It's fast becoming a seventies summer - without neither flares nor a flowery shirt in sight.
No, this is the summer of the seventy-something singing superstar, with a whole host of big names defying music tradition that pop music is the domain of rebellious youngsters.
On Thursday and Friday nights, Rod Stewart, age 78, is asking crowds at Edinburgh Castle if they think he’s sexy.
Over in Hull on Thursday night, The Who - Roger Daltrey, age 79, and Pete Townshend, age 78, - were talking about their generation, who are still dominating arenas and stadiums around the country.
Again last night in London’s Hyde Park Bruce Springsteen, age 73, bossed it for hours, and he’ll be back doing the same on Saturday, sandwiching a gig on Friday by Billy Joel, age 74. One of Billy’s guests will be Darryl Hall, aged 76.
Grace Jones, age 75, went down a storm at the Love Supreme Jazz Festival, in Lewes last weekend, and she’ll be back in Macc - at the Bluedot Festival in Macclesfield on Jul 20 and at nearby Jodrell Bank three days later.
The passing years don’t mean Iggy Pop, age 76, wears any more clothes on stage - topless as he performed at London’s Dog Day Afternoon Festival last Saturday.
There he was joined by Blondie, led by singer Debbie Harry - who turned 78 this week.
This was after the Atomic band were among the septuguarian stars at Glastonbury last month.
Cat Stevens, age 74, sang Morning Has Broken, while Elton John, age 76, finished off proceedings with a record breaking headline performance on the Sunday night. He, at least, is supposed to be finally hanging up his many hats when his farewell tour finishes in Sweden tomorrow.
Even Cliff Richard, aged 82, who sang about The Young Ones, is back on the road this November.
And they’re all appearing live, not taking the lucrative Abba, combined age 304, hologram approach.
It’s lovely these pop veterans have a nice hobby in their golden years and the fans can see them in action.... but where are all the young bucks who can’t give these old timers a run for their money?
And we’re talking A LOT of money.
A thing of beauty... if a bit less booty
by Stuart Maconie, radio DJ, aged 62
We all say daft things when we’re young. Most stay buried in teenage diaries. But when the youthful Pete Townsend said (via the rasp of Roger Daltrey) “I hope I die before I get old”, this adolescent howl was preserved until, well until Pete and Roger got old.
My Generation remains one of the great British rock anthems, still crackling with bravura belief in the power of youth. The Who will doubtless blast it out on every night of their current tour at the London 02 arena and beyond. And The Who’s generation are very much in control of the live music agenda right now.
Elton John, Cat Stevens and Paul McCartney were highlights and headliners of the last two Glastonbury’s. Grace Jones tops Bluedot at Jodrell Bank. Even the whippersnappers of Britpop, Pulp and Blur, both playing stadium shows this summer, are not far from their Senior Railcard.
There are many reasons for this demographic shift. At several hundred pounds a pop, most teenagers have as much chance of getting on the housing ladder as they have of getting to the main stages, unless of course they go with mum and dad, which is why festivals have become the musical (and more fun) equivalent of the family wet weekend on Anglesey.
As pop music ages, so do the practitioners but without any dramatic decline in ability. The voices may get drop a few octaves (Axl Rose at ‘Glasto’) and the shaking of booty more restrained (Elton at same) but the songs and playing remain fresh.
An octogenarian Cruyff or Nadal is bound to be off the pace. A 70-year-old Boss or an 80-year-old Macca is still at or near the top of their game.
If you’ve seen any Pixar or Dreamworks animated movie, you’ll know they rely on the classic canon of pop. Thus my six-year-old grandson’s favourite bands are Earth Wind and Fire and The Beatles. (He was baffled though at Elton’s lockdown al fresco YouTube rendition of I’m Still Standing, a fabulously incomprehensible viral sensation).
Then there’s the advent of streaming which has revolutionised how we enjoy music. ‘Genre’ and ‘scene’ now mean far less to kids than hearing great music from any era, available at the tap of a phone. Spotify is far more powerful than the NME ever was.
Perhaps even more significantly than their vintage, the final show of the Who tour will be at the Royal Sandringham Estate. As he’s only just got the top job, I doubt if we’ll be hearing a voice from inside singing “One hopes one dies before one gets old actually…”
Old-school headliners Tik us off
By Serena Richards, aged 22
Elton John surely felt the love as he headlined Glastonbury festival. But I’m not the biggest Elton John fan, and most millennials probably aren’t either.
I only know two Elton songs - one being Can You Feel The Love Tonight because I love Disney’s Lion King.
Blondie were at Glastonbury too and Cat Stevens. And while I know what they’ve done for music, surely it’s time we give a chance to newer, younger artists to grab the limelight.
Over 70% of people who attend Glastonbury are between 25-34, meaning they don’t even listen to music the same way people did when the likes of Elton John and Debbie Harry were in their prime.
Elton only just about made it into the top 50 most streamed artists on Spotify - a music app almost every young person uses.
Long gone are the days when people had to browse through CDs and albums to choose a track. All we have to do now is choose our favourite songs on our phones to stream it, which takes less than five seconds and then we’re listening to the hits of the day.
If you’re ever out of the loop - even for a day, and don’t know what music video or song is trending, all you have to do is go on YouTube to find a list of what’s trending at your fingertips.
Like British rappers Dave and Central Cee’s recent hit Sprinter, which broke records for 13.4 million streams in its first week.
Or, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spices hit song Barbie World, a remix of Aqua’s 25 year old Barbie Girl, for the soon to be released Barbie movie.
They’ve made a pink themed video, where the two artists rap on a jet ski - and that’s what I want to see on the stage. A crazy music video brought to life, and then sing along to the catchy lyrics we’re ashamed to know all the words to.
Summer is the time when music for young people comes alive. For my generation TikTok has influenced music videos so most songs come with a slightly annoying dance now. But it’s these dances that we enjoy the most when we’re outside. It’s how we express our inner Beyonce moves, and rap the fastest with our phones recording the whole thing to cringe about the next day.
Move over Elton, the years are tiktokking on and it’s our time now.
