It's day two at Glastonbury, but the first real day of music. U2 are headlining, but there's plenty more besides. Follow it live here
Good morning, and welcome to the Guardian's live coverage of Glastonbury 2011, brought to you from a barren-looking portable building backstage.
We'll have the latest from the first day of music, with our reporters roving around the site. The sun is shining, and spirits are highish, although the rain forecast for later could put paid to that.
Coming up, we'll have a little review of The Master Musicians of Joujouka, who are about to kick things off at the pyramid, and a general multimedia extravaganza.
If you fancy getting involved, then why not tweet us @guardianmusic and, if you're down on the site and up to reviewing a few acts, tweet us your thoughts using the hashtag #gmreview. You can also send your best Glastonbury pictures to our Glastonbury 2011 Flickr group.
Caspar Llewellyn Smith, the Guardian's head of music, has braved the mud to report from the Pyramid stage, where "there is grass".
The sun is shining and 10 Master Musicians of Joujouka are wailing away to kick off the music. Man beside me: "Fantastic, they should leave this lot on all day. Get the whole crowd tranced out."
Weather update: it's sunny. But clouds are looming. The Met Office reckon it's going to rain in an hour or so, which will be great. The muddy conditions underfoot have not been helped by a four-way welly mix-up among Guardian colleagues last night, which has still not been resolved and has exacerbated my sore toe.
But never mind about that. Lots of tweeting on the #glasto hashtag, including @NessRivet, who has offered Glastonbury-goer @w00k3 a tantalising prospect upon their return.
@NessRivet @w00k3 hey dude hope you have a cracking #glasto just wondering if you could give me a hand with some of the coursework when you're back.
In the spirit of crowd sourcing and open journalism, if anyone has a tin opener and some dry shampoo, do you fancy bringing it to the press area? They won't be used together.
Sarah Phillips has been out mingling with the real people, and met this lovely bunch ? the Horgan family from Sussex ? who are camping near the Pyramid Stage
Dad Wayne, 45, is a veteran of the festival ("it was much better in the 80s, much freer and less commercial"), and has brought along the rest of the family, wife Vicky, 38, and children Soraya, 20, and Paddy, 16, for the first time. They arrived at midday on Wednesday and bagged the only decent spot they could find; it took eight hours to complete multiple journeys back to the car to set up camp properly.
Last night they consumed 24 ProPlus tablets between them to stay awake. Paddy wore a giant tiger suit and walked around with a sign saying free hugs. ("I got a lot of hugs.") They partied close to where they were camping at the Beat Hotel Bar, which they highly recommend, then came back and despite the noise (and the caffeine tablets), managed to sleep well. They are looking forward to Fatboy Slim, Mumford and Sons and Biffy Clyro.
Henry Barnes was up early this morning to assess the crowds:
Anja, from Dortmund, Germany, has been stood in front of the Pyramid Stage since 6am. She'll be standing there for another 12 hours before the band she's waiting for - U2 - kick off. "It's not too bad", she says. "I don't drink too much, so I don't have to pee". Anja's been a fan of Bono and co. since 2005, but the real superfan in the family is her boyfriend, who has seen them "around 700 times" since 1978. "They know he's here," says Anja. "So Bono will come down and say hello".
This guy looks a hoot.
Caspar's back in the office after his roam, here's his verdict so far:
So the music has started, with the Master Musicians of Joujoujka (Sufi trance musicians from Morocco most famous for their connections with the Beat Generation and Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones) on the Pyramid facing off against Chipmunk (rapper from Tottenham, north London responsible for hits such as Oopsy Daisy) on the Other stage.
In the former's favour: because the space in front of the Pyramid was protected until last night, right now, you can lie on real actual grass, quite close to the stage, and let their fife and pipe wailing wash over you - which is quite bracing, really, after a late-ish night yomping around the Dance areas .
The 10 man ensemble look immaculate, with barely a speck of mud on their slipper shoes. And then they bring on their Bez - a gentleman with a enormous moustache, dressed in a bearskin, waving some foliage around, as if he were also impersonating another act playing the Pyramid later, Morrissey with his gladioli.
But ... trek round past the coffee and bacon buttie stalls to the Other stage and it's rammed by comparison, with Chipmunk overcoming teething technical troubles to really work the crowd: hands are waving, the youth are singing along, the older generation who look like they're not necessarily conversant with his oeuvre are grinning and... we're up and running.
Here's some more of Sarah Phillips's happy campers...
Angela Boschen, 37, is at the festival for the first time. But she nearly didn't make it because there was an ash cloud over Melbourne where she is from and flying out of earlier this week. She worried she might not make it, but has, albeit a day late, and that meant missing a ride with her friends and having an epic journey by bus instead. She is amazed by the size of the site ("it's amazing") and is very much looking forward to exploring the Green Fields, and having a well-deserved massage ("and some mung beans!" as her friend Rebecca Parlen, 36, from London says.) Their friend Tristan Dowden, 32, is a local, and they had a big night on Wednesday at a BBQ in Pilton, so last night night was quite restrained. They will be raving it up at Primal Scream tonight.
Why not check out the Music Weekly podcast ? day one of four Glastonbury specials?
Audio treats include Rosie Swash going walkabout in Strummerville, and a live performance by Emmy the Great, who plays the Oxlyers In West stage today.
Paul Lewis has been taking a looking at Glastonbury's political facet, which has turned into a bit of a 2011 theme since Michael Eavis predicted the festival would return to its radical heyday.
To add to the mix, the media - tired of mud stories - has been getting excited at the prospect of a U2's headline set being disrupted tonight by tax avoidance protesters, Art Uncut. Sky News reckons Michael Eavis isn't supporting the stunt, though I suspect he's not averse to a bit of action.
I've had a sneak preview of what the activists, who are camped up near the Stone Circle, are planning. I'm sworn to secrecy, but suffice to say I don't think Bono needs to worry that much. Expect hot air (literal and metaphorical) and perhaps a bit of word play too, but blink and you might miss it.
Somewhat more substantial is the Greenpeace Cowshed, which is new this year. A sound studio made of straw bales, it aims to rekindle the art of protest song, and anyone can turn-up to audition to share a stage with the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Asian Dub Foundation, Stornoway and Billy Bragg. It is an amazing set-up there (straw does make for great acoustics, it seems) and you can follow them on Twitter at @cowshedglasto.
Update from Caspar...
Dorian Lynskey is the author of this brilliant Prince interview in today's Film&Music; he's just arrived on site and says that the purple fellah assured him he 100 per cent won't be a surprise guest at the festival...
The latest rumour for that kind of thing? Radiohead playing the King of Limbs in its entirety or Kings of Leon...
John Domokos and Christian Bennett were out and about yesterday getting punters ? and policemen ? to sum up Glastonbury in three words. Here's the video:-
Chipmunk has tweeted about the show he's just played. What did he think?
@ChipmunkArtist: "#GLASTO was HAAAAM!!!!"
Hey up. Glastonbury are only running their own bloody live blog.
The festival team are also producing their own daily newspaper ? the Glastonbury firelighter ? for the first time this year. You can read today's in pdf format here.
The intrepid Henry Barnes has been out meeting the crowd at the Pyramid Stage. Here's what birthday boy Alfie thought of Metronomy, who were second up.
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We've got a playlist anticipating the best music today thanks to our friends at Spotify, which you can find here.
The bad news is that the sky is turning ugly. The good news: I've just had some chips.
I've just spoken to John Hammond, forecaster at the Met Office, regarding the dreary Glastonbury skies.
The proper rain will kick in at about 4-5pm, John said.
"It'll be light and patchy to start, then heavier stuff will move in through the evening. Towards 4-5pm there'll be more rain moving in, and it'll be set in for much of the evening."
John said there will be some heavy rain, but it will be fairly patchy. However from tomorrow morning onwards the south west should see soaring temperatures:
"After a grey start it'll brighten, with warm sunshine," John said. Temperatures will be around 22-23C on Saturday and "possibly up to 26C on Sunday".
"The best weather will be on Sunday, it'll be a fitting way to finish," John said. Amen to that.
Football kicker Wayne Rooney is apparently on his way to Glastonbury... Coleen has been tweeting pictures of wellies, and PA reckon that "unlike revellers roughing it at Worthy Farm in muddy tents the celebrity couple will receive VIP treatment at the Pilton site".
The Rooneys "are believed to have booked a motorhome", apparently.
Caspar writes:
In yesterday's liveblog, I mentioned nipping up to the Green Fields and hearing some grumblings of discontent about the way the festival is being run now. In particular, I met a gentleman called Sunbird, originally from Dorset but a resident of Glastonbury town for the last six years. In previous years, he's run the EarthHeart Cafe in the Green Fields, but claimed that he'd been denied a pitch this year by the management of that area of the site for "political" reasons. (So instead he's just selling "elixirs and potions" here this time round.) His wider criticism of the festival was that - in his opinion - ever since music promoters Festival Republic took on the job of managing the logistics and security in 2002 (taking a 40 per cent stake in the festival management company) it's become much more corporate and life for independent traders like him has become tougher.
"The whole thing has become a bit commercial, unfortunately," Sunbird told me. "There used to be lots of real characters in this area of the festival, lots of alternative people, but not any more." He first came here himself as a punter 18 years ago, when he jumped the fence, "and it changed my life - I absorbed so much information that weekend, things that were new to me. I'm sure the same thing happens to lots of people coming here now for the first time, but something is missing. It feels like we've been hoodwinked along the way."
Whether Starbird is justified or not in his particular claims, there were others there who backed him up. None the less, he added at the end: "I've travelled to a lot of European festivals, and Glastonbury is still the best festival in the world. It's about the people, and people are amazing."
Merope Mills, editor of Weekend magazine, has arrived at the portakabin portable cabin. She's been keeping a keen eye on revellers' clothing.
Blame Kate Moss (it's usually her fault) ? festival fashion these days is one thing and one thing only: denim cut-offs, welly boots, flowers in the hair. I'm told even Michael Eavis is rocking the denim cut-offs look this year. This is a prime example: Connie Roff, 21 from Croydon (where else?).
Hello! Rosie Swash here, ready for my first stint on the live blog. Good timing if this is anything to go by....
Tim Jonze was sidestage on the Pyramid earlier and he grabbed Two Door Cinema Club's singer Alex Trimble for an immediate debrief
Hi all. Apologies for the silence, we've had some technical hitches down on the farm. I blame the weather. Others will probably blame Bono.
Wu Tang Clan were up on the Pyramid stage just moments ago, and here's what Caspar Llewellyn Smith saw and heard:
That grass that was there earlier for the Master Musicians of Joujouka will be long long gone now... Mobbed at the Pyramid for the Wu Tang Clan, with someone behind just screaming "hip hop on the main stage"... while Method Man implores the crowd to (you guessed it) "make some motherfucking noise". There's one thing he doesn't like about the UK, he adds, no, not the rain but UK customs. But as he told 'em "Wu Tang ain't nothin' to fuck wit!" Cue a measure of delirium.
Coming up, a review of Dengue Fever, Tim Jonze meets Rastamouse and I try and work out whether I really have managed to get food in my eyebrow
Dafydd Goff was off at West Holts to see Cambodian pop influenced band Dengue Fever. He's just sent me this review:
Dengue Fever confirm that West Holts is providing the most ambitious programming of the festival. The Los Angeles band take Cambodian pop and give it a psych-rock makeover. The effect recalls the Nuggets compilations from the mid-60s, all swirling organ and fuzzy guitar. And in singer Chhom Nimol, they have a former member of Cambodia's answer to the Jacksons.
A highlight, though, was the "masterdong" wielded by guitarist Zac Holtzman. It looks like the kind of instrument Jimmy Page might have played had he been raised in Phnom Penh, a double-necked guitar that combines a Fender Jazzmaster with a chapei dong, a traditional Vietnamese lute.
Ironically, the band's sunshine pop seems to usher in the first downpour of the day and the crowd starts to thin just as they get going. But their infectious melodies are hard to resist, so do yourself a favour and check out their album Escape from Dragon House.
For those who want to know a bit more about the brilliant West Holts stage, I chatted to organiser Steve Symons about how he puts the whole thing together on the first of our Guardian Glastonbury podcasts.
Merope Mills has just sent me this lovely story:
Lorna Poll, 30, was queuing for a bacon butty this morning when she said out loud "Wouldnt it be sweet to get engaged at Glastonbury?" "No way," said her boyfriend of three years, Jamie Hayward, 33, "It's really unromantic". Little did she know he'd asked her dad for her hand three weeks ago. A few hours back, he took her up to the stone circle and popped the
question - on one muddy knee - with a ring engraved with today's date. She said yes. See, romance isn't dead. It just went quiet for a while.
Awwwwwww........
Just to remind you that the Edge, of U2 fame, is blogging his experience of Glastonbury. Here is is with a few members of Wu-Tang Clan. It's not every day, etc etc
Gareth Grundy is about to file his review of Wu-Tang Clan on the Pyramid Stage (they were on at a drizzly 3pm)
Forget the worries about how many of the notoriously unpredictable Staten Island rap group would show up: they only just managed to clear customs. "They treated us like the Taliban," complained Method Man during a punchy, spirits-raising 45 minute set that saw off any rain-induced gloom. It also set a new record for the number of casual hip hop fans making the band's "W" sign with their hands, among them a visibly excited Suggs from Madness....
The rest of the review will be live shortly
Ok, forget the music, let's get down to the real stuff. I put a call out on Twitter earlier about the best place to get food at Glastonbury and was told by RPJMorgan that The Meat Wagon is the place to go for burgers. Then talk turned to ostrich burgers, which you can get in the field to the left of the Pyramid stage and which I remain reticent about given that it's a "poor man's steak" (SnowShadow) and "gamier and drier than pork" (gomark). Your thoughts on ostrich welcome as always.
For those of you who have been searching high and lo for a picture of thousands of people with their hands in the air, you're in luck...
I'm handing over to Henry Barnes now, join him here as he continues liveblogging into the night ...
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/24/glastonbury-2011-live-friday
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