FEATURE:
IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie at Glastonbury in 2000/PHOTO CREDIT: Julian Makey/REX/Shutterstock
We All Have a Favourite Set: Looking Ahead to a Classic, Unique Experience
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THERE has been great loss this year…
IMAGE CREDIT: Glastonbury Festival
in terms of festivals and gigs being cancelled. The music industry has suffered a lot, and I think Glastonbury Festival’s cancellation was one of the most heartbreaking. As this year was their fiftieth, many people were looking forward to seeing Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar headlining, alongside a host of brilliant acts. We are being treated to a selecting of Glastonbury sets over the weekend this year’s festival should have taken place. The BBC explains in more detail:
“The BBC is to broadcast classic Glastonbury performances this year in the music festival's absence.
Previous headline sets from Beyoncé, Adele, Coldplay, David Bowie and Jay-Z will be shown on BBC Two and BBC Four.
A new pop-up channel will also appear on BBC iPlayer, which will feature more than 60 historic sets.
This year's festival, which was due to feature Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Sir Paul McCartney, was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 200,000 people, including 135,000 ticket-holders, would have descended on Worthy Farm in Somerset if the festival had gone ahead from 25 to 28 June.
Clara Amfo, Edith Bowman, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne and Mark Radcliffe will host four days of programming across the BBC.
At the centre of the BBC coverage will be three 90-minute programmes on BBC Two, broadcast on Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June.
They will feature performances from Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Dizzee Rascal, Lady Gaga, PJ Harvey, R.E.M. and The Rolling Stones.
Additional programming on BBC Four will feature some of the most memorable acoustic performances filmed in the BBC compound at previous festivals - including Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Kano, Leon Bridges, Patti Smith, Richie Havens and Youssou N'Dour.
The BBC has announced its broadcast plans for the weekend when this year's Glastonbury Festival would have been, with a host of classic sets being made available across TV, radio & online, including Adele, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Coldplay & JAY-Z. Info: https://t.co/vq70418nrX pic.twitter.com/R6G6KfWsJr
— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) May 26, 2020
There was a lot of disappointment when Glastonbury was cancelled, but there was no alternative. Instead of being at Worthy Farm and witnessing a historic festival go down, we can stay safe at home and watch some truly incredible performances. There are some interesting articles that rank the best headline Glastonbury sets ever. I have been looking at UDiscoverMusic’s rundown of the best Glastonbury performances, and it has brought back some memories. I think many people agree David Bowie’s 2000 set at Glastonbury tops the pile; I think Beyoncé’s 2011 headline set and Radiohead’s epic 1997 set are in the top-three. I have selected passages where UDiscoverMusic highlighted these performances:
“Radiohead also turned in sterling Glastonbury performances in 2003 and 2017, but as yet they’ve been unable to beat their 1997 show – a watershed moment in their career, which Michael Eavis himself has described as “the best Glastonbury performance ever”. In 1997, Thom Yorke and company appeared just a fortnight after the release of their landmark third album, OK Computer, and sent the festival audience into raptures with stunning performances of its standout tracks, including ‘Karma Police’, ‘No Surprises’ and a mind-bogglingly intense ‘Paranoid Android’.
Another triumph for pop in the rock arena, Beyoncé’s superbly-paced 2011 set was stuffed with hits including ‘Crazy In Love’, ‘Single Ladies’, ‘Independent Women’, ‘Halo’ and ‘If I Was A Boy’, along with surprise covers of Kings Of Leon’s ‘Sex On Fire’ and Alanis Morrisette’s ‘You Oughta Know’. The star later confessed she’d asked Coldplay’s Chris Martin for a little help with her setlist, but her 90-minute performance was rapturously received and, as she told the BBC’s Jo Whiley afterwards, “I am just so honoured – this is a highlight of my career.”
David Bowie first featured on a Glastonbury bill in 1971, in the festival’s second year. It was then known as the Glastonbury Free Festival and the event was still cultivating its identity. If that low-key appearance has largely been overlooked, the same won’t ever be said for Bowie’s return in 2000: a truly tumultuous event and arguably one of the greatest rock and pop headlining shows ever, wherein the chameleonic star played just about everything of significance from his catalogue, from ‘Wild Is The Wind’ to ‘Ashes To Ashes’, ‘Changes’, ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘“Heroes”’, ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ and so many more. In a nutshell: showmanship, superb pacing and timeless music. His Glastonbury triumph shows exactly why we won’t ever see the likes of him again”.
I have always wondered why we haven’t had access to the full treasure trove of Glastonbury performances, because it would be great to look back at the classics – unless there is a place on the Internet one can access them. I am looking forward to experiencing Glastonbury’s best sets at the end of June, and I think many of us will be able to get together – albeit, at a distance – and celebrate some tremendous highlights. Bowie’s 2000 set will be brilliant to see, but I cannot wait to see what else is on offer. I read on the official Glastonbury Twitter page that loads of acts will be announced as we get closer to the date. Although seeing these beloved artists on the screen is not the same as being at Glastonbury in the flesh, I think the bonanza the BBC are offering is…
NOT a bad compensation!