On June 22 this year, the first of almost 180,000 music lovers will ramble on to a Somerset farmland for the once notorious Glastonbury Festival.
From its humble beginning as the Pilton Pop Festival in 1970, an event that was attended by a mere 1,500 and cost just �1 entry fee, founder Michael Eavis could not have anticipated it to grow into the unconquerable force that it is today.
Glastonbury has gradually become Britain's most significant festival, along the way playing host to an array of musical greats. David Bowie, Van Morrison, The Smiths and Johnny Cash are just a few of the acts that have sent vibrations rumbling through its endless acres of land.
Some of these past acts have gone down in the folklore of alternative music, providing a voice for those who are discontent with the superficial elements of mainstream pop. However, in recent years the line-up of the festival seems to have adjusted to the concept of throwing more mainstream acts in to the mixing pot.
Ever since the inception of Glastonbury Festival, its musical output has always been varied, yet no matter how diffuse its acts have been, there has always been the understanding that Eavis and co were targeting a different audience to say, Simon Cowell sat sneering in his swivel chair.
The aesthetic of Glastonbury has always capitalised on the pastoral beauty of the Somerset landscape. It conjures up images of floral dresses and vast green fields, however dirt-trodden these fields may be by the end of the festival.
The Strummerville area for example, homage to punk legend Joe Strummer, is a blazing campfire. The area description on the Glastonbury website maintains that Strummer believed "that any loose assembly of people bonded by the rising flames and the advancing dawn – became an art form in itself."
It's a spiritually uplifting thought, but one that is entwined with the bohemian image that Glastonbury is slowly pulling away from. Over the past few years the line-up has begun to involve acts who are more noted for stepping out of velvet-coated limousines than out on to festival stages.
One of the first signals was Robbie Williams taking to the stage in 1998, but then things seemed to slip back to old ways the following year. However, mainstream acts are now becoming a common sight. One of this year's headliners for example is Beyonce, undoubtedly a singer of exceptional talent but nonetheless a mile away in musical background from most of the past headliners.
Furthermore, one of last year's main supporting acts was the Scissor Sisters, with a brand of infectious pop melodies that seem to contradict the credentials of Glastonbury's old guard. They also played in 2004 along with the Black Eyed Peas. So is it just festival organisers shrewdly selecting what is what the contemporary public crave? Well strictly speaking, no it isn't.
In every generation since the festival's creation, there have been acts that have been hugely popular but still would have not found themselves on the bill at the festival. For example, in the mid-1980s it would have been bizarre to see Cyndi Lauper's crimson perm bobbing across the Pyramid Stage, despite her tremendous commercial success.
Conversely, in the mid-1980s audiences could turn up expecting to see the snarling faces of Ian Dury and Shane McGowan stare out at them.
In 2008 the American rapper Jay Z headlined the festival, becoming a pioneer in the sense that he was the first modern R&B artist to do so. The inclusion of him on the bill was met with bullets of criticism being fired from a range of directions.
Most notably aggravated was Noel Gallagher of Oasis, who was quoted saying: "Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music... I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."
Despite such criticism, festival organisers do not seemed to have back-tracked but instead wrapped an arm around their controversial guests.
By selecting Beyonce to headline this year's festival they have sent out a message that suggests that no act, based solely on genre or music scene, is excluded from the festival.
This seems like a fair viewpoint on the part of those who select the line-up. After all, if genres as obscure as Bourbon Street Jazz and Acid House have a place on the bill, why shouldn't everybody?
The inclusion of more commercial pop acts as main fixtures will however inevitably bring changes to the festival's audience.
It is likely that the legions of chart followers will flock to the festival more readily. Glastonbury is already a festival of overwhelming proportion, but surely to accommodate this new demographic of fans it will need to expand even further.
One can imagine Michael Eavis peering out of a helicopter, shaking his head in amazement as ravers, musos, indie kids and virtually everybody else weave past each other in the fields below.
It is difficult to foresee the future of Britain's most varied festival. At the moment it seems that almost any member of the public could buy a ticket and trudge out of the mud on Monday morning feeling satisfied, one can only hope that this continues.
Thomas Hadfield Lower Bristol Road, Bath
Nicolas Anelka Peter Beardsley Middle East Gareth Barry Children Liberal-Conservative coalition
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