Next up was the excellent John Grant. His début solo album, Queen of Denmark was one of the highlights of last year. An intensely personal record, it managed to be brutally honest, hilariously funny and extremely angry in parts. I saw him a few months earlier in very different surroundings at the intimate setting of the Royal Northern College of Music. He was probably not quite as good this time, and failed to really engage the smallish crowd.
We managed to catch punk poet John Cooper Clarke for what was a typically entertaining performance. I think I may have preferred more actually poetry and less jokes and set-up but I can't really complain - he was good.
I don't really know what to say about the last act we saw - Beyoncé. Her music is not really my kind of music, but there are few who do it better than she does. She genuinely enthralled the crowd and I loved how overwhelmed she seemed to be by the whole experience. If Glastonbury can have that effect on someone as huge as Beyoncé, I think it proves that it is truly magical. I'm not sure about her version of Sex On Fire though, a bad cover of a terrible song.
I could go on for ages and ages about how fantastic Glastonbury is but I'm not going to. I'll just say this - see you in there in 2013.
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