------------------------------------------------------- JULY 4, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: The Scotsman http://www.entertainment.scotsman.com/headlines_specific.cfm/?id=7450 Letters praise Glastonbury By Craig McLean Here's a Z-TO-A of Glastonbury, because my addled brain is still trying to make sense of it all: Z is for The Zutons. Scouse band. Didn't see them. Did notice, though, that Liverpool combos are taking over. The New Tent on Saturday featured consecutive turns from Hokum Clones, The Basement, The Stands and The Bandits. Big coats and La's-type tunes a must. Y is for Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Didn't play. Only significant omission from stellar line-up. (Doing Reading and Leeds Festivals instead.) X is not for Xstacy. The new leisure drug of choice, I was unreliably informed by an over-enthusiastic dancer in the backstage bar, is pure MDMA. One "dabs" this onto one's gums, like a warty old punk speed-head. Nice. W is for Worthy Farm, where it all takes place. Perfect name, given the millions raised for charity every year. Also for The Waterboys, who got to play twice. Why? Is early-1990s-Christian-Celtic stadium-folk the essence of Glastonbury? For farmer-Methodist hippy festival organiser Michael Eavis, perhaps. V is for Vagueness, Field Of Lost: A little glen where one could be married, gamble in a casino, or eat a silver-service dinner while wearing a rented tuxedo. More people raved about the latter than about any band. U is for unbelievable. Why is Moby so popular? T is for tempura. The festival staple that you never eat at any other time in your life. S is sunrise: saw this on Sunday morning, from the stone circle at the top of the site. This is a Glasto-ritual that one is mortally obliged to engage in, no matter how frigid the dawn, no matter how many scary mongers are already up there, huddled under damp bits of cardboard scavenged from empty packs of Stella. R is for REM and Radiohead. The former's Everybody Hurts and latter's Fake Plastic Trees were the most moving moments of whole weekend. Q is for queues. There were fewer of them this year. After seven years of trying - since the Great Mud Years - the organisers have perfected the balance between security and freedom, hippy ideals and business exigencies, life-saving order and life-affirming chaos. Result: the mass of humanity didn't get on one's pip. P is for The Polyphonic Spree. Since I was first awakened to the glories of the Texan gang at T In The Park last summer, they have become the essential festival band. Rocking in smart scarlet robes, they created the perfect hippy-dippy Glastonbury Moment. O is for Orange. Technological phone giant dominating the Glasto landscape with its giant tents and many mobile phone recharge points. Dead handy, though. N is for Noel Gallagher. Walking around backstage, looking more like Parker from Thunderbirds every year. M is for Make Trade Fair. The charity had 60 volunteers onsite, assembling a petition to be presented at the World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun, Mexico, in September. L is for Lemon Jelly. Reports had it that "the Southern Strokes", aka Kings of Leon, drew the biggest crowd to the New Tent. Pants: LJ's juicy-fruit tunes pulled in biblical hordes, many of them fragile caners seeking a metaphorical cuddle to help them make it through the night. Remarkably, it worked. K is for Kate Moss. Hanging out, looking fantastic. J is for Jon Anderson, singer with Yes. He floated on to the One World stage dressed in a floaty kaleidoscope of David Icke-approved colours. PS: Yes were rubbish. I is for irony. How else to explain the appearance of Sugababes on the Sunday afternoon main stage slot normally reserved for legends like Al Green? Their performance was weaker than a hash truffle. But they waggled their bums well, so fair enough. H is for "Hello Sunshine": the weather was tremendous. Also, title of sublime first track on new Super Furry Animals album. G is for the Gorgeous Kate Moss, again. F is for flags. As last year, there were loads in the crowd. There were also many tall, ragged, pinky ones planted backstage, and in the One World field. They fluttered stiffly and magnificently. You can't beat a flag. E is for Ed Chemical Brother. He told me, with no hint of depression, that "dance music's not really where it's at at the moment". D is for The Darkness. Goon-metal loons responsible for weekend's best joke. Singer to crowd: "Gimme a D; Gimme an Arkness." C is for The Coral. Awesome last year, same this year. B is for bogs. They were all right, actually. A is for actors. Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, John Simm, Hans Matheson, Will Mellor and That Chinese Guy Out of State of Play were all backstage. No Keith Allen though. Nonetheless, it was a triumphant Glastonbury. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com