Venn Festival Opener, 3rd June

Gravenhurst, Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno, Mark Stewart

Malcolm X Centre, 3rd June



'They're better than this', I'm informed as Gravenhurst finish their set at the Malcolm X Centre. I am impressed, because I thought they were pretty good. This is slow-build, loud riffs, quiet-bit music, with the occasional almost tragically painful schoolboy singing. This is a good way to start a festival of variety in music. The Venn Festival web site explains it better than I can.

Everything is blown away by Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno. In just over an hour they play two songs. The music is astounding for its simplicity, the way it rolls along, trance-like and we are carried along with it. Every so often you think it's going to change, they can't add another level of intensity to the same thing and yet there it is, tension backing up, adrenalin poised, surely they're not going to go round again? When the guitarist finally opens up, a huge solo of Jimi proportions, more anarchic maybe, all the pent-up energy is released and there are screams, laughter, people look around as if they can't believe what they are all sharing. When it dies down, the excited crowd begin chatting, much to the frustration of one of the drummers, for this is an ethereal moment. Throat singing in three part harmony, a gentle interlude before the music kicks off again.

This goes on for some time. The second tune, is an energetic psychedelic rock riff repeated ad infinitum, again with the huge solo, the guitarist throwing his guitar around, playing upside down, etc etc. Life seems to move back in time to the days when musicians could actually have fun playing their instruments, improvising, feeling the music. None of this over-pretension or pristine song-writing, no desperation that it be right. No smugness or self-satisfaction, no need to be loved. What they played wasn't amazing in itself, but the execution was incredible.

Not so Mark Stewart. I confess to knowing nothing about The Pop Group, anything that the man has supposedly done for music in Bristol. After Acid Mothers, I had looked forward to seeing the band who had originally played on Rappers Delight, the earliest commercialisation of hiphop as we know it. I hoped that we would be in for a show of funk delights, glorious guitar work and tight rhythms. What we get is a dumbed-down electro dub sound, effected to the max by Adrian Sherwood while a huge angry looking man (Mark Stewart) shouts incomprehensible ramblings. I'm told it's political. 'No-one writes like that anymore'. My impression: here are some musicians, performing off their reputation, sadly fooled by all the drunk people that they are doing something new and exciting and somehow ending up sounding like Phil Collins trying to be cool in the 80's post-Genesis. With added delay and reverb. It was insulting, after such a glorious display from AMT.

On the other hand, I met someone the other day, who hated AMT and loved Mark Stewart, for exactly the same reasons.

Venn Saturday, 4th June

A debate rages after Venn Saturday. The idea was that given the vast amount and variety of events going on throughout the day, a single ticket for £10 would get you into anything. If you attended for the full day, you would have had an absolute bargain. If you couldn't, or were too lazy to get out of bed then it was tough. The idea was to get people running around, seeing things they wouldn't normally see in a whir of festival excitement. Unfortunately, a few friends of mine had wanted to just go to one venue, the Croft - where the most you would normally pay is £6 to see someone fairly famous. Upon learning that they would have to fork out the tenner, all four of them declined and went somewhere else. I don't believe this was an isolated incident, either.

I suggest via the medium of Choke that they have on-the-door prices as well as a full day's tickets. I only made it to two venues, and at £4 each I would have saved myself a bit of cash. Because of a massive delay in the Croft, I missed half the people I wanted to see, had planned to see, and if I'd had a decent timetable, might have been able to see. Such is the way of festivals - true but if I knew I had an hour to spare I would go somewhere else. I didn't want to move, not knowing when Caroline Martin was playing in case I missed Men Diamler. Perhaps this was the atmosphere they wanted to create. I also suggest that since they obviously knew when people were supposed to be on, why not let us in on the secret.

My suggestions are met with stoney aggression. The organisers tell me that it's pathetic whining over £10, I pay more than that to go to most gigs. They say that I don't understand the concept of a festival, that they work really hard and why does everybody complain, why can't I say anything nice. I protest, I did enjoy myself, I was merely pointing out that they could have made even more money - maybe they don't want other people to come. If you don't like it, fuck off is the reply. (It's all on the Choke thread).

More surprising, is the deluge of protests from performers, people who didn't pay to get in. People who got to enjoy the whole thing for nothing. They are mortified that I would have the gall to complain about such a marvellous event happening here, on our doorstep. I sigh, and again insist I merely made a suggestion. On my own, as others I knew about failed to support me, people who I know boycotted paying because they only wanted to see one band. 'Fuck off, I'm not paying a tenner to see Hunting Lodge', they said.

So what did I see at the great Venn on Saturday?

The John E Vistic Experience held some fears for me, I had memories of Lakota for some reason. Then it hit me. They're a good ol' Country band. I run outside, a walk before the folk starts, that'll fix it. I'd promised myself some Klezmer this weekend, you see. The Malcolm X is full of Polish folk (music) this weekend. Malarkey deliver this with style a band like your mum a\ll got together, I couldn't help feeling that we should be out in a park somewhere by a bonfire.

Men Diamler at the Croft, an incarnation of Mario Vendredi who I saw way back at Bar Unlimited - was late. But well worth it. His powerful voice, theatrical shouting, screaming and yet another unforgettable perfomance of John the Revelator drew full crowd participation and cheers aplenty.

Finally I wandered back to the Malcolm X to see the Warsaw Village Band, who play traditional Polish music, combined with many other elements from all over the world, it seemed. Some great music and strong, emotional singing made my £10 well worth it (so there).

Geisha (Again), 9 June

I don't like The Mighty Stars. They are a 'cool' retro 60s / 70s guitar pop band with modern hair and 'cool' clothes and catchy, infectious tunes. I'm one of those people who doesn't really like the Beatles. You know, with their trite lyrics and I-IV-V-I harmonic structure all that 'Love me do' bollocks. Apparently the room is packed, but since I find it so intolerable I have to sit in the bar.

Geisha begin their set with the 'unveiling' of epic new work 'sportsfister'. It is dark and broken, more like several disparate short bursts of noise, time-changes, epic riffing and hard rocking than a coherent whole. Still, it is a fantastic opening. The set proceeds as usual, enhanced this time by the projection of Vampyros Lesbos in the background. The screen becomes splattered with blood when bass player Steve's fingers give up the ghost, making quite a mess of his bass in the process. A broken string brings an end to another glorious evening.

My Glastonbury 2005 Review!

Friday, after the mud had subsided (visit Hell and High Water for more about THAT) we venture out into the unknown, at times wading through knee-high water/mud to get to the music.

• Ilham al Madfai - Iraqi singer with unsettling stare and fantastic traditional songs.


• DJ Friction - Teaches us that it is possible for Drum and Bass to be boring shite


• DJ Zinc - Teaches us that Drum and Bass is actually bloody fantastic


• London Elektricity - Good to start with, but every song has the same drum beat, the famous Jungle drummer is stuck in the groove.


• Nine Black Alps - Crap, boring, old hat.


• Battlefield Band - Good old Scottish Folk music


• Terry Reid - Was almost in Led Zeppelin, great charismatic rock and roll performer ending his set with a rabble rousing rendition of Waterloo Sunset. Croud reluctant to let him leave.


• Eliza Carthy - Good new English folk music, amazing stuff I'm almost in tears at times.

Saturday

• KT Tunstall - First song good, second song okay, rest of set mediochre to bad. Very attractive though.


• Terry Reid - Inbetween sets, Terry plays some good ol' blues on the acoustic guitar.


• Emiliana Torrini - Beautiful Icelandic / Italian little-girl songs and humour.


• Baaba Mal - Surprise guest and what an amazing voice from Senegal


• Headland - look dodgy, start dodgy, not too bad wrong-disco-punk from some young folks


• (Kaiser Chiefs - in passing, the pain is unbearable)


• Taj Mahal Trio - great blues music, real crowd pleaser.

Sunday

• Whalebone Polly - Lovely, lovely girls sing beautiful harmonies to the early lunchtime crowd


• The Dresden Dolls - Black sabbath cover performed on piano and drums need I say more?


• (Van Morrison - in passing, sounded fairly dull, but I am a safe distance away)


• Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain - hilarious. Jazz versions of Heathcliffe, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Miss Dynamitee and more.


• London Gospel Community Choir - Rousing


• Eddie Reader - more excellent, moving folky music from an amazing singer


• Tori Amos - Wow. I mean, wow. This is brilliant!




• Other Stuff


• Mutoid Waste Company Unnatural History Museum - giant sculptures of
  animals and people made out of bits of machines


• Bright FX - sexy girls twirling fire and rope with big fireworks


• Zoid Productions - The naked dancing girls return! But this time the have their own dressing room. All the boys are disappointed.


• BlackSkyWhite - Weird, weird dance from some crazy Russians. Very scarey and quite brilliant.



• Avoiding drowning - brilliant.

So there you have it. I have to go round with a camera, but generally, this was one of the best Glastonbury's I've been to yet!