Glastonbury 2014: In Pictures

From the opening chords of “I Predict A Riot” by The Kaiser Chiefs on the Other Stage to kick things off, to Kasabian’s triumphant closing show, the performers at Glastonbury played their part in a truly memorable festival.

Of course what those reviews of shows don’t tell you is what life was like when we weren’t watching the bands. With over 180,000 people in attendance, Glastonbury is not just the World’s biggest music festival, it is, for a few days each year, the third largest town in the South West of England, and with all due respect to Bristol and Taunton, it’s almost as much fun. * I’d be at risk of boring you / coming across as incredibly smug and irritating were I to document all of this, so here’s an attempt to capture the festival in a few photos:

Arriving late on Thursday, what grabs you most of all is how much there is to do aside from watch bands. DJs play in huge palaces in the Shangri-La area, and wherever you walk there is something interesting to admire….

…..whilst giant robot spiders shoot flames in Arcadia…

….strange wicker creatures guard other fields….

On Thursday, after Kaiser Chiefs and Blondie, we caught a few songs by War On Drugs prior to schlepping over to see Drenge play The John Peel Stage as some serious crowd surfing resulted…..

….following which we adjourned to The Park Stage to kick off our welly boots…

…..and watch Courtney Barnett in the sunshine followed by Jimi Goodwin ….

…. and Parquet Courts….

….whilst Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip played the tiny Crowes Nest at the top of the hill….

You get great views from the hill of the whole site……

….but we also noticed the storm clouds rolling in. The resulting electrical storm and downpour turned The World’s Biggest Music Festival into The World’s Biggest Muddy Puddle…..

….but it soon stopped raining and the atmosphere was electric for Chvrches in the John Peel Tent and Arcade Fire’s Friday night performance….

…at which point we were back to The Crowes Nest at 1am for an intimate but blistering set by Toy in front of about 100 people…

On Saturday, after Royal Blood cleared our heads, Lana Del Ray’s sultry performance on the Pyramid Stage was interesting. She plays the part of a ’40’s film noir ingénue – like Gilda’s Rita Hayworth in a tie-dye dress. A much better singer than I had been led to believe she sashays slowly onstage and seduces her audience like Lauren Bacall seduced Humphrey Bogart. It’s a fascinating act….

…..appreciated by the many characters in the audience…

…..who were also there to see Robert Plant, Jack White and Metallica.

On Sunday, the sun shone as Dolly Parton drew the biggest crowd of the weekend. Here’s an exclusive shot of her backstage dressing room….

The festival drew to a close with sets from The Horrors and Bombay Bicycle Club on The Other Stage, followed by The Black Keys and Kasabian back at The Pyramid Stage…

So farewell then Glastonbury…it was muddy great…

* I suspect it squeezes in as much fun over four or five days than both these cities put together have managed over the last four or five decades….