Glastonbury 2007: rain, rain, everywhere
The Glastonbury festival has led a charmed existence in the last 15 years or so - adored by nearly all, afforded limitless media coverage and spared any criticism whatsoever. Until last year, that is, when more rain than usual and a lineup of "mortgage-rockers" caused something to snap. Festival-goers came home complaining that it just wasn't what it used to be, a member of the Cribs grumbled, "Mainstream indie will kill us all" during their set on the Other Stage and even Michael Eavis conceded that things had got a bit stale.
Nine months later - well, last summer's discontent hasn't turned into a full-scale uprising, but Glasto does seem to be in danger of losing its special relationship with Joe Punter. Discussing it on his Xfm breakfast show yesterday, Alex Zane dismissed this year's headliners (Jay-Z, Kings of Leon and the Verve) as "pants" and the ticket-registration process "inconvenient" (by contrast, he thinks Reading will be "brilliant" because Rage Against the Machine are playing). If you type "Glastonbury backlash" into Google, you'll find plenty of carping about Eavis booking Jay-Z. (He can't win - having picked the rapper in response to complaints that last year's Pyramid headliners, Arctic Monkeys, Killers and the Who, were too predictable, now he's accused of "ruining" the festival by being too out-there.) The eFestivals forum has even voted this year's headliners the second worst in the last 10 years (worst was Coldplay/Stereophonics/Rod Stewart in 2002, which does sound like a threesome you'd do quite a lot to avoid).
But it's not just Glastonbury that's getting stick. In the last couple of days, the papers have run stories about general "festival fatigue," which they say is afflicting people who previously planned whole summers around the holy trinity of tent/bands/rain. There are too many, they're too expensive and the Verve will be at all of them, so fatigued fest-heads are opting for cute boutique events, or even to stay home. (I know one person, though, who won't hear a word of it: my housemate, who's planning his usual round of Glasto/Womad/Cambridge Folk because they let him live out his fantasy of being a crazy hipster among people who don't know that in real life, he's a computer jockey at HM Customs and Excise - and there must be thousands like him, who don't go to festivals for the music but for the chance to be somebody else for a weekend.)
Despite the supposed disenchantment, some festivals have already sold out and Glastonbury tickets will go the instant booking lines open on April 6. There will continue to be festivals for as long as there are people who see them as a three-day respite from the nine-to-five.
