Live Report: Saturday At Glastonbury Festival 2014

More words and pictures from Pilton…

What Clash saw on the second day proper of Glastonbury Festival 2014. Click the image above to scroll through our gallery. Find Friday’s action here

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Worthy Farm has resembled a moody teen as of late, with torrential downpours interrupted rudely by blistering flickers of heat. And on the main stage today, the music flirts with both heavy metal and cinematic R&B – while us tent-dwellers slap on the after-sun and waterproofs in equal measure.       

The musical equivalent of a Berocca and welcome morning pick-me-up, Kelis is a hot pink dot on the vast Pyramid Stage. To great delight she rattles through ‘Milkshake’ and ‘Trick Me’, as well as the Stevie Wonder-like ‘Jerk Ribs’ from her much-hailed Ninja Tune LP, ‘Food’. But the scheduling of Lana Del Rey right after Kelis is misjudged.

While Lana does do justice to ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Video Games’, she falls slightly flat after the fiesta that was Kelis. Lighting a cigarette for ‘Blue Jeans’, the singer slow-grinds with her guitarist, but ‘Summertime Sadness’ is aptly applauded by a colossal shower of rain. Everyone scarpers.


MACHINEDRUM

Over at the Glade, Machinedrum is showcasing his epic ‘Vapor City’ live setup, with hyper-real visuals of an imagined city providing the chance to get lost in the jungle-juke whispers of ‘Gunshotta’ and ‘Eyesdontlie’. A truly immersive experience.  

We catch the end of Jack White’s set, where he teases on the following act with a clanging rendition of ‘Enter Sandman’. A collective roar of ‘Seven Nation Army’’s bassline from the crowd is all that’s needed for him to play the classic anthem as an encore.

So we lie in wait for Glastonbury’s curveball of a booking: Metallica. Our position – right at the front of the Pyramid Stage – could end in pain (we’re told). Darkness settles in and there’s a film of foxhunters getting their brains blasted out by gun-toting bears. Who then remove their costumes to reveal themselves as Metallica. A high-energy, rib-rattling set ensues, with Lars Ulrich banging out an extended version of ‘Master Of Puppets’ (below) as well as ‘Whiskey In The Jar’.

Time for some synthesised beats now, but you can barely move your arms at Disclosure’s DJ set at Arcadia. Guy and Howard blend their own tracks into other meaty house burners, but sound quality isn’t great and wellies are firmly glued to the well-stomped ground. Seth Troxler is next to ascend the spider’s angular limbs – whose groove-ridden selection blows the brothers’ out of the water.

Hell cannot exist without heaven – and vice versa (as William Blake went to great lengths to stress). Shangri-Hell’s office block nightmare was our night yesterday, but now’s the time to counteract that darkness with Heaven’s amber glow. Bearing in mind that absolutely everything at Pilton right now is caked in a greenish, squishy mud, the angels that guard the pearly gates do unbelievably well to keep a white carpet clean-ish in their inner sanctum.

On entry to the heavenly dome we’re gently told to place our wellies in white bags, then tiptoe across the carpet onto a mattress to gaze up at mesmerising swirls of ink on the ceiling’s screen. The angels float, offering head massages, cocktails and smiles. Heaven’s portaloos even have gold-framed pictures of fluffy rabbits.

The light outside is calling, but the flaming heat of the Hell Stage claws us back for one final dance with Run Tingz Cru leading a full-on junglist rave. Having let ourselves be seduced yet again by the Shangri-clutches, it’s time for the inevitable pilgrimage up to the stone circle for a showstopping view before bed.

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Words: Felicity Martin (Twitter)
Photography: Carys Lavin (Twitter)

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