Saturday 25 June 2011

Bono karaoke

I'm still not sure how I felt about U2. I mean, they didn't put a foot wrong - although if press reports about the protest group being wrestled to the ground by security guards are correct, that's not terribly Glastonbury at all.

I've started to resent famous people holding the mike out into the air and asking the crowd to sing. I'm sure we're supposed to appreciate the gesture, and I can understand that it must be amazing to hear a gazillion people sing the words to a song you've written, but the thing is that if I wanted to sing that song, or wanted to hear someone else sing it, that could happen more or less any time. What I've paid my money for is for you to sing it live, thank you very much.

You don't buy the paper every week, and notice that I've written the headlines and every third paragraph and left the rest of it for you to write. I can't get away with 'well, here's a little number that's done me well over the years... A central Somerset woman is..' and leave it for you lot to finish. Why should pop stars get away with it?

SingalongaBono
So, yeah. I don't know. U2 were note perfect, which is fine, but..I just wasn't feeling it, I guess. I guess I was expecting great things and something innovative and amazing and a great show, and I sort of felt a lot like I was watching it on TV, really...although, yes, probably because I was. For the first few songs, the video screens displayed butterflies, lines, words and all the rest of it and from our spot in the crowd, it was hard to tell if they were actually on stage, or not. It wasn't until someone realised that perhaps having the band on the screen might make a bit more sense, that we realised it wasn't a U2 song being blasted out of the speakers, but that they were actually on stage.

I'm also still not sure why Bono felt the need to introduce The Edge - apparently the 'Merlin' of the band (I presume Bono was King Arthur), who is possibly one of the most identifiable people on the face of the planet.

Bono broke into a random version of Jerusalem, singing about England's green and pleasant lands, and then, of course, the heavens opened, and we all got drenched with sideways rain. He wouldn't have tried Sun Arise, instead?

Still, I'm not a U2 fan really, so I guess I probably wouldn't get too excitable. But then again, I'm not a Biffy fan particularly, and I enjoyed their set a whole bunch more.

My sister's having a bit more luck than I am with the line-up, and she's seen Mumford and Sons, Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats, who she assures me were all brilliant.

Aaaanyway. Flogging Molly tonight. Yes, yes, yes. Can't wait. There's no-one else on my list of people I want to see, so that gives me the day to wander around reasonably aimlessly, before meeting up with the others for drinks later.

It's a drink in potentia.
I've been reliably informed that there are blue skies heading our way (just as well, I'm freezing) so that'll turn the mud into something sticky and terrifying, but I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this heatwave.

Anyway, here's a photo of my breakfast. Mmm.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay how're you eating better than me? You're covered in mud and half-camping =p

The said...

How interesting that your opinion of Bono was shared by other household members here. He spoke to Jo Wiley after on T.V and was thrilled with Glastonbury and the flags and they lay lines and how special everything felt he said he could feel it the drummer said he felt he was so far back and wanted to be closer to the crowd and felt a bit out of it.