Stipe and stripe. Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
4.20pm The Vulture pod is split in its reaction to REM's Michael Stipe, and the wide blue stripe he habitually paints around his eyes these days. One Vulture insists he "just does it to look a bit weird", while another is sure it's intended to scare children - who, in any case, will be fidgeting through REM's set as they await Snoop Dogg.
It takes a bit of life experience to appreciate the 'EM, of course, and they're acquitting themselves impressively as we speak, with Man on the Moon and Everybody Hurts. Full marks to Stipe, too, for his suit-and-tie combo, and his freaky-bar-mitzvah dancing.
4pm: Stereophonics are used to being greeted by a sea of Welsh flags whenever they play live, but were confronted here by a solitary flag and, rather poignantly, a beermat.
They rose to the occasion, though: Local Boy in the Photograph and Dakota were excellent examples of a band who make most sense on stage. If you've never grasped the point of their bluff Valleysrock, have a look at them in front of a crowd, when their sound acquires a plainspoken majesty.
The Verve's Richard Ashcroft, who has been a virtual recluse for the last few years, supplied the day's first shot of charisma when he duetted with Coldplay on Bitter Sweet Symphony. Interviewed afterwards, he conceded that it had been a "fantastic" moment - which, for Ashcroft, amounts to gushing euphoria.
His glowering presence was, inevitably, a contrast to Chris Martin's housewifely wholesomeness, but wholesomeness is what keeps Coldplay's engine stoked.
Elton John - or "Lieutenant Pigeon", as Jonathan Ross dubbed him - has still got it going on, whatever "it" might be. In this case, it was sparkly versions of Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting and The Bitch is Back. But for quite a few nubiles at the front, the big moment was his duet with Wobbling Pete Doherty, who excelled himself by remembering the words to T-Rex's Children of the Revolution.
"Here's The Boss!" said Jonathan Ross after John's set. The Boss? Was Bruce Springsteen booked? But no - said Boss turned out to be Bob Geldof, who strode on to introduce yet another guest, Bill Gates of Microsoft. Ah - there to give us his very own version of Pink Floyd's Money, no doubt. Er, no. He was there to introduce Dido, and there was a certain symmetry there: Geekguy asking us to give it up for Beigegirl.
Dido did, however, duet with Youssou N'Dour, the first black artist of the day to set foot on stage. And even she couldn't dilute the shivery impact of the beautiful Seven Seconds.
