Glastonbury live: Saturday at the festival with Cyndi Lauper, the Last Dinner Party and more | Glastonbury 2024
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Key events
Poor old much maligned Keane are on stage at the Pyramid right now, and I have to admit that Everything Changes, a song that usually creeps me out, sounded pretty good from our Guardian booth. Lots of people joining it seems.
While you’re watching Last Dinner Party do their adorable ‘Kate Bush meets Guillemots’ thing, why not read yesterday’s Guardian G2 cover story where they talk to Elle Hunt about misogyny, their crazy festival season and those industrial plant allegations
Otoboke Beaver reviewed
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
The Park, 3.15 p.m
Probably what you want most in an afternoon heat like today is a gentle soulful jazz played on a flute accompanied by passing songbirds. But in the park you get absolutely red-hot hardcore punk from Japanese band Otoboke Beaver. Concerns about clashing with the weather quickly evaporated, however, as the all-female quartet proved to be one of the most irresistibly charismatic acts of the weekend.
Their sound is pure old school punk, with seething rhythm guitar, high speed and the occasional melodic bass, lots of shouting and absolutely no solos. But they wring so much thrill out of that old sound by being incredibly tight: the songs are full of smart math-rock time changes, with microsecond areas of silence suddenly filled with throbbing noise again. Meanwhile, the band’s floral dresses are less of an ironic juxtaposition with the music and more of a gleefully feminine confounding of expectations—which comes through in the songs, too. Sung mostly in Japanese, one of them is presented as being inspired by a YouTube comment asking why the band doesn’t sing in English. The clever English line is a constant repetition of “I don’t know what you mean” followed by a scream of “SHUT UUUUP!”
At the end, lead singer Accorinrin slams the microphone into his skull at about 180 bpm, and guitarist Yoyoyoshie exits the stage via an inflatable rubber beaver ring surfing the cheers as he leads them in chants of We Are the Champions (or rather “Champon ”, after their Super Champon album). One of those sets where a band just won a few thousand new superfans, and another great punk performance at this edition of Glastonbury.
The Guardian’s one-time Glastonbury estuary correspondent Tim Burroughs spotted this Essex flag after Cyndi Lauper’s set. Colin and Katie (and friends) from Brentwood, home of the Peasant Rising / Towey, said the flag was a tribute to their friend Darren, who died on the way home from Glastonbury. A fitting tribute to a deceased partner and a far southeast county.
Over on the Other stage is one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend: The Last Dinner Party making their Glastonbury debut. The crowd looks huge. Review pending.
The entire booth was packed around watching iPlayer Otobok Beaver, who broke into an impromptu performance of We Are the Champions for reasons unknown. The guitarist then launched an acoustic guitar into the audience and crowdsurfed on a giant inflatable beaver. Above, Chris Martin.
It also does a great job of preventing drowsiness (see 3.57 p.m) are Otoboke Beaver on the Park stage. The Japanese punk band makes quite the noise – full of stop-start riffs, tortured screams and sometimes the faintest hint of a melody. Not for everyone, but it worked for me. We’ll have a full review from Ben Beaumont Thomas later.
Topics reviewed
Jason Okundai
Another scene, 2.15 p.m
It’s hard to believe Tems abandoned her just this month debut album. The term meteoric rise is a cliché in music criticism, but since breaking out with her appearance on Wizkid’s 2020 single Essence, she’s won Grammys, with another Grammy nomination and an Oscar nomination to her name, as well as features and background vocals for the likes of Drake, Beyoncé and Rihanna. It’s a dream run, but when Tems take the stage, you get the feeling that Glastonbury is up there with the great career milestones. “Glastonbury! We did it,” she shouts, and “I’ve never sung in front of such a big crowd before.”
She’s clearly amassed enough of a following and the crowd roars and sings along as she launches into a high-speed rendition of 2021 single Crazy Tings, bobbing in a patch of ornamental grass against a sunset savannah – a clear reference to her album Born In The Wild. Although she often sounds shy when speaking to the crowd, she confidently and comfortably belts out Avoid Things and Damages and enjoys regular dance breaks. Dressed in a shimmering navy blue jumpsuit glittering with fringe, she swings around the microphone stand, swings it, spins it. When she announces Replay, she says, “I want you to whine through the waist of this one,” and in front of me, a group of ladies dance with each other, whining softly, with no sign of knee pain.
While it doesn’t completely shy away from the big vocal moments – like Turn Me Up – it feels too reliant on the warm-up singers at times. But when she leans into that smoky, seductive alto voice, she shines. It’s a voice at home with Afrobeat as well as contemporary American R&B and soul music – and it perfectly complements the themes Tems sings about, whether she’s rejecting unsatisfying lovers – “Although bro, I could’ve let you go” – or talking about breakup: “If you’re not mine, then we’re just wasting time.”
But it’s the TikTok viral Afrobeat song of the summer, Love Me Jeje, that really gets the crowd moving, with friends and lovers cooing and declaring their affection. “Are there any lovers in the house?” Thames asks. “Imagine the person you love and hold them tight.”
She closes with Free Mind, delivering a beautiful finale, singing “the peace you can’t buy.” You feel like you’re witnessing someone experience one of the biggest moments of their life, there’s a sense of victory as she runs off the stage, and you can’t help but smile for her.
Lanre Bakare visited a new immigration stage at Glasto Terminal 1, where to enter you have to answer a British citizenship test question:
It’s suddenly getting very hot down here at Worthy Farm and it’s getting a little sleepy in the Guardian’s cabin. To wake up, I got on fire Alogte Oho and his sounds of joy on iPlayer. The Ghanaian Afrobeat star has been taking West Holts by storm with some fabulous glittering outfits.
Gwilym Mumford
Hi Gwilym here, I’m taking you through Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury. We have big reviews coming up – Cyndi Lauper, The Last Supper, Themes – so don’t touch that dial! (Do computers have dials?)
Now I’m going to the park for a bit Otobok Beaver, and then see whatever Russell Crowe plans to take us to the acoustic stage – so I leave you in the capable hands of Gwilym Mumford.
A few more photos from 47 Soul earlier taken by our Johnny Weeks.
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