June 29, 2003

Glastonbury : Other Stage (Sunday Afternoon)

Sugarkult completely misjudge the mood, but My Morning Jacket get it just right...

There's mass indifference towards Sugarcult's gawky sugarpunk.. Jimmy Eat Worldcould pull this off, but cruising on Californian autopilot and singing songs in honour of "my psycho-bitch ex-girlfriend" doesn't sit well at Glasto, and nobody's convinced. It's not even clear they know which festival they're playing.

The mood is pushed further out there by My Morning Jacket, who flush out a dose of woozy alt.country. Clucky Americana sets the tone, but it's when they give way into dreamy country wig-outs, brave drum solos and a final song that seems to last for 20 minutes that the Other Field properly drifts off in a musty haze of lazy bliss.

Simple Kid levels things out, however, with a cute-as-buttons display of goofy baseball-capped anti-folk. Clipped and perky, yet supremely chilled, he sets the tone properly for a hazy final day. And it's not even lunchtime.

Yet things are piped down pretty much as soon as they're buoyed up by The Gathering - kind of Clannad with rock moves. Not as bad as it sounds, but hardly inspirational.

10.30am seems a touch early for The Rain Band's boisterous Mancunia, but Sunday Glastonbury needs a slap on the chops to set it off on the last lap, and 'The Runaways' does what's necessary with panache.

Dan Martin