This weekend just gone was Glastonbury festival, or Glasto as it's more affectionately known. Glasto one of the world's largest music festival and the largest in the UK, with over 210 thousand attendees this year. Glastonbury is quite near me, about an hour away. Even though I've never been before, I always feel very close to it, both physically and emotionally. I'm not a festival person and certainly can't cope with camping in the mudding fields. Snowpea feels the same. Plus the tickets are very expensive, it cost £355 this year, but like all years they sell out like hot cakes as soon as the tickets were released.
The whole festival have over 30 stages and was broadcast live on TV and radio. There were a lot of artists, ranging from Cold Play and Dua Lipa who were headlining this year, to up-and-coming artists. I tuned in and out when I was at home over the weekend and was delighted to come across some artists that I haven't listened to for a long time.
Caravan of Love by The Housemartins
The Housemartins is an English indie band from the 80s, they were only around for a few years but had quite a few popular hits. One of them is a beautiful capella called Caravan of Love. I was so pleased to see a reunion performance at Glasto, it's been ages since I listened to it. Sadly I couldn't find a clip from their performance at Glasto for it. Here's the original MV from 1986... from nearly 4 decades ago!! The fashion makes you cringe, but other than that, the vocals are just as spot on.
Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
This is another reunion performance by Keane, also an English band, from the 90s. Do you sometimes hear songs that are very familiar but you don't know where you've heard it before? This is exactly what happened to me when I heard Somewhere Only We Know. I have to confess I haven't heard of Keane before this year's Glasto, but the melody kept playing in my head all weekend. It was very annoying and kept on bugging me as I couldn't figure out why I know the song. Then, it suddenly clicked on Monday.
The song was used in the John Lewis Christmas advert in 2013. John Lewis is a mid-top tier department store in UK, most well known for their quality products, and their Christmas TV adverts. Every year their Christmas advert is highly anticipated by the public and when it's aired, you know Christmas is here soon. It's fair to say John Lewis has set the bar for Christmas TV adverts in UK and all the supermarkets try to out do each other each year.
This is a great song that sounds equally beautiful in summer and Christmas.
Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis Bextor
Talk of a comeback, this must have topped it all last year. Murder on the Dancefloor was first released by Sophie Ellis Bextor in 2001, now listening to it in 2024 it still sounds so contemporary and groovy. If you've watched the movie Saltburn you'll be very familiar with this song, and I bet there's only one scene on your mind now - if you know you know, if you don't know, go watch Saltburn now!!
This is a great song to dance away on a Saturday night!
I've been listening to bits and pieces of Glasto whist working these few days, maybe I'll find more gems that I can share in another post.