Quarta-feira 27 Ago 2008, 6h:16
Fri 22 Aug – Greenbelt Festival 2008
having listened to many of the bands playing this years greenbelt fest the plan is to post my last three month chart here (given when i was away this actually covers the full 11 weeks from me returning from the greenbelt iona retreat to my arrival at the festival) then slowly edit it with comments about the bands that did play the fest. prob a big job so count this journal entry as a work in progress.
1 Levellers 119(no link to greenbelt, well Seth lakeman's brother Sean produced their new album and i can find half a dozen other tenuous links)
2 Michael Franti & Spearhead 82
headlined friday night, wow. maybe not as impressive as when he played two years back and so far i do think i prefer Yell fire to his new album.
2 Duke Special 82
ok joint second for the duke, not at the festival this year but has been most years (once we get out of my top ten i'll delete the bands who weren't on the gb08 line up)
4 Rachel Taylor-Beales 77
Ok despite her new album being fantastic and her getting a great response to her greenbelt 07 set somehow Rachel wasn't booked this year. a terrible oversight and injustice in my opinion.
5 Beth Rowley 38
Beth played what i heard was a blinding set on mainstage sunday afternoon (and given the size of the crowds for much of sunday's bill think a good case could have been made for giving beth a headlining slot) personally and despite Beth coming in my top five artists for the last 3 months i missed her set. (thats greenbelt for you) i would have been up in centaur for the larry norman tribute, did catch Beth in last orders doing two songs which were great.
6 Seth Lakeman 34
someone else i missed at greenbelt this year , went to see Franti's film and was a bit tiredafter so didn't even stop around for the last half hour of Lakeman's set. still hoping i might catch him up her in leeds.
7 Miriam Jones 29
made it into the performance cafe and saw her set. fantastic, two more tracks in last orders that night (and i believe she's been in the night before as well after i'd gone to bed) including "i am one" which i'd been disapointed had been missed from the performance cafe set. bought her first cd and now wishing i'd bought the second one two. new ep coming soon apparently.
8 Brian Houston 26
kept intending to catch this man, did manage to pick up an old live cd of his cheap.
performance cafe was just too full, it needs maybe 6 to 10 less table and a 100 or so more chairs. even then acts the size of Brian could really really do with a bigger venue.
9 MxPx 24
not sure why i listened to so many mxpx tracks, certainly had no intention of seeing them at greenbelt. to be honest it seemed whenever i was listening to the greenbelt event radio on last it would play an mxpx track every time i nipped out of the room.
10 Show of Hands 23
not played greenbelt for too many years. someone must get them back.
10 Utah Phillips 23
sadly Utah passed away this year but something of this man's spirit does live on in patches of greenbelt, real shame greenbelt never booked him.
ok from now on bands with no gb 08 link are deleted (well except a few who i think really should have been booked)
12 Michael Franti 21
he keeps cropping up on this list.
14 Iain Archer 20
greenbelt set advertised as and friends, should really have been "and usual musicians he turns up with plus a few family members he wanted to blag free tickets for" still fantastic set. nice little seminar thing with stockie on the friday too despite me choosing to sit at a point where we could only hear half of it.
17 Andy Yorke 16
great little set in the performance cafe, man deserves a bigger audience, glad i bought his CD before the fest as not available on site , ICC don't stock stuff on major labels (too low a profit margin it seems) for big name artists this is no big loss for folks like Andy it is doing a great disservice to both him and greenbelt punters.
20 Frank Black 15
Ok never was any real chance of greenbelt booking frank but he does a) have Charlie norman (larry's bro) as part of his band and b) do a mean cover of six sixty six
23 Martyn Joseph 13
nice little set from Martyn. not given half as much time in the program as he should have been (any idiot could tell it was going to overrun and there was enough time after that the comedians on after could have been booked for slots an hour later, as it was with overruns and time to empty venues etc they ended up on at later times anyway Delsio chiponda ended up with a much smaller adience then he had last year as a result of this. sorry supposed to be writting about music not comedy and errors by whoever compiled the program. MJ's anyway great just seen him twice since the last greenbelt so nothing too unexpected.
24 Will Tang 12
Ok thats 12 listens before the fest which sounded great sadly live he didn't really do much for me. all nice but nothing more than that. maybe just the mood i was in.
24 Abram Wilson 12
performed as part of Roll Jordan Roll, actaully quite liked some of his solo stuff, cant really say same for roll jordan roll. quality wise you couldn't fault it but really not my thing and judging by the size of the crowd most greenbelters were thinking the same way as me. great to have on greenbelt mainstage but really didn't justify a headline slot.
28 Michael Franti & Spearhead 11
third appearance on the list this time due an extra space in the band name (last.fm software can be very picky at times)
28 Danny Cope 11
good little set from Danny, impressed. given he is local am hoping might grab a chance to catch him again sometime soon.
32 Emmanuel Jal 10
great to have Jal back at greenbelt, smaller crowd than he deserved (at least for the first half of his set, fortunatly that meant most folks missing the big sound problems)) due in part to so many greenbelters ariving late on the friday and also due to the weird way the firday mainstage line up was put together (fans of either or starfield were unlikly to be staying around for Jal.
32 1 Giant Leap 10
not at this years fest but Jamie Catto was and i intentended to both catch his accoustic set and to see the 1 giant leap film, event i was in overran so missed jamie and after two bad experiences of the film venue wasn't going to risk a third (the room didnt work, the venue manager needed tech support etc)
32 Maggi Dawn 10
not at this years fest but did write a nice bit in the program
32 Cathy Burton 10
didn't catch cathy and not sure why.
32 Juliet Turner 10
couldn't get into the tent but watched from outside sounded great, new cd sold out before i got chance to part with my cash though.
32 Gareth Davies-Jones 10
intended to catch him in the end didn't work out that way. same him do one track with others in the Norman tribute.
32 Kashee Opeiah 10
dont think i was realy intending to catch Kashee but they do sound good.
39 Julie Lee 9
kept seeing Julie everywhere great woman, got her new ish cd and new ep.
39 Fightstar 9
saw a couple of tracks from fightstar seemed OK, nothing too special. wasn't really in a hard music mood at greenbelt this year though.
41Kinzli 8
41 Elliot Jack 8
41 Finchley 8
three good bands just happens to be three good bands i failed to catch.
41 Anathallo 8
pulled out of greenbelt pretty early on.
46 The Austin Francis Connection 7
wasn't really aiming to catch them at greenbelt though they do sound like a real fun band
46 My Spoon 7
46 Virgin Passages 7
two more acts i intended to catch, Virgin passages were circled on my program but it never happened.
46 Sinéad O'Connor 7
Ok not booked for greenbelt this year but did hear rumors folks were trying.
46 Linchpin 7
actually suprisingly good band from what i've heard. would be interested to see live just didn't happen at greenbelt this year.
time of their mainstage slot was changed - shame greenbelt didn't use the text message service to get this info out. still wouldnt have made the gig though was too busy defending my chair in the performance cafe.
46 Faithless 7
ok obviously not at greenbelt this year but founder member jamie catto was and i was upset i missed him (believe his accoustic set included a couple of old faithless numbers)
46 Giant Sand 7
good set on mainstage from the Giant Sand stuff i've heard had capacity to be a really great set which it fell a bit short of.
54 The Matthew Herbert Big Band 6
all the write ups on this band seem to focus on the experimental nature of the work and the electronica influences, from these 6 tracks all i heard was very competent jazz of no interest to me so avoided. listening on last.fm to Herbert's stuff on his own without the big band i prefered that.
54 Howe Gelb 6
played as Howe Gelb and giant Sand(see above) did bring on as a special guest one Mr John Parish (one of only two folks at greenbelt this year to have made it onto the rather select playlist on my mobile)
54 miriamjones 6
whoever uploaded miriam's stuff onto last.fm made an error with the first album missed a space hence this entery.
54 The Brute Chorus 6
quite a nice band really just not nice enoughto compete against whatever else was on at that time slot.
54 Daby Touré 6
quite fancied seeing Daby this year , another missed oppertunity.
54 Julie McKee 6
definatly wanted to see Julie at greenbelt this year, shame it didnt happen.
63 The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
early 90's band and what got me into the work of Michael Franti in the first place.5
63 Starfield 5
canada's answer to delirious? personally i was board of the Uk version so definatly in no need of a canadian one. still a good set on mainstage to a reasonable crowd or so i heard.
63 Spearhead 5
first two albums under this name before change of label resulted in name change to Michael Franti and…
63 Baluji Shrivastav 5
playing probably the smallest venue on site at a peak times when up against some of the biggest names on the bill. still stuff i heard on last is worth recomending.
63 Tankus The Henge 5
can't say they do a lot for me.
63 Larry Norman 5
saw the tribute to Larry . there is a limit to how much you can do in an hour but what was done was impressive. (thought centuar would have been at capacity which it wasn't respectable crowd all the same)
63 José González 5
saw one song by him i think , not in the mood really though clearly two thirds of folks on site were.
63 Paul Robeson 5
long departed so obviously not at greenbelt left on this list as Martyn Joseph does a track in tribute to him. which he did in centaur this year
63 Guards Of Metropolis 5
not at greenbelt, but really really should have been . band features charlie norman.
73 Voice Of The Mysterons 4
nice bit of heavy music in the underground, not the mood i was in this year. maybe next time.
73 Chip Bailey 4
has played greenbelt as part of so many bands somone really needs to give him a solo gig, though that wasn't likely this year (his cd features guests like duke special and aqualung both were at greenbelt 07)
73 Michelle Shocked 4
ok she was in england at the right time plays beautiful music and is outspoken about her faith and social justice - why oh why oh why didnt greenbelt book her?
82 Ed Sheeran 3
young lad never actually named on the gb web site still i managed to hear three tracks of his before the fest. definaly want to hear more
82 This Morning Call 3
from what i've heard prob the best band in the underground this year. still manged to miss them sadly
82 Unbelievable Truth 3
andy Yorke's old band , never as successful as his brothers band , friends will prob lynch me for this but Andy may well be more talented than his bro Thom
82 Foreign Slippers 3
not available on last so i actually paid good cash to download these mp3's , truely beautiful. did a couple of songs with Iain archer which also sounded great. still didn't manage to make her set though.
82 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 3
rumured to be interested in playing greenbelt and listening to these three tracks can see why would make a great fest headliner for next year.
99 Lobelia 2
not on the official line up but played two tracks in last orders on monday with her hubby and also part of Miriam Jones's band. seeing Lobelia in last orders was certainly in my top ten festival moment of the year so why dint she have her own set?
99 Yfriday 2
seems like they pulled out at the last min (ie at some point over the actual weekend) slot on the bill replaced by quench , all much the same to me really.
99 Death Is Not Welcome Here 2
actually quite liked these tracks , another band playing as part of the metal session in the underground. would have been intersting to catch them.
99 Helen J Hicks 2
really wasn't too impressed by these tracks , did though catch her doing one song at greenbelt which rather changed my mind. She did a track in the Larry norman tribute that was real beautiful.
99 Shlomo 2
saw a couple of this guys tracks from mainstage. now he had attracted a decent crowd who seemed to love him so who am i to criticise. crowd response certainly justified the slot he had just whatever he was doing was lost on me.
141 Cherine Anderson 1
given her guest stuff on franti's new cd was kind of hoping he might bring Cherine with him. oh well maybe next time.
141 The Vigilantes of Love 1
not at this years greenbelt but i did pick up an old album of theirs going cheap.
141 Ben Castle 1
was Ben at greenbelt this year anyone? he's dating Beth Rowley so its quite probable.
141 Michael Franti; Spearhead 1
yet another of franti's tracks somehow getting yet another tag.
141 Keith Ayling 1
former kato and K front man used to like his old stuff in the mid 90's.
141 Steve Lawson 1
steve in the end did end up with a greenbelt gig (as lawson, dodds, woods) still managed to miss that one. saw him in a number of other places though.
141Steve Lawson & Jez Carr 1
well they were both at greenbelt. a full set from this pair would have been pretty easy for greenbelt to arrange. no luck sadly.
other folks i saw at greenbelt not on this list Karen Grace . ok only saw her gig so as to not lose mt seat in the performance cafe, hadn't even heard of her. maybe a bit floaty for my taste but definatly want to hear more.
calvin's dream (just the one track) not seen or heard of these guys in well over a decade so that was a nice surprise.