OK, so most of the time we make grand plans to see this band in that field, then that band in this tent, and come home having missed most of them and not remembering much about any of it at all. But on the rare occasions we’ve got our act together we’ve seen some great performances at festivals. In fact, here’s six of them.
DAVID BYRNE & REI MOMO Central Park 1990
By pure chance I overheard the gig was rescheduled. Now nothing could stop me. The band were awesome. It was hot, most people left. I couldn’t – I was mesmerised and perplexed by my hero. With the band gone David walked to the side of the stage picked up a tape player and a guitar. “Hey, I’ve got a song I wanna play you,” he said. And then he did, to me and a handful of others. Psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est,fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far… (SO)
NIRVANA Reading 1991
This was my first ever festival, and Nirvana (in their pre-‘Nevermind’ days) played in the middle of the afternoon on day one, between Silverfish and Chapterhouse. They were stupidly fun. Their male go-go dancer had ‘GOD IS GAY’ scrawled on his chest, Eugene Kelly sang ‘Molly’s Lips’, Thurston Moore wandered onstage for a bit, and things climaxed when Krist Novoselic threw his bass into Dave Grohl’s kit, leaving Kurdt Kobain (sic) strumming away alone, grinning. Brilliant. Although when Nirvana headlined the following year, I went to watch The Rockingbirds instead. (SH)
ORBITAL Glastonbury 1994
Aside from catching Orbital at the height of their recorded powers, this headline slot became an era-defining moment in the world’s perception of dance music. No longer confined to clubs, this was techno in the big outdoors. While Phil and Paul noodled amidst their keyboard confines with their headlamps bobbing in the midsummer dusk, the Somerset air was thick with repetitive beats for the first time, interspersed with crowd-pleasing Bon Jovi and Belinda Carlisle samples. (NC)
RADIOHEAD Glastonbury 1997
Having seen them play on the ‘Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ tours I knew that the evening was going to be special. Kicking off with ‘Lucky’ as the crowd were pulled into an epic 90-minute set, I prepared myself for some serious pushing and shoving as soon as Radiohead launched into the chorus. This continued as they barraged through two albums worth of golden charms. It got hotter, tighter, sweatier, I had a few fisticuffs – it was brilliant. Despite all this it never really felt as though anyone else was there with me, I was too fixated. (MH)
BON IVER Great Escape 2008
We’d heard the story – heartbroken man moves to log cabin for winter to make an album, alone – but most of the Pressure Point was there having heard no music. But from the off we were all torn to our souls – raw, tender, beautiful. When they asked us to supply the backing vocals to ‘The Wolves’ we sang our hearts out and the feeling of collectively being part of something special was sealed. The most respectful crowd we’ve seen – no fucking talking followed rapturous applause – meant they could finish with an acoustic bonus song from the middle of the crowd. (JK)
THE MAE SHI Great Escape 2009
8-bit E-number pop played by an LA hardcore troupe, spurred on by the previous year’s Horatio’s Bar epic meant expectations were boiling over. However when the support band left the stage 20 minutes before the venue was due to close, it didn’t look good for a repeat performance. Eschewing any changeover, the Mae Shi simply plugged in and flew into their set. Half a song later, most of their number had scaled speaker stacks, the bar or the hands of the convulsing pit – crowd and band intertwined in mid-air rapture. The short-lived ADD abandon was closed by the entire crowd swaddled in ‘The Mae Sheet’, their huge embroidered parachute. (MB)
More Six Of The Best: Click Here6best
WORDS BY MATT BARKER, NICK COQUET, MATT HODSON, STUART HUGGETT, JAMES KENDALL, SALLY OAKENFOLD
PHOTO BY ANDY COOK
