We covered a bit of the Glastonbury lineup announcement, had our bit about Jay-Z as headliner, even that stupid "upside-down house" tent, but at no point did I hear that an all-star band comprised of those featured on the 23 volumes of the Ethiopiques series would be performing. Not that I would have been able to fly out to England or spend three days in mud/fecal matter-soaked fields, but I would have at least wanted to know, so I could wistfully stare eastward on Saturday dreaming of Mulatu Astatke and his band. I'll get over the pain somehow, but it's some consolation that the act's set is available to watch on BBC's site for a week or so, along with full sets from the Verve, Candi Staton and Massive Attack. [BBC]
Latest by moomintroll: @Clevertrousers: It's O.k... I keep hoping there'll be a surprise Africa Exprez tent at Lolla, but then I remember that Damon Albarn has forgotton Chicago exists...and it would be in the "Facebook Tent" or something lame that Albarn would never more »
London resident James Gostelow, the 25-year-old who achieved minor notoriety when he was punched by Amy Winehouse at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday night, is not mad at the troubled songstress at all. Hey, at least he has the best story of all his friends who went to the festival, right? Gostelow would, however, like to clear up the whole discrepancy over whether or not he was trying to paw Winehouse's cleavage before the attack. He was just trying to get a hat that was flung by someone in the back rows! Why a hat would be worthy of grabbing during a once-in-a-lifetime extra-slurry Winehouse performance is beyond me, unless it was a Hat FM model.
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I'm not sure how I feel about "Katherine Kiss Me," a new song that Franz Ferdinand performed at Glastonbury this weekend. On the one hand, I'm glad to see the band consolidating its strengths (bouncy numbers with raised eyebrows and lyrical come-ons) rather than unleashing some rock opera that proves its real artists bona fides. But the song doesn't add any new twists to make up for its lack of energy, which is especially striking when compared to the band's best material. It's unfair to judge a new song from a live YouTube clip, but still: Are we seeing diminishing returns or an exciting appetizer? [YouTube]
Latest by Chris Molanphy: A mixed bag: I like the hook, but it's definitely "Take Me Out, Pt. 2." Then again, what's good about the thin-sounding live recording is, it sounds like the kind of song that works without excessive production - what I more »
After months of buildup, Jay-Z played his much-discussed headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival last night, and he opened it with a special dedication to Oasis' Noel Gallagher, who had said that Jay was an inappropriate addition to the Glasto bill because it was "built on a tradition of guitar music." Jay strolled out with a guitar, strumming and warbling along to "Wonderwall," last-call-on-a-long-night-style, before breaking into "99 Problems." I think this is a way to tell Gallagher "your move," although I shudder to think what an Oasis cover of "Big Pimpin'" might sound like. (There's a download of his full set from last night here.) [YouTube / HipHopIsRead via madeupmemories]
Latest by imnotthatguyanymore: @tmcmahon2: I think that makes it even more of a "fuck you" to Gallagher. "So, I can't play a guitar or sing. I'm not even gonna have my band play it. I still rock, asshole." He didn't cover Oasis, he more »
Amy Winehouse apparently made it through her set at Glastonbury last night standing, with highlights including her covering "A Message To You Rudy," finally spitting out that gum that she's always chewing during her performances, and calling Kanye West a "cunt" in the middle of one song. (Kanye, naturally, responded right away on his blog, saying that being hated by "Whinehouse" was a sign that he'd really made it and appending a LOL.) But at the end of her set was when things really got real; she jumped offstage and sang while teetering around in front of the crowd, and one fan was so excited by this that he allegedly went in for a quick grope of either her breast or her beehive. Winehouse "thanked" this person with a quick punch (at the :45 mark of the above video), although the BBC is reporting that said concertgoer hasn't pressed charges yet. Well, it takes time to get to the police station from the front row!
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After months of buildup, including rumors of soft ticket sales and Oasis members sniping over whether Jay-Z was an "appropriate" Glastonbury headliner, the festival is finally on the horizon, and organizers are getting ready to roll out the muddy carpet for the hip-hop mogul, who'll headline a bill that also includes Kings Of Leon, Jimmy Cliff, The Verve, and Leonard Cohen. (Amy Winehouse is expected to show up too, despite a recent emphysema diagnosis and hospital visit; she may be on the path to wearing an oxygen mask all the time, but for now she's still as ready to sing as she can be, according to her father. Good looking out, Dad.) Jay, who said of his Glasto gig that he's "never been involved in anything this controversial," has a busy, yet soulless, weekend ahead of him:
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"From the outside 'The House' looks like an ordinary house with a front garden, picket fence and hanging baskets, but inside there is an upside down lounge room, floating 3D imagery and upside down video projections." This could be great or it could be just asking for someone who's had a little too much "fun" outside the tent to cause serious damage to everything in an effort to "make things right again." But that's what insurance is for! [NME / [YouTube]
First Noel Gallagher clucked his tongue at Jay-Z, now Shrek The Third campaigners The Fratellis are grousing about the Kings Of Leon headlining the Pyramid Stage right after their performance. No, the Fratellis don't think they should headline instead, they just think Kings Of Leon isn't cool enough for the honor. Says bassist Barry, "Someone said I didn't like the Kings Of Leon—I actually love them, but I just don't think they should be headlining. Not to say I think we should be headlining, but I don't think the headline acts this year are too good to be honest." Aw, I was hoping to finally hear a Brit admit the Kings Of Leon kinda suck.
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Latest by Bob Loblaw: The Blogger Massive!?! Wow.
"Like a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in sweatpants, with toothless wit
as his only weapon, he feeds off of filthy porn and angry blog
comments...Mothers, lock your doors, because he's left the basement
couch--and he's bringing anything but ROFLs." more »
The Guardian "leaked" most of the Glastonbury lineup this morning, and while there are certainly portions that sound very alluring (especially ignoring the logistical issues of actually traveling to an muddy field in the middle of England), it appears American festivals aren't alone in having an off year.
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As a former headliner of the Glastonbury Festival, Oasis' Noel Gallagher is not happy with this year's lineup, which is headlined by Jay-Z (for now) and apparently suffering from low ticket sales. Why? Well, of course, it's hip-hop's fault! Because it hates melody! Or something like that.
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Registration for tickets to the Glastonbury Festival re-opened today, following relatively sluggish sales since Sunday. In previous years, tickets to the three day British event sold out within hours, but over a fifth of the 137,000 tickets remained unsold after the first day. While some blamed the horrible weather that plagued the Festival over the last three years, others claimed that planned headliner Jay-Z was the cause of the lack of enthusiasm. And you know Hov doesn't appreciate that.
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Latest by Oldboy: They should move it to Midsummer. more »
Confirming earlier speculation, Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis said that Jay-Z would headline this summer's installment of the muddy music festival because he was in the mood to "break with tradition this time and put on something totally different." [BBC]
Rumors that either Kanye West or Jay-Z would be headlining this year's Glastonbury Festival have started to churn after fest head Michael Eavis told the BBC, "I'm putting on a black American headliner, who's terrific." Eavis later hinted that the headliner in question was from New York, which may rule out Kanye, although I'm sure he has a crash pad somewhere in the city. [Guardian]
There are hundreds of pictures from this weekend's Glastonbury Festival on the wires, and the breakdown goes as follows: 90 percent of them are shots of Pete Doherty, and 7 percent are shots of Kate Moss staring at Pete Doherty. Of the remaining images, our favorites include Paul Weller's eyes-wide-shut playing style; Brandon Flowers' hologram-sticker outfit; and Lily Allen's valiant attempt to rescue E.T.More »
This year's Glastonbury Festival, which takes place this weekend in the UK, has tickets that are stamped with the bearer's photo in an effort to sidestep scalpers. What this has resulted in people who can't attend the festival for reasons unrelated to price-gouging attempting to unload their tickets on eBay. The ads all have descriptions of the sellers—brunette with blue eyes, slightly receding hair—attached to them, making the whole enterprise part StubHub, part Nerve. One ad in particular caught our eye, if only because we're thinking that replicating this ID photo will require a very adept glam squad:
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Those of you hoping to make it to this June's Glastonbury Festival—the three-day camp-out concert that will feature sets by the Who, the Killers, and our Northern saviors—had better start begging on Craigslist UK:
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The UK's huger-than-life Glastonbury Festival—which just announced that the Arctic Monkeys and Bjork will be on the bill—is trying to crack down on scalping by using a pre-registration process for tickets and requiring attendees to submit a photo for identification purposes. From the festival's official site:
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Idolator
We covered a bit of the Glastonbury lineup announcement, had our bit about Jay-Z as headliner, even that stupid "upside-down house" tent, but at no point did I hear that an all-star band comprised of those featured on the 23 volumes of the Ethiopiques series would be performing. Not that I would have been able to fly out to England or spend three days in mud/fecal matter-soaked fields, but I would have at least wanted to know, so I could wistfully stare eastward on Saturday dreaming of Mulatu Astatke and his band. I'll get over the pain somehow, but it's some consolation that the act's set is available to watch on BBC's site for a week or so, along with full sets from the Verve, Candi Staton and Massive Attack. [BBC]
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