A-Z of Festivals 2008

United Kingdom | | 22 December 2008

A – Amy Winehouse

The Queen of Camden has had her highs (we’re talking V Festival, Essex here) and her lows in 2008, but a loyal legion of fans, knockers and bookmakers have captured every last slurred note. Whether lumping the crowd at Glastonbury or distastefully changing the lyrics of ‘Nelson Mandela’ to “Free my Blake-y my fella” at the former South African president’s birthday celebrations, she’s certainly made the headlines. Maybe it’s a case of - to quote another track by The Specials - ‘Too Much Too Young’.

B – Burning things

While the portaloos at Reading and Leeds survived their ritual torchings thanks in part to the commendable efforts of the ‘Love Not Riots’ movement, elsewhere organisers were warming to the idea of full scale festival fires. The Secret Garden Party’s pirate ship was blown up just hours after fans had been dancing on its decks, while The Big Chill set fire to a giant house as part of a huge pyrotechnics show known as ‘The Big Warm’, both providing stunning spectacles.
Reading’s car park fire was less deliberate, 11 cars going up in flames after a fan’s barbeque “got out of control”.

C - Crooning

Without doubt, some of the most spine-tingling and heart warming moments came via some very special old timers. 2008 saw the welcome return of two true legends in Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen, who between them hadn’t performed on British soil for more than 20 years - and never at a festival. Diamond appeared close to tears as a massive Glastonbury audience took him to their hearts, while there was hardly a dry eye in the house as Cohen brought Glasto and The Big Chill to the weakest of knees.

D – Dance raves on

2008 marked the tenth birthday of Creamfields and 20 years since the birth of acid house, so what better way to celebrate than to follow the festival’s proven formula with a twist. The original field disco has always prided itself on refusing to bend from its one-day dance roots, but when it’s your birthday you can do what you want! Cue a two day camping festival, a headline show from Kasabian and one of the most successful dance-indie hybrids ever.

E – Edwyn Collins

The most heart-warming story of the summer has to go to former Orange Juice frontman, Edwyn Collins, who continued his long recovery from illness with a truly moving comeback appearance at Glastonbury. After suffering a major cerebral haemorrhage in 2005, an illness which almost cost his life and long prevented him from playing guitar, the singer mapped a determined return which also saw him perform at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in his native Scotland.

F – Flying

Another sensational return came in the form of old school rockers KISS, who brought some comedic proceedings to Download by ‘flying’ over the crowd and breathing (yes, yet more) fire. It must have been a strangely familiar view as swinging singer Paul Stanley looked down upon the crowd, with scores of fans painting their faces in tribute to their glam rock heroes.

G – Glasvegas

The most hyped band of the year started off in a sweaty Komedia club at The Great Escape and ended up packing out the Festival Republic tents at Reading and Leeds. Exuding the everyman attitude which has helped Oasis and The Enemy attain superstar status, and with accents sounding like every festival security guard up and down the country, expect them to be filling fields next year.

H – Headbands

Headbands were THE festival fashion accessory of 2008. Spearheaded by psychedelic New Yorkers MGMT, trendy teens picked up on the stateside fad by encircling their craniums with the brightest colours known to man. Next year expect a fluorescent Dr Marten revival, or something.  

I – Invitation

Most have an extensive VIP list but few invite an entire festival. In a momentous swipe of torrential rain, Sunrise Celebration was reduced to a sloppy, brown mess – looking somewhat like the inside of a portaloo. But like a giant, gracious Wet Wipe The Big Chill softened the blow, cleaned the festival up and gave it some space at their Eastnor Castle home, which was nice!

J – Jay-Z

When the great debater Noel Gallagher weighed up all options and wisely concluded that Jay-Z shouldn’t play Glastonbury, the media circus trapezed into full swing. Why should the world’s greatest rapper perform at the world’s greatest festival? Not the most astute claim from Noel-it-all. But it proved an unfounded one as the New York MC provided one of the most memorable sets in recent memory, cheekily crowned with unforgettable version of ‘Wonderwall’ – something Oasis haven’t managed for some time at a festival.

K - Kilimanjaro Live

Former Live Nation boss Stuart Galbraith’s new company helped dig the Big Green Gathering out of its own personal credit crunch with the eco-friendly festival now set for a 2009 return. The music promotions firm has also invested in Bloodstock and Wakestock with the aim to turn both into market leading festivals.

L – Lightspeed Champion

Lightspeed Champion, AKA Dev Hynes, made his way onto more festival bills than any other act in 2008. Performing at a monstrous 31 events over the year, the singer songwriter will be taking a very well earned rest over the winter period. Funnily enough, he disbanded his former band Test Icicles due to the ‘constant pressure of touring’.

M – Moonfest

Money and weather – the two main reasons for festival cancellations this summer - but Wiltshire’s Moonfest added a third in August. Organisers pulled the plug after local police banned headliners Babyshambles from playing. Apparently Pete Doherty and co incite fighting in the crowd because the band “speed up and then slow down the music and create a whirlpool effect”. They should’ve booked Dirty Pretty Things instead.

N – Nelson Mandela

How many other 90th birthday parties have you attended where the hired entertainment was Queen, Razorlight and Annie Lennox? Probably very few. So when rumours circulated that Eminem was to be lured out of retirement to wish Mr Mandela a hip-hop-happy birthday, the world clamoured for an invite. It didn’t happen, of course, but Will Smith took to the stage and rapped ‘The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’ theme tune, which was far more historic.

O – Overseas

More and more Brits made their way overseas for their festival fill, especially with favourites like Radiohead absent from Britain’s summer billings. Despite the strengthening of the Euro against the Pound, festivals such as Benicassim, EXIT and Pukkelpop continued to attract armies of UK fun seekers, while the likes of Garden Festival in Croatia and Snowbombing in Austria literally transported a festival’s worth of Brits to top holiday destinations.    

P – Pendulum

If 2008 was anyone’s year it was the year of Pendulum. How many other acts can play in front of the moshers of Download, the rockers of Reading, the trendies of Bestival, the ravers of Creamfields and the teeny boppers of BBC’s Big Weekend and be adored by one and all? No we can’t think of anyone either...

Q – Queues

The inevitable festival nemesis returned, but a few notable combatants shortened their homecoming. O2 Wireless introduced a patrolled one-way system for bars to ease the squash at the pumps, but it was Slovakia’s Pohoda Festival that cut queues down to size with their beer-by-SMS scheme. Punters simply text for a beer, wait to get a code and then simply collect. Might be a bit hard when really drunk though.

R – Reunions

Led Zepplin, Rage Against The Machine, Sex Pistols, The Verve and The Police all got back together to boost the bank balance a bit. Rage’s homecoming to Reading may as well have been the second coming of Christ, the Zeps O2 Arena show was the Mothership of one-offs and Johnny Rotten calling The Police ‘bumholes’ at Isle Of Wight was one thing. Praying to Allah at EXIT in Serbia was another entirely.

S – Sing Ye From The Hills

British Sea Power tried their hand at staging a bash at The Tan Hill Inn – the UK’s highest pub. And if this year’s event is anything to go by landlady Tracy will be inviting them back in 2009. With a capacity of just a few hundred, fans were treated to husky racing, a competition for the loudest voice and a 57-minute jam from British Sea Power, Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Arctic Monkeys.

T – Terry Hall and Friends

Unable to call themselves The Specials for their reunion at Bestival, the band formerly known as The Specials plumped for Terry Hall and Friends instead. Bestival organisers cryptically billed them as ‘Special Guests’ and while it was one of the worst kept secrets of the year, few were guessing that Grace Jones would appear on stage afterwards. 

U – Underworld

If any act was due a break this year it was Underworld. After suffering life threatening illness and being flattened by rampaging anarchists in a Greek stadium riot during 2007, the dance duo returned to what they do best, thrilling crowds with uplifting anthems. They proved an essential ingredient to this festival year, stopping at Creamfields, Bestival, Rock Ness, Escape In The Park and O2 Wireless along the way. 

V – Vince Power

The festival guru, sent packing from the UK festival industry after selling his stake in Mean Fiddler in 2005, returned to the business this year in quite striking form. Comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh not only performed for the first time at a festival, but headlined their own bash, leaving room for Neil Young to top the bill at the non-corporate Hop Farm Festival a day later.

W – Will Young

Will Young proved the common denominator where reality television finally collided with festivals. The industry probably isn’t quite ready to let the likes of Shane Ward and Leona Lewis hit main stages yet, but Pop Idol’s most accessible asset has certainly made a mark this summer. Glastonbury, T In The Park, Bestival and most notably V Festival welcomed the pop star this summer, and if Girls Aloud can break anywhere other than V, we may soon need to pass a reality restriction on festivals.

X – marks the spot

This year new acts like Vampire Weekend, Laura Marling, Glasvegas, Duffy, Black Kids and many more hit the spot marked ‘breakthrough’ at festivals, but who will it be next year? It’s up to all of you to help decide.

Y – Youth

“The youth is starting to change,” sang another of those contenders, MGMT, during their Leeds Festival performance. In regards to that particular event, and ‘the kids’ in general, they weren’t far wrong. The fires and riots that have plagued certain festivals in the past seem to have finally stopped, and, dare we say it, 2008 was one of the best behaved festival years of the decade. Now it’s more wellie throwing and campsite shouts of “bollocks”. Ahh kids.

Z – Zoo Thousand

There are festival cancellations and then there are complete catastrophes. Zoo Thousand’s novel idea of holding a festival in a zoo may have looked good on paper, but it went disastrously wrong after an investor pulled out, closely followed by a number of bands. But at least it went ahead unlike others such as Wild In The Country, Wax:On and Blissfields, which became early casualties of the credit crunch. Anyway, enough doom and gloom, it’s time to party like caged animals!  

by Ross Purdie and Daniel Fahey