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“Oh my gosh are you going to see  Shakira?”
“Actually I'm watching Marina…”

I found plenty of acts to see across the festival as well as those I couldn't due to clashes. As always I had Halvin’s Clashfinder to help me out. I saw a lot more people with one this year – presumably due to a mention on the official site. It's useful for seeing who is on at any given time and whilst it can be used to plan your festival I try not to come up with any firm plans beforehand. Oh I may not have deviated greatly from the rough-in-my-head-plan, but some decisions were made at the very last minute. There  were quite a few instances of seeing an odd song or two from acts when either travelling between stages – or arriving as they were getting towards the end of their set. This included both known (Florence and the Machine, Hot Chip) and unknown (a duo with an acoustic guitar and a cello) acts.

On Thursday I was looking forward to Two Door Cinema Club and they were great. I am however basing this on their Saturday set as their day 2 show was very much like Maximo Park last year, with the crowd stretching out the Queens Head tent and past several food stalls.

Friday aka day 3 (or day 1 if you're watching the TV coverage) saw several great performances including The Courteeners, Vampire Weekend and Lissie.
Lissie was playing the Park Stage and I noticed a few in the crowd initially seemed happy to sit back and chill - but they quickly fell in love with her. I managed to get a couple of videos too.

I've missed the actual coming on stage/hellos but this was the first song she played.

And here is some chatter and the cover she finished her set with. The sound cut off at the end, leaving the crowd to finish the song but it worked quite well.

Also playing The Park on day 3 was a surprise guest. The crowd gathered and no one seemed to have even the slightest idea who was playing. The Strokes? Girls Aloud? It could have been anyone - although as the stage got closer to being set up, the smart money was on Thom Yorke. It was and yet somehow it still came as a surprise. However I soon left. I'm not familiar with his solo stuff and whilst that wouldn't usually be a problem for me, I felt a bit out of place surrounded by an enthusiastic and delighted crowd. As he was later joined by Jonny Greenwood to perform some Radiohead tracks, this was in retrospect a mistake. Less surprising was The Park's day 4 guests: Biffy Clyro. It seems everyone knew this even before the festival started and just in case there was any uncertainty, flags were being given out in the morning promoting their appearance. As I've seen them before (and plan to do so again), I decided to watch something else instead.

I'm disappointed I didn't film more. The problem was that most of the time I found myself either so far away it was pointless trying to get a video, or I was so close that I couldn't. The short clip below of The Bootleg Beatles shows what would typically happen when trying to film.

Still it was an enjoyable festival. Saturday was my favourite of the days with a particularly good run of acts that started with Delphic on the John Peel Stage. I was watching from the side of the tent (getting caught by the sun) and then I moved in for Marina and the Diamonds. At first I thought this might be a mistake but it actually turned out to be cooler inside the tent. I managed to film ‘I Am Not A Robot’ but upon watching it back, the image quality was quite poor (the cap on the right being the best it got). Everyone had seemed quite excited for Shakira, so after the excellent Marina had finished her set I decided to head over to catch the end. However I went via the Other Stage where I found The Cribs (I'd completely forgot they were playing). They were putting on a good show and I ended up staying to the end. I then stayed put, met up with the rest of our group and watched a cracking set from Editors before heading over to the Pyramid stage to watch Muse.

Muse were fantastic. The field was packed as they performed a series of great songs and the crowd were loving it. I was quite a way back but even there everyone sang, jumped and whooped with delight. And then came the encore. Apparently some of the press knew what was coming, but we were clueless. The first roar came when it appeared that the band were coming back on stage, the second noise started as a gasp before morphing into confusion. The Edge was on stage. What? I mean wow! but what's going on? Some more whooping, then he starts to play ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and the crowd roars and there's jumping… no, there's dancing. Muse (feat. The Edge) are playing ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and it is glorious. Here's a brief snippet from my point of view:

Or you could probably find the professionally filmed BBC version on YouTube. After Muse had finished (and Plug In Baby/Knights of Cydonia makes for an excellent finale) we headed off to watch the Kick-Ass movie adaptation at the cinema tent. I'd not seen it… and I still haven't. Just as it was due to start someone mumbled something about a problem and they'd be showing Sherlock Holmes instead. I hadn't seen Sherlock Holmes either so was happy to sit back and watch.

Some time passed and I pressed a button to illuminate the screen of my mobile. Nope, no messages. I hadn't been expecting any but getting caught up in the Glastonbury atmosphere had previously led to delayed responses to text messages (and some missed calls) so I had got into the habit of checking every now and then - just in case. I saw the time: it was just past 2:30 which meant it was now Glastonbury 2010 - day 5. Muse had finished just after midnight so I should have already been aware of this but… day 5? Really? A lot had happened but it didn't feel like this was my fifth day here. Day 5… I'd have to remember to wish Cat a happy birthday if I saw her. What band was I seeing next? Wait… day 5! The last day of the festival. “It's nearly over” I said as part of a rare tweet, not realising then that my Glastonbury 2010 would actually be over a lot sooner than expected. But that was a disappointment yet to come, right then things were good. I was calm, had  a clear mind and felt refreshed. Well inside anyway - outside I was in desperate need of a proper shower. Page             1     2