Pulp
(Pyramid Stage, Saturday)
It’s been precisely thirty years and four days, Jarvis Cocker informs us, since Pulp walked onto the Pyramid Stage in 1995 to replace The Stone Roses as headliners, a genuine surprise in the pre-iSnitch days. For two songs – “Sorted For E’s And Wizz” and “Disco 2000”, both debuted here in ’95 – there’s the possibility that ‘Patchwork’ (as they’re billed) might recreate that legendary set in jumbled order, but towards the end of their sensational hour, Cocker pulls out the original 1995 setlist, writ on the back of an envelope, and tears it to pieces declaring, “It’s all about now”.
And a rammed Pyramid Stage field very much live in their own Pulp Summer moment; there’s an effervescent “Do You Remember The First Time?”, a breakneck “Mis-Shapes”, a sublime “Babies” and an intimate “Something Changed”. “Acrylic Afternoons” takes us back to the dawning of indie sleaze and the Red Arrows make a perfectly timed fly-by at the climax of “Common People”. Thirty years on, they still steal the weekend.
Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts
(Pyramid Stage, Saturday)
“How you doing at home in your bedrooms?” Having backed down from his refusal to be televised, Neil Young treats the viewing millions to his own skewed and intense version of a great Glasto moment. It’s a set by turns fragile and ferocious: he first emerges alone with a guitar for an unshowy “Sugar Mountain” – a paean to youth from a 79-year-old veteran of dark country arts – before his Chrome Hearts band arrive bearing CSNY-esque harmonies and no little righteous fury.
“Be The Rain” demands urgent climate action in the face of rampant consumerism, Young barking about Big Oil and deforestation through one loudhailer effect mic of the many in his array; “Cinnamon Girl” and “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)” are things of crushing dynamic impact.
“The Needle And The Damage Done” and “Harvest Moon”, respectively, provide a period of intimate reflection and idyllic respite and, while there is a good twenty minutes or so of bluesy indulgence an hour in, Young punches his humanitarian politics down the camera lenses with closing rages through “Rockin’ In The Free World” and “Throw Your Hatred Down”, just when we need them most. All that, and Hank Williams’ guitar as special guest for “Looking Forward” – in Young terms, a hit blitz.
Wolf Alice
(Other Stage, Sunday)
With Kneecap’s field closed off two hours before stage-time, Bob Vylan making headlines and virtually every second band expressing support for Palestine, it’s a politically charged weekend. Ellie Rowsell’s declaration of “Solidarity with the people of Palestine” ahead of Wolf Alice’s bubble-swathed finale “Don’t Forget The Kisses” is far from controversial then, and certainly less so than the fact that this London band weren’t automatically handed a Pyramid Stage headline slot.
As album four approaches, they have the crowds, the songs and the sheer showstopping variety. Rowsell first appears in star-smothered attire, roaring “Formidable Cool” like a levitating demon goddess. Then, within the first half hour alone, she transforms into a dream-pop angel for “Delicious Things”, a feverish Kate Bush for primal recent single “Bloom Baby Bloom” and a Laurel Canyon balladeer for the seated acoustic “Safe From Heartbreak (If You Never Fall In Love)“. One minute she’s striking supervillain poses with a megaphone for an utterly savage “Yuk Foo”, the next cooing though a gorgeously glitched-up “Silk” or a phenomenal “The Last Man On Earth” that could teach Lana Del Rey a thing or two about enormous cinematic drama ballads. Majestic.
John Fogerty
(Pyramid Stage, Saturday)
Finally recovering his song rights after a 50-year legal battle has clearly made John Fogerty an invigorated figure. Full of life and blue plaid energy, he tears into his mid-afternoon set like a honky-tonker possessed, surrounded by an equally excitable family band and backed by suitably Creedence-friendly visuals: wide open highways, dappling brooks, backwoods wildlife. He spends the next hour going on down to Virginia, California, Louisiana and wherever else takes his wandering fancy, revelling in the sheer joy and vigour of his impassioned roots Americana.
It’s very much a Creedence show: he powers through “Up Around The Bend”, “Green River” and “Born On The Bayou” in short measure, exults over the joyful memory of being gifted the guitar he wrote “Who’ll Stop The Rain” on, and hops on a locomotive for “Keep On Chooglin’”. For the finale, he’ll toast Glastonbury with a flute of freshly poured champagne ahead of “Bad Moon Rising” and “Proud Mary”, much to celebrate at 80.
Not Completely Unknown
(Acoustic Stage, Saturday)
Come for the rumours that Timothy Chalamet might turn up (he doesn’t), stay for the rich and heartfelt renditions of Bob Dylan songs from a collection of devoted acolytes. Helmed by Sid Griffin of The Long Ryders and set up as an intimate chamber country affair (stand-up bass, banjo, piano, the works), the Not Completely Unknown show is a reverent homage, each player telling their best Bob gig anecdote ahead of a few favoured numbers drawn from Greenwich Village to gospel conversion. Paul Carrack delivers a sweetly bluegrass “Mr Tambourine Man”, Ralph McTell a harmonica-drenched “One Too Many Mornings”.
Hothouse Flowers singer Liam Ó Maonlaí is the only one to approach a Bob-like delivery for “Is Your Love In Vain?” and “Pressing On”. More inventive is Katya, who reworks “One More Cup Of Coffee” for doudouk and trip-hop keyboard. Delicious stuff, but no “Murder Most Foul”?
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