The Tom Gilbert Blog

Too exhausted to do anything now but shower and sleep. But got some great pictures and stories to share. Here’s a teaser before I upload the rest, from our best and last night at the festival:

One comment: Leonard Cohen on the Pyramid stage with the setting sun behind him, singing Tower of Song, Suzanne and then Hallelujah, was the one of the most amazing things I ever experienced. Unforgettable.

Edit:Rest of the pics are up now: Glastonbury 2008.

Edit: So here is my glasto 2008 music schedule:

Friday

• Vampire Weekend – great set, started raining halfway through but noone cared
• The Feeling – one of my highlights.
• The Ting Tings – were on the John Peel stage (which is small) and it was packed – fun stuff
• Sinead O’Connor – was great. Hard to get into her newer stuff because the noise of the crowd took away a little from the acoustic atmosphere, but she was on fine form and once we found a good spot it was ace
• Kings of Leon – rocked.

Saturday

• Crowded House – so good. Better than I expected – when the sun came out, and they did Weather with You… Oh man.
• The Raconteurs – utter genius, and an amazing set. One of my highlights.
• Manu Chao – unexpectedly amazing – I had never heard of them but Steph talked us into hanging around for it and wow. High tempo Mexican/Cuban/Reggae mix and the way they maintained the energy of the crowd for an hour at that pace… Wicked.
• Amy Winehouse – as expected, she was a mess. I think Steph coined the term “hot mess” and it suits. Very wobbly, ended in a fight with the crowd but somehow her voice was still perfect throughout. Worth seeing
• Jay-z – he rocked the place, and was a good headliner. Loved the opening (playing video of Gallagher moaning about him then opening to Wonderwall), and 99 Problems was brilliant.

Sunday

• Neil Diamond – good. Not great, but good.
• Goldfrapp – aw yeah. Started with some of her newer, more flowery stuff, which I enjoyed a lot, then finished in style with Oh La la and others. Great vibe during this gig to match the great weather.
• Leonard Cohen. See above. A religious experience for me. Worth the ticket price alone.
• The Verve – great Sunday night choice, lots of crowd pleasing stuff. However it couldn’t top Leonard and I could have done with him staying on another hour instead.

On Sunday we stayed out all night in Trash City and Shangri-la then watched the Sun come up from the Stone Circle. Sunday really was the most amazing day. Then on Monday on the way home we saw the sun going down over Stone Henge. What a weekend

Magic Moments

• Thursday night in a bar in Shangri-La (”the first class lounge”), James asking “when do you close?” and the bartender shrugging and replying “Monday”.
• Sitting in the tent playing hold’em and drinking while it rained.
• When The Feeling covered Video Killed the Radio Star.
• Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. And the rest of the set.
• Stumbling into the Cuban Brothers in Dance West, wow they were awesome and crazy funny
• The cider!
• Watching the sun come up from the stone circle.

Some more highlights from my flickr stream: