The Glastonbury Aftermath

So it's all over! The dust, the mud, the flags and full-on festival sensations that all sent us crazy in the first place. But what to say now, after the endless hype and speculations over both artists and atmospheres?

Considering on first arrival, I was greeted with the prospect of not being able to get in it was obvious that this year Glastonbury has for the first time since the wall went up in 2001 (quote) 'Stepped up its security'(unquote) this year;.being forced at a hault with no photographic ID even though I am under 18 was an risky but laughbaly typic . Of course all the security could do was pointlessly line up the hundreds of local Sunday ticket holders and awkwardly watch us skip through the gates. Dis-organisation is one of the many ups and downs plus woes and wonders of Glastonbury. It's always something that is going to stick with you in all its glory at such a monumentally mass scaled festival and not surprisingly, with all the mud (clay) that has been expertly stirred over the weekend its bound to come in close contact with you. 

With that all in mind, it made me even more curious and determined to fill even more corners of the festival than beforehand. In 2013, perhaps one of the most glorious Glasto's ever seen, I almost didn't have the chance to be focused on this due to all the favoured music distractions. Just so you can understand, before giving an insight to this year I'll give two lists of firstly, 2013's seen acts and this years. All will be explained so please don't gasp in horror at Ed Sheeran. 

2013	2014
Skream B2B/ Disclosure	Darlia
The Bots	The Subways
Sunns	Superfood
Deap Vally	The 1975
Kenny Rogers	Dolly Parton
Public Image Limited	Ed Sheeran
Of Monsters and Men	The Black Keys
Netsky/B Traits	( Some cool bands on the bandstand)
Smashing Pumpkins	Greenpeace house mixes
The xx	James Blake

As you can see, both lists contrast each other quite significantly. Arguably, yes 2013 was better in terms of the quality and quantity. However by no means does that mean you can simply rule off 2014, no way.

 To kick start the morning, myself and my budding festival friend waddled around to the John Peel Stage, conveniently being close to the entrance; it's always interesting walking in and out of the Sunday morning campsites-only use your imagination.

Bearing in mind it's 11am,  there is a fair-ish crowd for such a time to arrive at Darlia's set. They have half an hour to show of the grungy glitz of newest additions of 'Candyman', 'Dear Diary' and B side 'Pandemonium.' Which, on the whole goes down well. Surprisingly I found the bitter

sweetness of 'Dear Diary' to open up much cleaner live, a little more comfortable than the first on record listen. It has far more than enough hooks to at least attempt a wake up call in the apocalyptic setting, playing straight of the back of Saturday night headlines MGMT. Although I did find 'Napalm' and 'Candyman' a slight deflation in all the expectations, at times Nathan Day overplays the Grunge grump to an extent were it becomes tiresome amongst the bands energy output. But by the conclude where 'Queen Of Hearts' was thrusted out of each stage corner it gave him and the crowd enough satisfaction to pleasure in the smashing of his guitar and was a tremendous clash of the threesome whom ought to use this energy in full. 

7/10

After, I gleefully passed through Silver Hayes, where the sultry air was already gathering for the evening. Both the mains stages, Sonic and WOW looked decrepit of innocence from Fatboy Slim and Breach. But then almost out of the blue, shot up the mighty structure The Other Stage, steadily facing west into the many sunsets witnessed before, The Subways were a perfect welcome to warm it up. The triple pop-punk piece have been hanging around since 2004. And 10 years later they're back to exactly where what put them out there in the first place having won the unsigned bands competition to play on The Other

Stage after getting in contact with Michael Eavis. Once up there I realised the extent of the mud which dominated the arena. But once on stage, the punk threesome launched into a momentous 12am slam of what I just desired, pretty soon the crowd where shouting along to originals  'Oh Yeah' and 'Rock n'Roll Queen' as well as 2011's 'We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time'. And as pop punk bands go this had the rawest thrust of grit and bitter-sweet thrashing from Glastonbury's history. Vocalist/guitarist Billy Lunn proceeded to launch himself into the grateful crowd where I received a thankfully soaking of beer in my hair. As soon as the band were back in one piece they continuously thanked every member for being there in which we all returned in good cause, it was one that you'd be apologetic to miss. 

9/10

Next up, we still had some time to mill around and discover what could truly rock our boat further to capsize after The Subways. I progressed back to the Pyramid Stage where we bumped into Williams Green, an ultimate haven to new music from under the radar to secret headliners Palma Violets to grace its stage. Myself and my friend stumbled into to tent at the rear of the crowd, the tent being around three quarters full. Out of the speakers tumbled "yeah I'm really getting hungry now/Superfood..!/Superfood..!" and yes

well guessed it was Superfood who I was rushing around trying to find the band name in the song previously. For some weird reason I thought they were calling out 'superglue' but that's irrelevant because the rest of my listening was spot on. Superfood truly rocked the (unfortunate) last one and a half songs of their set I was lucky enough to catch. They progress through raw hooks and bridges against Dom Ganderton's triumphant yells and whispers and although I had briefly rode over tracks such as, 'Bubbles' I'd never discovered the sweet, sticky additive that so many in that tent were hungry for. I was delighted in managing to catch a glimpse of their inevitable future rise in the making, which by listening to their newest addition 'Right On Satellite' would be all the more obvious inside its maturing yet anthemic energy. 

9/10. 

Eventually, we did trek back to the Pyramid Stage as before our eyes was a mass pilgrimage towards the arena, for The 1975? unlikely. Obviously it was for the following act in which I saw thousands of cowboy hats and plastic breasts floating past me. After the basic blandness of the alt boy band strutting around to 'Girls' and 'Chocolate' I'll proudly say I had a reassuring rest behind the middle screen to get ready for Dolly Parton. In many ways, I was swept of my feet with a burst of yells and dancing as soon as the howdy met the rowdy of the crowd, 100,000 people dancing all to 'Jolene' and '9 till 5' was the classic, predictable

The Dolly flash mob.

scenario of a Sunday afternoon, her newest single, 'Blue Smoke' taking everyone back to the Deep South depths of country. Surprisingly,  I had actually learnt the entirety of the Glasto Jolene dance which was an Internet sensation and was (sort of) a mass dance-along. It's a weird reason why so many people flocked to Dolly, taking away many stages capacities and the crowd didn't calm down too much afterwards either. Of course her main hits went down incredibly but some material in between wasn't quite as hyped over. However for the set finale bought out Bon Jovi's guitarist Ritchie Sambora and closed the afternoon as every Dolly fan would expect.

 7/10

Looking back at the list, you would see Ed Sheeran. Unfortunately he was my only alternative if I wanted a decent place before the immense set of The Black Keys. As usual, he graced the stage with thousands of flower garland filled teenage girls on their boyfriends shoulders to open with 'You need me I don't need you' where he seems to now be on the rap acoustic legacy, rapping his way through mostly all his similar songs whilst tapping his guitar in time. Originals like 'A Team' and 'Lego House' were a mass- singalong but I always feel like he never progresses with his material live. Number after number all I could notice were the crack heads next to me popping out on the floor in excitement to his new material, which whether you're high or not was all very exaggerated. By the time 'Sing' came along, Sheeran did at least try something new; involving taking of a piece of clothing and swinging it in time got most of the back end crowd off their feet. Once over, everyone was energised for the bluesy wave to sweep over the embarking sunset from worthy farm.

6/10

From the countdown of 10 to 0, the kaleidoscopic twirl from 'Turn Blue's' artwork turned simultaneously on the screens, before realising Carney and Auerbach emerge to break out into 'Dead and Gone'. The crowd are submerged into the brutalist lashing from the enhanced reverb stabbing down the corners of the arena. Not surprisingly, 'Money Maker' and 'Gold On The Ceiling' were the early favourites to send a flowing groove to each individual on their feet. Looking back at their set, both Dan and Patrick are overwhelmingly taken back by the density of their position and it seemingly shows through each gut renching solo and ravaging lick Auerbach hints to the camera. An irresistible dosage had flooded its through by the time the last three tracks were ready in front of the low sun. Despite their most recent record lacking of that craving rawness which we were so used to

The Black Keys truly rocking the Pyramid Satge at 7.00pm

seeing, 'Fever' was an incredibly strong power to radiate out of the band. Yes, 'Got to get Away' was a sight tiresome stretch but when you have 'It's Up To You Now' redeeming itself far grittier than on record, it makes the two almost untouchable by the end. A mighty yell by the crowd came when a twang-ified riff rang out the speakers to produce 'Lonely Boy' and I have to the BBC missed a great opportunity of capturing some of the dancers, myself included. On record this song has a great ability to send you into a unregretful soul filled, hip swinging passion, live it is emphasised far greater to the festivals joy. As a triumphant closer, 'Little Black Submarines' was played in the epic clarity of Dan's acoustic, his vocals whine over the audiences refrain "And everybody knows a broken heart is blind" . With the sun casting the skies into glistening spectrums of amber and yellows, the timing is perfect to burst into a roar of electric guitar to where Patrick blisters out unstoppable beats, accompanying Dans short, stabbing riff to bring the pyramid stage on its knees as the second last slot of 2014. 

9/10

As the evening drew across the festival, we finally left the pyramid stage and began the

Can you spot The Park Stage?

trek up to The Park Stage. After around 40 minutes, walking past some house/bass tents, the greenpeace fields and grabbing some food we'd successfully arrived. The crowd was expansive for The Park, so sitting at the back proved a bit rubbish amongst the mud we had long missed at the pyramid. So a 2 minute extra hike up the hill and past the ribbon tower proved much more rewarding. Even if we were 35 minutes into James Blake's set, once there the warmness embraced you into the unforgettable layers of his blubsteppy ambient wave. Especially up on the hill, where watching each stage form its magic for its own final slot progressed into the night. 'Voyeur' booms across the hillside, a beautified house mix dropping to Blake's pristine vocals before launching into a =n acoustic thud. With only a brief pause, Blake draws out the keyboard to play the synthy slick 'Life Round Here' , Blake achieves on each

record played to lead the listener down another divergent. His sound is profoundly labelled but each conjured to fit its own mood. Such as when 'Retrograde' 'ohhs' its way into the crowd. Effortlessly it claps into the outro, where up by the Glastonbury sign I see flares glistening down almost in time from the pyramid stage, a long way away it seems from the small segment of the festival we are gathered in to witness. As last year with The xx, I could wrap things up with the most indulgent, atmospherically intoxicating set. James Blake is in his own, complete dimension. 

9/10

Looking back, how did it all really pan out? could I possibly compare it to the power of 2013? 
well undeniably I was going to whether I am right or wrong. It seems that yes 2014 was another all out shine of a festival. As ever it promised variety, vitality and enlightenment to all sorts of music and atmospheres. However one thing I would say is that the general balance across the stages wasn't, I feel this year The Pyramid Stage basked in too much glory with the attention, both in the media and on site. Of course the usual hubs for new music were outstanding and were a key experience for many bands futures. But taking a look at The Other Stage, a decent line up for sure but last year-The Smashing Pumpkins and The xx to close affairs,  the stage  had almost donated all its energy to the Pyramid this year. This making the energy plus the attitude of this year strangely and vastly different.

A panoramic from The Park

 So taking 2013 as a 'once in a lifetime' extreme for the festival t is what should be said, this year shone out in its full colours but after such a moments last,  it would be hard to inflate itself beyond. I count this year however to be completely valid, discovering some new live powers as well as taking myself to new boundaries within the site was utterly visionary and gratifying. The Park is certainly an underestimated gem. Next year I'm still determined for a whole weekend, looking from the hillside really gave me the perspective of just how mind- blowingly crucial Glastonbury is, not just for Somerset or the UK but for the global music evolution too. 

All photos courtesy of Stella Cooper (myself) and Sue Pegrum.