My dream Glastonbury line-up ✨

So I've never been to Glastonbury, let's just get that out of the way. But I do like watching live shows from the comfort of my own home. I used to get so into Glastonbury aged 16/17/18 and  I'd go through the line-up and write a list of all the performances I wanted to watch on iplayer and go through and tick them all off. Wild times. Ed and I were watching a bit of the virtual Glastonbury 2020 on tv last night and I got a bit hyped watching Florence and The Machine throwbacks and the idea for this blog post was born. Just a bit of fun looking at some of my favourite Glasto performances. Grab a beverage and get ready to enjoy some sweet tunes, I'll make a playlist of all the videos and leave it at the end of the post 😌

So to kick things off we've got to have Florence and The Machine there, ya know, because they're my favourite band and all that. This performance is from when they headlined the festival in 2015, fun fact: Florence broke her foot during the set and carried on like a trooper. My festival definitely needs that barefoot, glittery power suit, gazelle energy.

Next up we've got some Imogen Heap! This video is from 2010, at the tender age of 12 I was not aware of Imogen's existence but have since become a big fan. There's something magical about this song live (there's a version on youtube from the Royal Albert Hall as well and it is just *chef's kiss* excellent)...and who could resist the keytar and sunglasses combo at the end?

Every festival deserves some Wolf Alice I think. Giant Peach was the first song of theirs I ever heard back in probably 2014, it's so epic. I was studying Angela Carter's short stories in English Lit and one of them is called Wolf Alice so this band caught my eye in my youtube recommendations. Thanks algorithm (for once)! Anyway this performance is from 2015.

Now here's one that was definitely before my time, I wasn't actually born in 1994 so definitely wasn't watching this one on iplayer. But we love some vintage Björk! Human Behaviour was also the first song I ever heard by her so it holds a special place in my heart. There are some iconic and bouncy dance moves in this performance, if you can see past the 240p video quality lol. Enjoy!

Warning: flashing images! Up next we have Grimes with a chaotic n energetic performance from 2016. Oblivion is a classic (and also the only high quality vid I could find lol) but I remember Venus Fly being super cool live as well. I love Grimes, that's all.

My festival is looking a little female-heavy so we'd better introduce some male vocals. (I mainly listen to female musicians, not a conscious decision it just happened lol. Soz men.) So next we've got some alt-J, love these lads. For some reason hardly any of their Glastonbury videos exist on youtube so this one from 2013 will have to do, I remember loving their 2015 set though if you happen to stumble across it anywhere! 

Time for Of Monsters and Men, this 2013 performance has some joyful, summer vibes which will be perfect for my personal Glastonbury. (I'm excited just imagining it, hit me up if you want to come.) They did an amazing set in 2016 but it's not on youtube, you can find a highlights clip on iplayer tho! 

Here's another flipping great band, Haim!!! This video is from 2017 and I love the song Right Now. What gets me so much is the drumming sesh, it's GOLD, definitely want some of that at my festival. I first discovered Haim in 2012 when we saw them supporting Florence and The Machine, literally had no idea who they were but was very pleasantly surprised! Now they are big!!! Buzzing to listen to their new album which came out yesterday I think.

Up next in our dream lineup is Sigur Rós. This video is from 2016, Glósoli is probably my favourite song of theirs (very cool music vid I recommend you go find!) and I'd love to experience it live. My festival definitely needs some of that Icelandic magic.

Finally, PJ Harvey. Ok first up, I LOVE her outfit, secondly, The Words That Maketh Murder is one of the best PJ songs in my opinion. Very boppy. This is from 2016 too (what a great year that was??!) which simultaneously was the year I wanted to go see her at the Eden Sessions but was too scared to go by myself sad times.

Ok so instead of going on all day I'm going to leave the rest of my fave Glasto performances in a playlist for you to peruse at your leisure...some good stuff from FKA Twigs, ELO, and Sigrid + lots more! I might keep adding as I think of them. Hope you enjoy some bangers from back when we could get really close to other people in a big crowd and dance together. Hope you enjoy, pls let me know who you'd invite to your dream Glastonbury!💃✨✨✨

Reminiscing ~~~ Björk at The Eden Project 🌻

On 7th July 2018 I took a solo trip to see Björk at The Eden Project and it's one of my top 10 best memories. For some reason I never got round to sharing much about it so here I am, almost 2 years later revisiting it in my slightly hazy memory.

This was my first time going to a concert by myself, normally I wouldn't feel cool doing that but this was The Eden Project, surely the safest, most wholesome venue there could be? I didn't (still don't) know anyone else who is a big Björk fan so didn't really feel comfortable asking a friend to pay money to see someone they didn't like lol. PLUS the venue was only an hour's drive from where I lived so that was easy (of course I listened to Mama Björk all the way). The great thing about going to a gig at Eden is that with the price of the ticket you also get entry into the sight for the whole day and the day after too! Nice. 

The concert was at about 7pm probably? I can't actually remember - so I arrived at about 3pm to give me a few hours to wander round and see the sights. It was one of the hottest days of the year, I can remember being very sweaty.

Weirdly the merch stand was right at the entrance of the sight, there was a bit of an underwhelming selection but I had to pick up something (more on that later!), then I got my wristband and headed to the biomes! It was fun spotting other people with wristbands around and about and knowing they had an odd music taste like me.

I based my outfit loosely on Björk's Vulnicura album 

with its purple and yellow colour scheme (I'm a nerd).

After a glorious stroll amongst the plants I went to go and queue up, maybe around 6? I found a gathering of people all sitting around in the shade under some trees and went and joined them, I found out that these were the super keen early birds and everyone in this area was going to be let in first so we'd be able to get to the front of the stage. This was exciting. I ended up chatting to a lady and her daughter who sat next to me, it was the little girl's first ever concert (cool kid), if I remember correctly they were eating burritos. 

The stage

I ended up getting a spot right at the barrier which I thought was great, until I realised I was very close the speakers on the right hand side of the stage. Spoiler: speakers are bad. But I wasn't giving up my chance to come face to face with Björk so I endured. And endurance it was, I won't mince my words, the support acts were...questionable at best and horrific at worst 😂 The first was just a man DJing I think? It was just BEATS and NOISE and he didn't interact with the audience once, so it felt kind of awkward. The second was a...group...of women, there were three I think, maybe more...and they performed ? In a very surreal way, it wasn't quite music...more like spoken word poetry with dance moves and laughter? I preferred it to the first act though so I politely smiled through it and maybe even enjoyed some moments. I think the Fine Art student in me was used to sitting through completely strange performances where you're not sure what's happening and whether you're supposed to be getting something deep and meaningful from it, so I tried to interpret it through that lens, can't remember what conclusion I came to though. I didn't even get any footage of these acts so you'll just have to take my word for it and use your imagination (and then times that by 100 weirdness).

Björk FINALLY came on at about 9.15pm (yes there was 2+ hours of standing around in the sun with a bunch of weary strangers listening to those supports, not complaining just setting the scene) and it was wonderful. It made all the discomfort worth it ✨✨✨✨✨ The opening song was Arisen My Senses and now whenever I hear that song it brings back the anticipation and excitement of the moment she appeared on stage! 

My photos are bad but just trust me, it was an aesthetic feast for the eyes. Lots of colourful lighting and amazing footage of flowers and wildlife on the screen behind, incredible costumes and the staging was a whole theatrical production with foliage and pink. 

It had a very different vibe to any concert I've been to before, firstly because it was outside, but also the audience was different. No one danced or moved really which I found weird, I would have had a boogie but it felt awkward when no one else was. I think some people weren't massive Björk stans but they just knew a few of her old, more famous songs and then were disappointed because she mainly played new songs? Probably people who liked her when she was big in the 90s and were there for a throwback but were confused when she didn't do any of her big bangers. I don't know, I was having a great time on my own though!

Eden at night is a cool experience! It takes ages to leave once the show is over so everyone is in a big queue winding up the path to the exit and you get nice views like this:

It was all over by about 11pm and then I was home around midnight. I remember sitting in bed feeling too hyped up to sleep! All in all it's a really fun memory, the bad bits are just funny to look back on and the good bits are all nostalgic and special. The fact I went by myself and was slightly nervous made it more of a thing, and getting to explore the biomes beforehand was nice. Basically The Eden Project was the dream location for a concert!

This is the bag I got from the merch stand, it has lyrics from this song  (click for the link). 

I made this chaotic and colourful video way back in 2018 but for some reason never felt satisfied enough to post it. Because I was s o  c l o s e  to the speakers all my videos turned out like ALKSDFB;AKSDBFAD;BFAFS;B;KF (really boomy and bassy to the point of being unrecognisable), so I decided to use the few bits of sound which turned out ok and then make more of a visual collage of a video. Revisiting it now I actually like the outcome so I just posted it today without editing anything. Enjoy (which btw is actually the name of a Björk song)

P.S. - I only found out that this magical AND local Björk concert was happening because I was in HMV buying her latest album on CD and the guy on the till told me about it! Shout out to that guy! I was in disbelief because I never actually thought I'd ever get to see Björk, let alone just down the road. That's why I jumped at the chance, it felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

This was fun to look back on...remember what it was like to actually go out? and interact ? with other humans? Wow what a concept