I was away in Toronto while Glastonbury 2023 revealed itself. As such, I missed the extensive TV coverage that was broadcast by the BBC and I haven’t been inclined to use the red button facility for any catch-up that’s currently available and will be throughout most of July.
I did read about some of the happenings, via the Guardian’s coverage of the festival, not least the enthusiastic reaction to Rick Astley and Blossoms set of Smiths covers. Fair play to the 80s pop icon for paying tribute to one of his favourite bands and for getting the packed crowd involved in a mass sing-a-long, and while I have no great desire to hear how it all sounded, I’m 100% certain that the musicians on the stage will have been more sympathetic to the originals than the lumpen efforts by the various musicians whom Morrissey has deployed during much of his solo career.
It seems that Elton John‘s set was well received, a show that is supposed to bring down his live career here in the UK. He’s since, just the other day, played his final ever gig in an arena in Sweden.
I’m not a huge fan of Elton’s music, but I do admire his longevity and ability to move with the times, and I can’t deny the fact that so much exposure via radio to his hits of the 70s means that I know just about all the words to many of his bangers.
He’s a big fan of Yard Act, one of the bands I latched onto last year, to the extent that he contributed piano and vocals to a re-recording of one of the outstanding tracks from their debut LP, with it being released on vinyl for Record Store Day 2023:-
mp3: Yard Act – 100% Endurance (feat. Elton John)
The b-side of the 7″, which was pressed on orange vinyl, was a cover of one of Elton’s best known songs, dating back to 1971, and the opening track of the album Madman Across The Water:-
mp3: Yard Act – Tiny Dancer
Enjoyable enough stuff, but not enough to make me want to seek out the original.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Festivals. They leave me cold (well, this type of festival). I don’t doubt good bands/artists play them and that they can provide exciting performances but I think I’d rather be almost anywhere else than an event like this. I did catch a small news segment which showed the clear up operation. The litter left by these good-time festival-goers was truly shocking. Glastonbury apparently has litter charities that clean it up, the motto apparently being: dump as much littering shite as you want and to salve our conscience we’ll donate to others who’ll clean up your shite. Social responsibility in action, allegedly.
I thought The Overload album was great, one of the albums of the year, but I think you are being very polite about the Elton cover.
From what I saw on that there iPlayer, Rick and the Blossoms were excellent.
Entirely share flimflam’s antipathy to festivals, but watched a lot of it, due to child pressure. Hated Arctic Monkeys, thought the Astley/Blossoms Smiths set was endearingly heartfelt and good fun, Blondie and Elton rather dismal heritage rock nostalgia from ancient artists way past their best. Daughter enjoyed some of the young hip-hop/pop crossover acts, who had plenty of charisma and character, even if it isn’t really my kind of music. No headliner matched the inventive and provocative style of Kendrick Lamar’s set last year.
I’m not a fan of Elton John, 70s pomp pop/ rock being close to my least favourite type of music (Queen, ELO etc make me nauseous). The main stage line up looked this year like the most mainstream line up you could find anywhere. A very long way from an alternative music festival. I thought Blondie were pretty poor too. Watched the Manics, Warpaint, Young Fathers- all were good. Not sure what the summer festivals are going to do when the heritage rockers have all gone.
I have friends who go every year and say the fields away from the main stage are among the best fun you can have and looking at the clips they send I believe them.
After 5 FYFs, 7 Hootenannys, and 10 Coachellas I am officially done with festivals. I had a great time at most of them because I was with my kids and friends. Nowadays, the bands I want to see most are legacy acts, who are increasingly fewer at modern festivals. And I’m about to turn 60 so I need to sit down!