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NME Festivals Blog 2009 - Festival action, all year round -  Festival action, all year round

By David Moynihan

Posted on 18/06/09 at 08:44:16 am

Glastonbury Festival - Pyramid Stage
Photo: Jason Bryant via Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

There's just a few days until Glastonbury Festival 2009, and remarkably the forecast is looking excellent. And I don't just mean the weather - although even that is looking thrillingly dry, and even - touch wood - rather summery.


How the Glastonbury site looked yesterday (15 June). Pic: Jason Bryant

This time last year Glastonbury was in a dark place. Ticket sales had been sluggish, security levels were rising to terrorist-threat airport standards, the line up had been ridiculed in some quarters - Noel Gallagher famously laying into Jay-Z as a headliner - and the weather was hinting at being a repeat of 2007 where Worthy Farm descended into acres of hellish, muddy quagmire.

This year Glastonbury really feels back on track. The line-up may be a little too middle-aged for some - even Rolf Harris, notorious for pulling some of the biggest crowds ever seen at the event, is returning - but having big hitters like Bruce Springteen, Neil Young and Blur topping the bill is firmly placing the event back in safe hands.


Photo: Jason Bryant

continued...

That's not to say that there aren't exciting new (ok, newer) acts bubbling away on the roster. Fleet Foxes, Kap Bambino, Golden Silvers, We Have Band, Metronomy, Little Boots, The Horrors, Passion Pit, Michachu And The Shapes, Bat For Lashes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bon Iver and The Virgins should all be dragging you and your wellies across the giant site, cider in hand.

The rumour mill is already spinning furiously too: Klaxons, The Libertines, Kanye West, N*E*R*D and even Coldplay have all been mooted as possibles. Klaxons and The Libertines look the most possible of the bunch - they're both certainly in the country around the weekend.


Photo: Jason Bryant via Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

The site's already taking shape and Emily Eavis and chums have been posting photos on the official Glastonbury site, a few of which we've posted here.

If you're going, take a look at the full set of pics on the Glasto site - the blue skies suggest we may actually be in for sunshine and minimal mud. My first Glastonbury was in 1995 and was so hot that by the time Verve (no 'The' in those days, as I recall) and The Charlatans played on the Sunday everyone resembled 'Brits abroad' - with red faces, peeling shoulders, topless sunbathers and t-shirts covering bald heads.

So, who do you want to see perform? And what do you think of the bill? Is it line-up heaven or let-down hell? Post your comments below, or if you're feeling lazy vote for the bands you're excited about in our festivals poll here.

See you there in a few days!

12 comments

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j [Visitor] //June 18 2009 at 13:02
Glastonbury is the best music festival, just such a huge variety of things to do. Can't wait to see Neil Young, is set list from the Isle of Wight is awesome. but i hope the security isn't too tight, sniffer dogs and all that...
Dan [Visitor] //June 18 2009 at 16:39
you know you got a good festival when theres so many band clashes and you wish you could have a magic time watch to go back and watch all the great bands on offer and not miss a thing. i think theres a good mix of old and new,but most importantly great music all around and fun atmosphere,and i hope some sun!!. Im looking forward to neil young,springsteen,blur,kasabian(god forbid the libs arent special guest that would clash with them!),the specials,madness,jones and christie,easy star all stars,golden silvers!!,so many more bands i like that i will miss due to other bands on and the site being so big!!.
James [Visitor] //June 18 2009 at 17:26
I was going to write a scathing article about how wrong this article was but your scene magazines website is so up to date it clears my rant every five or so minutes. So I'll keep it short. MCR and Lostprophits both headlined Download in the past three years. Trivum headlined the Second Stage this year with the same slot as Motley Crue who have sold something like 50 million albums worldwide. MCR, Lostprophits, Trivium, Bullet for my Valentine, Masterdon, Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God are all metal bands who have done exceedingly well over the past ten years. Metal isn't dieing. It'll be around alot longer than 90 percent of bands your poncy magazine covers. Download always draws well and I have had the pleasure of seeing bands grow year after year. The moral of the story is stop writing about something you know nothing about, sort your hair out and go listen to some dubstep
Joe [Visitor] //June 18 2009 at 22:34
I think you need to chill out James
Metal is shit [Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 02:42
Thing is James, most metal is, always has been, and always will be SHIT. MCR, Trivium, Bullet for my Valentine, Masterdon, Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God are all AWFUL bands, who ponce about in tight black jeans wearing make up, moaning about nothing to make money off of insecure kids. Go and wank over Kerrang or something, you fool.
C [Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 03:18
The informative rant from James doesn't really achieve anything execpt justify the argument that the majority of fans of the aforementioned bands are illiterate, blindly arrogant 13 year olds who throw thier parents keyboards at the wall when someone happens to disagree with thier clearly impeccable taste. Next time remember to red the headline of the article before posting a massive and irrelevant rant...or do us all a favour and stick to Kerrang, darling.
james [Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 12:15
ur all gay
Jimbonium [Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 12:42
Balls to the lot of you! Glasto is the bees knees.
Jamie [Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 13:41
I would rather boil my head then go to download, james your a twat and most probably a long haired greasy one at that...bring on Neil Young!!!
[Visitor] //June 19 2009 at 14:40
Dissapointed at the narrow mindedness and stereotyping from both camps in this discussion. Can't people enjoy both genres? I love Glasto-typical acts like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Prodigy, Bat for Lashes, Ladyhawke, Animal Collective etc but I also equally enjoy bands you'd find at Download such as Mastodon, Deftones, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Gojira and Porcupine Tree. Is there really a need for such divides between music fans? EMBRACE YOUR DIFFERENT TASTES.
George [Visitor] //June 22 2009 at 23:38
Jesus people, grow the fuck up. Appreciate other's music tastes and just have a fucking good time. It's Glastonbury for god's sake!
James is a Fag [Visitor] //June 24 2009 at 12:43
James is a cum gargling gimp who wanks his pet hamster off in time to some shitty metal crap

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