Glastonbury 26/6/09 1st Day Reflections (Fleet Foxes, Neil Young, Bloc Party, Friendly Fires etc)

Armchair review:

Glastonbury day 1 looked the pick of the bunch on paper and from the armchair it was Fleet Foxes who stole the show with exquisite harmonies and that pure genre-less clarity that makes them so special. Watch the set here.

 

Friendly Fires were all energy and rolled out the hits (Jump In The Pool, Paris etc) one after the other. Their big challenge now is that after writing so many good songs, can they keep up the momentum as there were a couple of so-so numbers in the set. BBC coverage here

 

Little Boots looked very nervous at first but again has enough good songs to carry it through. Big decision time for her though. Does she take the pop diva route or keep it more cult and electro. I hope for the latter but fear the former.

 

Bloc Party (yawn) - surprised they even made the bill. Am i the only one who's tired of the monotonic basic chord structures and whining voice. For a band that showed so much promise they need a complete re-think.

 

The Maccabees sound so like an indie guitar version of Arcade Fire it's embarrassing but i don't care, until the next AF album it's all we have so no complaints there. Listen to the excellent Can You Give It as an example.

 

Neil Young was pure class and hammered out classics such as Rockin in the Free World. Will go down as one of the best Glastonbury performances ever finishing with  A Day in the Life. Pity we only saw about 4 songs and has to keep changing channels (Come on BBC get your act together). 

 

All in all a great first day. Stage to watch must have been a difficult choice for the punters at Glasto

 

Rating: 4/5