The Verve at Glastonbury 2008
Epic Space-Rock Set from Richard Ashcroft and Crew at Pilton Farm
The sun has finally set on another Glastonbury Festival and this year has seen the return of Richard Ashcroft and crew as they geared up for an epic space rock trip to lift the frazzled crowd one last time on a weekend that has seen some of the biggest names in music come together.
This years Glastonbury Festival has had its fair share of controversy surrounding slow ticket sales and the furore surrounding the booking of hip-hop artist Jay Z but with the sun blazing and a line-up as diverse as the aforementioned hip-hop star, new bands such as Vampire Weekend and band of the moment Glasvegas through to established superstars such as Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen, Michael and Emily Eavis party turned out to be one of the best ever.
The reformation of The Verve, one of the biggest British bands of the last decade had already made front page news in the music magazines and their earlier tour had been a triumph. On top of all this they played a set in Coachella festival which cemented their place as one of the great bands and one that could truly break the American market. There was only one place left for them to play and that would have to be a celebratory headline set at the world famous Glastonbury Festival. Never has there been a festival that suited the space rock leanings of the band and provide them with the platform to say "we're back, we belong here" and in the words of Richard Ashcroft prior to the opening song "This is music".
A Northern Band - Mass Sing-a-Long
Taking the stage to their classic from second album A Northern Soul they immediately set their stall out as a band who wouldn't take any prisoners. The crowd erupted into a mass pit of writhing bodies screaming along to every word with music fans from all walks of life united. The pace didn't let up for an hour then with second song Sonnet carrying the mass sing-a-long to new levels of crowd participation.
Unafraid to rest on their laurels and play songs that the audience knew they also introduced a couple of new songs to the set. The first one, Sit and Wonder had been in the set since the earlier tour and has now become a highlight with Ashcroft asking the crowd if the sun is ever going to shine while the lights from the stage take the the crowd on a journey reminiscent of old Hawkwind shows.
As was expected the hits followed with Lucky Man, The Drugs Don't Work and a wonderful History interspersed with classic album tracks such as Life's An Ocean and Velvet Morning. All that remained for their triumphant return was A Bittersweet Symphony, a song which was part of the Britpop zeitgeist and has become a standard of the 1990's music scene in Britain.
Crowd Pleasing - A Symphony For The Masses
Richard Ashcroft led the crowd through the song although he could probably have not sang a word and let everyone do the work for him. An outstanding highlight in a festival which had already had so many and a perfect way to shut the critics up who had tried to say that Glastonbury was dead. It would be churlish to say that The Verve had saved Glastonbury but they had definitely made their mark on it.
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