Thursday, March 07, 2013

oh, they now do do mud - Rolling $tone$ to headline Glastonbury 2013

hi there

in news that is not too surprising but all the same reflects a bit of backtracking, it would seem that The Rolling $tone$ are to headline the Glastonbury festival this year. uber rock dude Serge out of Kasabian appears to have let that slip over on NME, commenting that he feels his band might not get the attention they should with the giant corporate machine in as full a swing as they can get on the same day.

to the best of my knowledge, and my knowledge is limited to loving the songs rather than any in depth wisdom of all they have done, the $tone$ have not been anywhere near a festival since Altamont. the view expressed by Keith Richards in regards of Glastonbury and other festivals has always been "we don't do mud". despite that, it's not all that much of a surprise i suppose.

Glastonbury, whilst remaining a most excellent weekend of music, is now just one big commercial machine. this isn't a bad thing - fans get unequalled levels of excellent music for three days, brands get exposure and the artists performing get a nice big cheque and some big advertising thanks to the BBC giving extensive coverage. U2's set, for instance, comprised of lots of tracks off Achtung Baby, an album they happened to be re-releasing at the time. Pope Bono is far from being the only guilty one - when Bruce Springsteen played a much anticipated set, classics and his usual acceptance of written requests from fans were both discarded in favour of a set featuring his most recent album.



whereas the only thing the $tone$ are advertising is a greatest hits set, this might not mean the fans are in for a treat. if you have a look at any of the footage from their 4 "50th anniversary" shows, you get to see a compelling argument to suggest that they should stop gigs. yes, it's the $tone$ and yes they are legends that it is an honour to see and be in the presence of, but the performances were somewhat wanting. you will note there was a distinct lack of rave reviews from anyone about any of the somewhat expensive shows.

it would perhaps have been a bit more progressive to have had Kasabian headline Glasto, but there you go. good luck to all going to Glastonbury this year, best wishes to the $tone$ accountants in keeping track of all the money and let us hope that Ronnie Wood uses the money wisely.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!

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