Glastonbury Festival 2013 – at Worthy Farm – Pilton, Sommerset, UK – June 26-30, 2013

The 2013 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in the UK had a power house line-up including musical greats such as The Rolling Stones, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Elvis Costello, P.I.L and many more. The 135,000 tickets were sold out in a record 1 hour and 40 minutes this year. Our UK correspondents Dod and Sally sent us a full report including photos and commentary.

 

We arrived on Tuesday night amongst the usual stream of people entering the car parks to (attempt to) sleep in their car overnight and enter the site as soon as it opens. It seemed like virtually everyone wanted to get in as early as possible. Popular camping areas filled up within the first few hours of the gates opening on Wednesday morning, which left lots of people amazed that they’d got in so early but still had to camp further out.

Soon enough everyone cracked open a beer and toasted their arrival at the greatest show on earth. This year there was no branding (The Brothers bar changed to ‘B Bar’, the Pimms bus reduced to a red bus!). If there were sponsors of any sort then it would be the charities Oxfam, Water Aid and Green Peace.

There’d been a few tweaks – the Dance Village had been renamed Silver Hayes as a nod to the name of the farming fields there, and Arcadia had been moved to near the Other stage. The newly added Blues and Gully stages brought some reggae and blues to the festival, and the Glasto Latino field had salsa dancing lessons and some wonderful South American food.

The main stages didn’t start until the Friday, but there was plenty to keep people occupied until then, with impromptu sets on smaller stages and an opening fire show at the stone circle on the Wednesday.

Over the weekend we were treated to an array of music acts, circus performers, comedians, debates, poetry, alternative therapies and crafts. It would be impossibly to see everything at Glastonbury but that’s the beauty of it.

There is always something going on, and something that you’ve never seen before. For instance on the Sunday a 1:1 scale replica of the Glastonbury Tor was built using cardboard boxes in the circus field. By the kids loo in the Greenpeace field we were treated to ‘poo-etry’. And one my personal favourites – the laughter therapy tent in the healing fields, where guffaws and titters are a plenty!

 

Friday

Artic Monkeys

Back again after their debut 6 years ago these guys proved to be worthy of the headline slot. They kicked off with a new song – ‘Do I Wanna Know’ and followed up with a good set including ‘Fake Tales of San Francisco’, and ‘Teddy Picker’. ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ had everyone dancing and singing along.

 

Beady Eye

Beady Eye were the surprise opener of the other stage. This caused a hoard of bleary eyed revellers to rush over to the Other stage when the recognisable voice of Liam Gallagher drifted over their tents. They seemed to go down well for a Friday morning, with the Oasis songs being the highlight of the set.

 

 

Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee pleased the audience with an immense show, including lasers, smoke machines and flames. He played some newer songs but the ones that went down the best were of course ‘Dance Wiv Me’, ‘Bonkers’ and ‘Going Crazy’.

 

Haim

Haim performed multiple times over the weekend, drawing a fair sized crowd each time and not losing any energy. The sisters had a harder edge to their sound than expected from their recent single. Good voices, good harmonies, and amusing faces from the bass player made for an entertaining set.

 

Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg had quite a country style of voice, which many found grating (he sounded a bit like Vic and Bob taking the piss!). Never the less he drew a fair size of crowd, many of whom thought he was excellent.

 

Professor Green

Professor Green is one of the UK’s hottest rap artists with his socio-political lyrics and drew a good sized crowd to the Pyramid stage. He surprised the audience with a mash up of his hit ‘I Need You Tonight and Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’.

 

Rita Ora

Rita Ora looked great for her Glastonbury debut in a revealing red dress. During her set she threw herself around the stage, flicking her hair and dress tassels.

 

Tom Tom Club

What can you say, it was Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz from one of my favourite ever bands (Talking Heads) in Tom Tom Club.

Tina ran straight on with a huge cheeky grin on her face and started her bass. We were off with ‘Who’s Feelin it’ – Tina was playing her bass, kicking her legs in the air and singing with a huge infectous smile. Meanwhile Chris was playing away on the drums and every now and then singing a lyric or making a noise. ‘Genius of Love’ was played to a huge roar, probably their most famous song, which has been sampled by many other bands.

Saturday

 

Ben Howard

This was the perfect sunshine gig. The field was teeming with people relaxing in the sun listening to Ben Howard’s soothing tones. Drawing a very large crowd, he was obviously amazed and honoured to be there. ‘Keep Your Head Up’ had everyone singing along and Ben was quite overcome at the end.

 

Billy Bragg

Being a Glastonbury veteran Billy had multiple slots over the weekend. He brought his political passions together with his music and charisma to the main stage.

 

Channel 1

Channel One brought along their reggae sound system from London to play dub reggae to the sunny crowd that was dancing along.

 

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello raced through his hits, such as ‘Oliver’s Army’ and ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’. There wasn’t much interaction with the crowd from him and the audience weren’t giving much back, but to be honest it seemed people were just waiting for the Stones later on in the day.

 

Example

Obviously not a fan of the Rolling Stones, Example made various quips against the aging rockers, including telling people if they wanted a good time to stay with him, but if they wanted a shit time to go see the Stones. He put on his usual lively set with hits such as ‘Watch the Sun Come up’ and ‘The Way You Kiss Me’. The young crowd seemed to love his hip hop/rock cross style.

 

Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs

Despite starting their set in the Avalon Café just as the Stones were finishing, the Hobo’s still managed to draw a crowd. These festival favourites belted out classics in their unique‘skiffle punk’ style, featuring bands such as the Clash, Levellers and even a wee tip of the hat to the Stones with ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. Their rendition of ‘Jilted John’ had everyone joining in and soon enough people were up and dancing. It was good to see them do their late night set – ‘Country Boy’ went down a storm (a song full of the ‘c’ word, and we don’t mean country!)

 

Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr pulled a large crowd, possibly out of curiosity to see a member of the Smiths. He did not disappoint, giving a good set of his own songs including ‘Generate Generate’. The biggest cheer of the gig however went up for ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’. This Smiths classic went down a treat, grins all around.

 

Primal Scream

Moving On Up. Bobby Gallespie pranced around the stage in his Mick Jagger esque way. On before Rolling Stones, good reception from crowd as people flocked in for headline act. ‘It’s alright, it’s ok’

 

Public Enemy

No Flavor Flav, couldn’t make it due to ‘immigration issues’, however Chuck D was full of energy and gave it his all. As angry as ever he had a pop at immigration around the world as well as bigging up ‘real’ hip-hop artists. Classics as Fight the Power and Don’t Believe the Hype. and got the crowd involved. Busy even though on the same time as the Stones. 

 

Sunday

 

Deap Valley

Two Californian girls, one on guitar and vocals, the other drummer and backing vocals. Heavy sound, bringing rock to the festival. Very loud but the punters there were lapping it up.

 

Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers brought country and western music to a hot Glastonbury crowd. The country legend (now 74) initially couldn’t get a reaction from the audience when trying to get them to sing along to ‘Ruby don’t Take Your Love To Town’,and said it was the worst sing-a-long he’d ever heard. “They were better in Morocco and they don’t even speak English” he teased.

However, a few more songs in, and by the time he sang what is probably the best country song ever (‘Coward of the County’), the crowd are now singing and dancing along. “Now you want to sing along!” he laughs, and ended up singing ‘Island in the Stream’ for a second time. Only Kenny Rogers could get away with that!

 

Mumford and Sons

An unlikely headline act but people still swarmed to watch. Their folky ‘nice’ tunes had the crowd singing along, grateful for them to be there after bassist Ted Dwane’s blood clot caused the band to cancel all other gigs for this year. They played popular numbers such as ‘The Cave’ and ‘I Will Wait’, as well as ending with a cover of‘A Little Help From My Friends’. Their friends actually did help - as The Vaccines, The Staves and Vampire Weekend came on stage to join in and close the festival.

 

Nick Cave

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds arrive on stage all dressed in black, Nick with a shiny suit. He proceeded to check that the steps from the stage to the pit are there for venturing down later on. He started to sing ‘We Know Who You Are’ in his unique style, hardly showing any emotion until the song ended when he shouted at all the photographers at the front “that’s it, get out, bye bye” and wouldn’t start the next song, Jubilee, until they cleared off. The king of sombre and death ballads then relaxed and put on a great show. The highlight was during ‘Stagger Lee’ when he stood on the barrier at the front of the crowd and sung to a woman in a white dress who looked suitably mesmerised by it all.

 

P.I.L

P.I.L gave the best performance I have seen for a while. A massive crowd had came out to see the ex Sex Pistols front man in his mid afternoon performance. Johnny was pulling faces and waving his arms about, kicking straight off with ‘This is Not a Love Song’, followed by ‘One drop’ off the new album. The crowd were dancing along, they seemed to really like this post punk music, especially ‘Open Up’. I believe they will have a new group of fans after this gig. There were no out bursts from Johnny, the only thing he really said as he left was “Good night Glastonbury, you’re not so corporate after all”.

 

Smashing Pumpkins

Having played Glastonbury many times before the Smashing Pumpkins proved themselves to be worthy of appearing yet again. Their excellent cover of ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie picked up the set and they didn’t let up for the rest of the gig. Their power rock sound of ‘Disarm’,‘Tonight Tonight’, ‘Today’ and ‘Stand Inside Your Love’ (to name just a few) showed us how it’s done.

 

The Congos

I finished the weekend with a late night trip to the Gully stage to see the Congos, who’s album ‘Heat of the Congos’ from 1977 is a must have in any reggae fan’s collection. It was 11.15 at night and their second show of the day, but there was no tiredness in these guys. They had more energy than a lot of the bands I had seen earlier in the day despite them being over 60.

The Congos backing band started playing and the four members of the Congos took front stage with a microphone each. There was great camaraderie between all four guys, who looked like they were having a ball. ‘Children Crying’ was played with all four singers dancing about and swapping microphones. ‘La Bam Bam’ had all their vocals in perfect harmony and sounded superb. Both of these were stand out tracks in the 45 minutes set, which had reggae bass booming out and everyone dancing along. A fitting way to end three days of music.

       

    More photos of the show can be seen HERE

-Dod M.-
Big Wheel Overseas Reporter

 

 

 

 

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Sworn Enemy – Lament – at Blackthorn 51 – Queens, NY

From the moment Lament’s lead singer Jon Scondotto took the stage and instantly threw his mic stand off it, the ”fourth wall” was shattered. Lament was ready to challenge. They were tightly focused and precise. Their second performance in 22 years, they made it count with tight, powerful songs.

 

Their post-hardcore pace was unrelenting as they moved between songs without pause, their energy building. They roared into classics like “INRI” and “Irreversible” and slid new material like “Morse Code” and “Space Above” between established tracks like “New Low” and “Starving You”. 

Scondotto sang with haunted energy, ranging around the stage like an animal. The audience didn’t know what to expect. He crouched in the shadows, he hung his body at the front of the stage and he fluidly jumped down to the audience and approached people before leaping back. Moment to moment, his movements mesmerized the crowd.

The effect was clear. Hesitant at first, Lament had them slam dancing by their last song “L.M.T.” When they left the stage, everyone had become a fan. Expect to see more from Lament this year!

Rolling off their US Tour with Biohazard, Sworn Enemy dominated the stage next. An Abrams tank, lead singer Sal Lococo stationed himself at the front of the stage and shelled the crowd. From the first ballistic note, kids were slam dancing for their lives. Sworn Enemy pounded the club and pulverized earplugs with heavy riffs and dominating vocals. 

The audience feasted on 14 songs such as  “Sworn Enemy”, “As Real As It Gets”, “Scared of the Unknown”, “Destroy” and “No Apologies”. It was insane. A petite woman poised to attack Lococo from the pit. He dropped his mike and let fans sing into it. Bodies flew everywhere. And guitarist Jeff Cummings’ hair did 360s. After the last salvo of “I Hate”, the band thanked their fans and smiles broke out all around the room.  

A haunting performance by Lament and a full body count from Sworn Enemy gave fans what they had been looking for. They had won a war.

         

  More photos of the show can be seen HERE

-Gabriel Barbaro-
Big Wheel Contributor

 

 

 

 

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Show Preview: Black Flag with Good For You – Its Casual – The Goons – at The Vex – Los Angeles, CA – July 14, 2013

For Los Angeles area Black Flag fans summer can’t come soon enough as the cities only Black Flag show is now set in stone with a time, date and place. The time would be 7 pm, the date July 14th and the place would be none other than The Vex in East Los Angeles. Will you be there? If you’re answering with a  “fuck yes” then we look forward to both slamming and singing to our favorite Black Flag classics alongside you and the few hundred lucky fans fortunate enough to get tickets to this upcoming show that will definitely sell out well in advance.

Black Flag is back for 2013 and looking to set things off with a tour that’s got legions of both old school and new school fans talking and a new record due out later in the year that will be the bands first since 1985. Can you believe it? Over a quarter of a century later Black Flag will give the world a brand new album to dig and blast at full volume, many times good things come to those who wait patiently and fans of Black Flag have done just that.

This Black Flag lineup (the only official Black Flag in existence) will feature original guitarist and founding member Greg Ginn as well as Jealous Again’ era vocalist Ron Reyes and drummer Gregory Moore, at the time it is unknown who will handle live bass duties. This will mark Ron’s first time fronting Black Flag live since his departure on May 23rd 1980 where he walked off stage during the bands show at the Fleetwood in Redondo Beach, CA. He was soon replaced by Dez Cadena, 2nd guitarist of Black Flag, drummer of Red Kross and later Misfits 2001 to present.

Ron Reyes is best known for fronting Black Flag during the early 80’s after original vocalists Keith Morris left the band in order to form The Circle Jerks. Black Flag at the time were the scenes largest LA Punk draw and the most notorious one around as well with their shows often ending prematurely due to crowd violence and LAPD interference. Ron’s time fronting Black Flag is best documented in the 1980 Penelope Spheeris film “The Decline of the Western Civilization” where Black Flags performance footage cemented them nationally as one of Americas leading hardcore Punk rock bands. The footage from that time depicts the violent nature of their live show as they perform “White Minority”, “Depression” and “Revenge” to an out of control crowd hell bent on chaotic expression.


Fans who may have missed out on early Black Flag can now experience the closest thing to seeing the bands 1980 incarnation by seeing them this July up close and personal at The Vex. It’s an opportunity any fan would want to take full advantage of as this show is decades in the making! Best of all it’s an All Ages show, so there is no excuse for young Punks not to make this one a show to remember.

Opening the show will be Good For You, a band that features vocals by skate legend Mike Vallely and guitars by the aforementioned Greg Ginn (their debut album is now out on SST Records). Its Casual and The Goons are also on the bill making this a great local Punk bill of epic proportions. This show has the best of both old and new, so what more could you ask for?

 

This is a show NOT to miss as you will want to see Black Flag at the iconic VEX, where lots of early 80's Black Flag shows went down. Tickets for this show are on sale now and you would be wise to get them now before they sell out  http://shows.gitbam.com

 

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

 

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Show Preview: Hootenanny 2013 featuring Social Distortion – Face To Face – Old 97′s and many more – at Oak Canyon Ranch – Irvine, CA – July 6, 2013

The Hootenanny began in 1995, with the idea to put on a concert and classic car show with the main audience being anyone and everyone who was into Rock-A-Billy musical subculture at the time. That year the headliners were: The Cramps, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Blasters, Lee Rocker, Big Sandy, and Mystery Train. 

-Ryan R.-

 Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

 

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The Gears – Dirty Eyes – Lords of Altamont – Long Neck Goose – and The Black Mambas – at Los Globos – Silverlake, CA

The best of Los Angeles' underground Garage/Punk bands gathered at Los Globos last weekend to celebrate and promote the release of Dirty Eyes' new Full length LP. DJ Johnny Witmer kept the energy flowing as he provided a great mix of music between sets.

Black Mambas opened the night, the crowd was just starting to trickle in as they played. It was a shame that more people didn't make it early because The Black Mambas put on a great show. I was glad I rushed there in time to catch their set as they never disappoint.

Long Neck Goose played next as the crowd grew thicker. They played an energetic set, including the songs "Don't Blame Me" and "Paula Paula Please", and got show goers warmed up for Lords of Altamont.

By the time Lords of Altamont came on the room was near full, and for good reason. 

I have heard them on Sirus Satellite's "Underground Garage" station and thought that they sounded cool, but I had no idea about the stage performance that would ensue. 

The spectacle included Go-Go dancers and a flaming keyboard, but aside from the visual aids, the band sounded on key and put on an awesome show.

The belle's of the ball, Dirty Eyes, came up next and provided a great transition from Garage Rock into the Punk portion of the evening. All members were charismatic performers, especially singer Donny Rox with his "In your face" tactics. They held the audience's attention and had them moving on the dance floor through the duration of their set. If you haven't had a chance to check them out live, you should try to catch them next time they play. 

Closing out the evening were Punk veterans, The Gears. They put the house in full Punk mode and it showed as the visibly drunken crowd got rowdier and rowdier! People sang along word for word as they pushed and shoved past each other in the pit. Smiles were in abundance proving that it was a successful night for the Dirty Eyes and everyone else involved!

 

            More photos of the show can be seen HERE

-J.Moncrief-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

 

 

 

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Vans Warped Tour – at The Pomona Fairplex – Pomona, CA

Day two of Warped Tour Pomona was greeted by the hot sun a massive gathering of music fans in attendance from all over Southern California. The set times had changed from the previous day and allowed for fans who attended day one to experience the second day from a different view point. 

For example here is a distinct moment from day two of the Pomona leg of Warped Tour: Though, the Aquabats’ set was essentially the same from the day prior it did bring up a few hilarious and unpredictable moments. Most notable was MC Bat Commander’s statement about Screamo music “We have invented a new style of Screamo called Meow-mo. It’s when you meow from the guttural instinct of your inner darkness cloud,” causing an uproar of laughter and meows from the audience.

Woe Is Me played the Monster Energy stage, a band from Atlanta, GA and are known for their unique Metalcore/Industrial musical style. Woe is Me found immediate success with the release of their debut album “Number[s]” and have since release two more critically acclaimed albums. During their set they played both tracks off of their new EP set to be released soon as well as tracks off of their other albums. Towards the end they played "I Told You Once" to an audience they had just instructed to sit down and finished off their set with a performance of "Vengeance," exclaiming “Thank you Pomona” to the fans in attendance as they exited the stage.

MC Lars, a Stanford graduate who majored in English, played the Spotify Stage at 3:00pm. MC Lars grew up in Oakland, CA and is known for his unique generational view of rapping. His lyrics primarily delving into pop culture references about stuff like music downloading and Super Nintendo© as well as tapping into his educational background as witnessed in his album “The Edgar Allen Poe EP.” He opened up his day two of the Pomona Vans Warped Tour set by exclaiming “I'm MC Lars and we're here to rap for you.” MC Lars set consisted of a performance of “Mr. Raven” with the aid of MC Pickles (a puppet character from his children’s T.V. show that will debut soon). MC Lars then invited everyone in the crowd dressed in “Aquabats gear” to dance on stage while he performed his track “This Gigantic Robot Kills.” MC Lars set finished with three times the amount of audience members he began with, and demonstrated that his Raps were more than capable of bringing the eclectic fan base at Warped Tour to his performance.

Blessthefall played the KIA Soul stage. Founded in 2003 in Phoenix, AZ Blessthefall is a Metalcore band that is set to release a new album entitled “Hollow Bodies” in mid-August. Blessthefalls set opened up with a bass drop and heavy percussion. Beau Bokan (lead vocalist of Blessthefall) then immediately jumped off the stage and sang with his face and microphone placed directly into the crowd towards the front row. Blessthefall played a set worthy of their huge fan base in attendance. They brought an intense and emotional energy to the audience for day two of the Pomona Warped Tour.

A Punk band and Vans Warped Tour veterans based from Blackburn, England, "Middle Finger Salute", took the Ernie Ball Stage at 5:00pm. A three piece guitar and one drummer act they brought a notable energy to a heat exhausted crowd. At the start of their set Adam Marsden (vocalist and guitarist of Middle Finger Salute) brought his microphone stand down to the crowd and played the rest of the bands set from there.

Once Middle Finger Salute finished their set Danny (guitarist and vocalist of Middle Finger Salute) took time to speak with Big Wheel about his band and what they are currently up to aside from touring “We have been playing together since 2005. We started this band because in the town we grew up in there is nothing to do. So we decided that we should start a Punk band and have been playing since. We just released an EP called ‘Disposable Noise’ and have been looking to spread the word about our music to as many people that will listen as well as check out the all of the acts playing this years Warped Tour.”

The Black Dahlia Murder took the Monster energy stage at 6:45pm and was the last band that I was able to watch perform at Vans Warped Tour 2013. The Black Dahlia Murder formed in Waterford, MI in 2001 and is known for their Death-Metal musical style as well as their lighthearted approach to their own personas. With a Facebook© page that has their bands interest as being “Smokin' motherfucking weed and eating motherfucking snacks ALL DAY” The Black Dahlia Murder played a set that was worthy of their critical acclaim. As soon as the band took the stage Trevor Strnad (lead vocalist of The Black Dahlia Murder) immediately stated “We are here to bring you some fat hairy man bodies, some mother fucking testosterone, and play some Death-Metal for all of you here at Warped Tour.” Strnad then took off his shirt to reveal an abdomen tattooed with “Heartburn” and immediately began playing tracks that included “Flies,” “Miasma,” and “Built for Sin.”

Our Staff Photographer captured all the action from that day, here are a few more shots. Click the link below to see over 270 photos of bands kicking ass and the crowd loving it!

       

    More photos of the show can be seen HERE

-Ryan R.-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

 

 

 

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