Being something of a confirmed alternative/weird music snob I can say with some honesty that I wasn't highly enthused by the prospect of this years' Glastonbury line-up, at least from seeing the headliners listed ...
However, spending much of the weekend stuck in front of the TV watching coverage and hopping around in multi-screen mode a few acts did in fact have me pleasantly surprised. A shortlist would have to be Omar Souleyman (how could anyone not dance to that?), The Vaccines, Battles and Jah Wobble's absolutely brilliant set. My personally picked 'Top Three' as follows:
Sunday I honestly spent WAY too much time trying to see if BBC would show this - finally at just before midnight my patience paid off and just as I hoped Mold's finest performed a mindblowingly great set. Just my cup of tea - loud, poppy, 'vast-cathedral-of-sound'-esque sonic delights. Joyous; Oh Yes, Formidable; Hell Yeah!
2. The Kills:
Saturday had The Kills on the Other Stage and something makes me think that the transatlantic duo will soon become a damn-sight bigger than they already are. Production and quality of the last album Blood Pressures was astonishingly good, and The Kills don't fail to provide a seriously sleazy, bluesy and just plain visceral set live.
3. Warpaint:
Something of a new discovery for me, US 4-piece Warpaint were what I would class on my list as 'must be followed up' ... Musically, the closest comparison I can think of is from back in the 90's when we had something called 'Shoegaze' - (now rebranded as 'Dreampop' if my genre taxonomy is up-to-date). Warpaint certainly have echoes of such - making me think of Laika and also Throwing Muses a little.
Whatever you call it, Warpaint have their own sound that puts you into a very nice place, and keeps you there - marvellous. For the point of view of my tastes - a lovely find.