The first full weekend after the summer solstice arrived and with it the mighty festival that is Glastonbury. The run-up was over-shadowed by the appearance of Jay-Z in the headline slot for Saturday and although there’s been plenty said on the appearance I’m happy to weigh in with my thoughts.
I don’t like rap or hip-hop. Really. I especially don’t like the tendency of rap and hip-hop artists to talk about women as “bitches” and glorify gun use. A case in point being Jay-Z’s first Glastonbury song “99 Problems”, which contains the main refrain “99 problems but a bitch aint one.” In the video he dies at the end of the song in a hail of bullets, gets hassled by the police (yawn, yawn) and apparently also features taking part in dog-fighting. Classy stuff. What I really dislike more than anything else however is the way other music gets sampled and ripped-off. Rap and hip-hop lack originality and I stopped listening way back in the early 90’s when the recordings of Snoop Dogg breaking into the White House and shooting the president stopped being funny.
The festival itself was outstanding. The music was even more varied than in the past, highlights being Elbow, Crowded House, Eddie Grant & The Raconteurs. Practically zero waiting to leave at the end and none to get in. Weather was pretty much perfect as well. Great food, great company, great times. As the blog has been lacking a bit in photos recently, here is one to colour things up – two glasto legends.
Can't stop fiddling... 