As full as the fields seemed on my first day, it was nothing compared to the sights and clamour of the next morning. Clearly, lots of people had arrived during the night - tents as far as the eye could see:
And, whilst we might be stuck in the middle of nowhere, we were still able to grab a decent coffee and a copy of the Saturday Guardian before finding yet more organic food.
Thus well-supplied for the evening, we got to the main stage just as the sunshine and our camping buddies arrived. What a happy bunch:
First up were Crowded House. Having missed their December concert last year, I was stoked to see them again. And, even though the early afternoon time slot indicated they might not be as popular as the other acts, I thought their years of performing experience showed in a polished set that up-and-coming acts might learn from.
It was a nice piece of home to see Neil Finn on the big screen:
And it was really cool to see tens of Australian and New Zealand flags waving along to the songs. Most of the English people knew a few tunes as well, so it was a vocal and good humoured audience to match the fun being had on stage.
(In fact, a good example of the humour can be found on this video, which I have mainly loaded because you can see Lucy on the right of your screen with her New Zealand flag at about 41 seconds in.)
And all this fun isn't just for left-leaning wannabes and face-painted flower babies. Some old hippies get into it as well:
I passed on the opportunity to see James Blunt in favour of more exploring, and some merchandise buying. However, we made sure to come back in time to see Amy Winehouse.
As with thegossip, I have wanted to see Amy live for ages. Even though it is hardly the ideal venue for her, it was still exciting. So much has been said about her in the past few months it was considered unlikely she'd be well enough to show up. But, she did:
Her first few songs were really well done. However, soon enough whatever she was sipping got the better of her and the changes between songs turned into incoherent ramblings.
For the finale, she decided to do a Beth Ditto, and go into the crowd. Of course, controversy is never far behind, so she ended up allegedly punching someone in the face. Even from just the video screens you could see they probably deserved it, as the crowd was getting very possesive. But of course, it meant her minders were keen to get her off-site as fast as they could once she finished singing.
Which left it all up to Jay-Z to finish the night out with a bang....
His show began with a video taking the mickey out of the controversy. It made me feel foolish for being one of those who had thought he was the wrong choice for headlining, and I have to say that coming out singing the most famous song of his biggest detractor in a near-perfect imitation of his style was absolute genius.
From there, he burst into a light and sound extravaganza that was awesome. It was the closest the farm could come to stadium rocking, and I thrilled at the power of it. I couldn't help thinking this was the only time I'd probably do a hiphop concert, and got quite enthusiastic:
Unfortunately, his next song was 99 problems (but a bitch ain't one), so transition from genius to sexist only took five minutes:
Sigh.
And from there it descended into standard songs (and video images as big as billboards) demeaning women as bitches and hos and skanky ornaments. This was a real shame, as Jay-Z's talent is undeniable; he performed a five minute spoken word piece about Barack Obama that was better than anything I can think of- and led into a great song remixing Bangra beats with New Jersey rhymes. But, I just thought he picked the wrong songs for the friendly, peace and equality-loving environment the festival tries to encourage.
His final song was Lucy's favourite, fittingly called Encore, and we were half hoping Linkin Park might come out to perform with him. Sadly, it was not to be, but it was still a great finale. So, overall, if he had just confined his reportoire to the non-sexist suff I think I would have been a new convert!
It was good to be able to discuss my opinion with others who had been there. I think I was in the minority, but I am pleased to see the Festival organisers say they are stepping back from hiphop for next year. Lots of other hiphop was on show (such a Santagold, Battles and Dizzee Rascal), so if they just mean not giving the main stage to the mainstream stuff full of sexism, then I am all for it!
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