Out with the old and in with the new as VV Brown’s new-wave Motown reignites exhausted minds and burned bodies. Swamped out by enough speaker stacks to blow tons of tents away into the sun-soaked sky, the likes of Shark In The Water and Crying Blood pierce the musty, bustling particles of Glastonbury air, reenergising better than a warm Red Bull. Up next over on the John Peel tent, the compère’s reeling off another hideously misguided stab at MJ, before Baddies bumble onstage, ripping ferociously through One Eye Open and Battleships in their sharp suited custom uniforms. Followed by dubiously coiffured former Ladyfuzz drummer-turned-ska scrounger Esser, there’s hope in the Union Jack amidst the American stalwarts and juggernauts that scale the heights of the bill. The quirky dubstep of sure-fire stinger Headlock backed against the impeccable scuffle of Satisfied conjure up the ideal summer soundtrack. Claiming to be unable to express his emotions, the dedicated few gathered before his altar of raggedy drums certainly have no such trouble. If Esser rustles up around two hundred, Spinal Tap seem to have spurted out about two-hundred thousand, crawling out of the woodwork for yet another reunion and whilst their humorous imprint on pop culture may be timeless, their records never crank it up to 11. The true shock of the weekend, bar the disappearance of Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, Kanye West and Muse, none of whom appeared at their over-hyped, spectacularly non-existent shows, was Peter Doherty’s prompt arrival for his Other Stage show. And to top it all off, he appeared to be all fixed up, looking sharp even if his lacklustre solo material floundered about in the exhaustion of post-Libertines Brit indie monotony. Far from monotonous is Shlomo, the criminally ignored Brummie beatbox genius. Joined for a second consecutive year by his newly replenished vocal orchestra and a slew of big-name acquaintances; Jarvis Cocker stumbles onstage to blurt out Fat Children, DJ Yoda’s decks battle in vain with Schlomo’s vocal chords and Imogen Heap improvises her way through an impromptu dreamy harmony.Dropping in Bonkers, Teardrop and Out Of Space just for good measure, he’ll take some beating. Bashing the eardrums of an entirely different demographic, Deadmau5 draws a mob of Radio 1 ravers to spin his web of paradisiacal house breaks as I Remember swathes across the sweat-drenched obsessed adorned in flashing mouse helmets. Such is the warmth in the sweltering East tent that the mau5 behind the mask appears to bask in his ecstatically ephemeral euphoria. The essential dance set of the weekend. Not so revolutionary are the tired screams of Pendulum’s nu rave, the elephant defeated at the hands of the mau5. Bringing true desperate inspiration to Worthy Farm is Bon Iver. Playing the first of two sets over on the secluded Park Stage, the intimacy pulls enough heart strings for human organs to fall to the floor, hanging by a thread. Creature Fear and RE: Stacks drag the first few tears flooding from their reservoirs, whilst the rousing chorus of The Wolves (Act I And II) sees existence reaffirmed, as every mouth gradually whispers, yells and bellows the emotion-splintering refrain of ‘What might have been lost’ ad infinitum, before gearing up for it all over again in a fair few hours...
