Glastonbury 2013 Review

By Amelia Harvey / July 3, 2013

Day 3

Acts on the Sunday have a hard time following the triumphant end to the Pyramid the night before. Swedish folk outfit First Aid Kit match the sunshine on the Pyramid stage but Rufus Wainwright does not continue this tradition, taking away his camp carnival his set is a rather morbid affair. Kenny Rogers Sunday sing along slot is surprisingly crowded, his laid back charm makes the crooning much more appealing. Vampire Weekends joyful indie pop rush is what BBC montages are made of, the likes of Hannah Hunt fails to ignite spirits like A Punk and Cousins do. Tom Odell may be getting stick for being too nice and non-offensive but his set (he performed just after learning of his number one album) is full of honky tonk piano and is reminiscent of a young Elton John. Jessie Wares performance oozes class and elegance yet her music fails to inspire. Tyler The Creators collaborator Earl Sweatshirt doesnt turn up so Tyler is left to work the crowd solo. Ever the consummate performer his controversial words seem a lot tamer than his reputation portrays. Also a lot tamer than expected is John Lydon (formally Rotten)s Public Image Limited who get a heros welcome on The Others Stage, yet its hard to feel sad at the mess this once legendary punk figure has become. Of Monsters and Men's Icelandic folk comes across a little monotonous while The Editors leave you wanting more with a superb set in which they showcase their new track. Cult demi-god Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds brings his intense other world to the Pyramid, its terrify, its theatrical but its brilliant. He even serenades a Kate Bush lookalike in the crowd with his psychedelic space rock that borders on cabaret.

In the stupidest clash of the weekend fellow cult weirdo Billy Corgan and his Smashing Pumpkins limp their way through their 16 song set. You forget how many great songs they have had like the less theatrical Tonight Tonight, a fantastically loud Bullet With Butterfly wings which goes down as the weekends best rock moment, and a brilliant cover of Bowies Space Oddity. The XXs intense serious sounds may have been more suited to a tent rather than The Other Stage, the lack of big hits makes this a set of ups and downs (but one with more ups and downs). It was unsure Mumford and Sons would make it after bassist Ted Dwanes brain surgery but they are here and they are here for a party. Everyone who may have thought the folk outfit couldnt end the weekend with a bang but they were wrong. Every aspirational chorus is sung word for word and the instrumental solos sound a thousand times more dynamic here than on record. Its a lot less of a hoedown at a county fair and a lot more like a stadium folk rock band. It could end anticlimactic but Marcus and co brings out The Staves, First Aid Kit, Vaccines and Vampire Weekend for a sing a long for The Beatles A little help from my friends, as they all exit the stage you could be forgiven for thinking it was 1971 again. So there was now Bowie, no Gaga, no Skrillex and no Daft Punk like the grapevine may have talked about but there was an incredible amount of good music. See you next year Glastonbury.