Saturday 28th of June

The sun was shining when I awoke, slowly baking inside my tent. I checked the time and realised I wasn't late.

I scurried down to the Pyramid Stage, had a truly pathetic taco for breakfast (I was beyond trying to observe regular rules for meals by now) but was in the perfect position to see a living legend take to the stage.

SHAKIN' STEVENS

Shakey's still got it! Tapping into some of my earliest memories of bouncing on my parents bed to 'This Old House' Shakey delivered a rock and roll spectacular that proved he could still sing. If there was some disappointment it was the refusal by the Welsh star to perform 'Green Door' which must have really annoyed the guys who carted an actual Green Door down to the Pyramid Stage (it was dual purpose, having a message for JAY-Z on the other side). Overall though a great way to kick off the Saturday.

It was then time to leave the festival, albeit briefly. I went and met Mark and the 5th Estate Estate and picked up a load of books for distribution on site. The east car parks at Glastonbury are vast, extending as far as Oxfordshire. After a good 35 minutes of wondering I finally found Mark and loaded up with copies of the 5th Estate Sampler. There was an eerie quiet in the car parks. The festival seemed distant. This must be what it's like for residents of Pilton I thought...

I wondered back into the site and distributed some books. The take-up was actually faster than the Hay Festival which was encouraging. People who like cider, like books, was my conclusion. Dumping my big rucksack back at the tent, I went in search of the Socialist Bookshop, more on whom later and then all the way round to the Other Stage for

NEON NEON



Who for me were the biggest and best surprise at this festival. A side project of the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS' Gruff Rhys and Bryan Hollon AKA BOOM BIP Neon Neon was a glorious return to 80s electro, forged via a concept album about John De Lorean, automobile entrepreneur. While this is precisely the sort of tenuous bollocks that would have me running for the hills the whole thing actually works, brilliantly so. Evoking Depeche Mode and even New Order at times, Gruff duetted with Cate Le Bon on the great 'I Lust U' and then upped the ante with bringing out club favourite HAR MAR SUPERSTAR belting out the brilliantly seedy 'Sweat Shop'. I like Gruff in his Super Furries guise, but this was so odd, interesting and downright fun I hope NEON NEON stick around for a while.

CASSETTEBOY AND DJ RUBBISH

Cassetteboy is actually two grown men in silly masks who perform mime to a selection of genius cutups. 'Harry Potter and the Underage Blow Job' is a particular highlight. DJ Rubbish is not a DJ at all, but an MC with a DJ in a Mexican wrestlers mask. This is exactly the sort of thing that would liven up the Jonathan Ross chat show occasionally.

DUFFY
Was my album of the year until I heard Neon Neon. Duffy took the stage looking like the sort of pop pixie that could out-Kylie Kylie. And she almost bloody did too. Her voice is something else, motown/soul quality from one so little. While most of the crowd were there for her top hit 'Mercy' her versions of 'Distant Dreamer' and 'Rockferry' (my personal fave) were more incredible, she's top-notch and look forward to seeing if (hopefully) she tries her hand at some Goldfrapp style reinvention...

And now a note about flags. Regular readers of my Glastonbury blogs will know how much I detest these standards waving about in front of the stage, you may as well write 'I'M A MASSIVE COCK!' on each one for all I care. During Duffy, I found myself stood next to a man carrying one of the flags. So I asked him about it.

"It's for identification mainly, so other members of our party, there's four of us, can see where we are."

Four of you! There's about 15 of us, but we don't feel the need for a flag... Or in this case a retractable pole with a pathetic windsock on the end of it... Think people, think before you give into the flag madness!

I had a nap now, the first time in four days I'd needed a siesta, I was holding up better than last year.

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS

Surprise band on the Park Stage who weren't Tenacious D (how do these rumours start?). I didn't stick around.

My phone, despite changing batteries was running seriously low on power. I decided for the first time ever to drop into the Orange Chill and Charge Tent. This was a seriously bizarre experience, in the middle tent the size of a barn, a DJ plays techno while people sit around tables waiting for their phones to charge, for the most part not making conversation, but staring into space, only stopping to check their phones. While I was grateful for the rest I was struck by the strangeness of the activity. Phone charging is not something that should be attempted socially. Not to mention that for ages Orange have been flogging the Nokia 6300 (my phone) and yet only had about six points to actually charge it at. I wonder how much the electricity costs over the weekend?

AMY WINEHOUSE

I saw the last three songs. She was wasted, falling over herself, talking gibberish and yes, punching the crowd. She can sing though, she just needs to lay off the booze and drugs before she does. They're for afterwards, Amy, afterwards!!

JAY-Z
The main event. Everything about the weekend seemed to be hanging on this performance. Arguably one of the biggest names in the world, the first hip hop act to headline Glastonbury had to be something extraordinary. And it was. Beginning with a video clip of Noel Gallagher laying into him, other clips followed, watch the whole thing below.





The show that followed was all about one man and his mission, Jay-Z strode out to Wonderwall, his two fingered salute to Noel and then pounded the stage with '99 Problems', awesome isn't the word. Covers of 'Smack my Bitch Up' and 'Rehab' followed with huge hits like 'Girls, Girls, Girls' and 'Big Pimpin' kept the crowd moving. If we have one complaint it's that Jay-Z didn't use the other weapons in his arsenal. We'd been promised special guests like Beyonce, Chris Martin and Rihanna - none showed up. The man had decided that he needed to do this alone and he did so spectacularly. Good entertainment is good entertainment full stop, no matter what your music background is. 'Hardcore, do you want more?' Yes, yes please!

VEXKIDDY

Time for some late night raving at the Glade with theatrical dance act Vexkiddy. For those that don't know Cuthbert and Strangeways, they're a Bristol based outfit who dress their manic hardcore rave up as a Victorian Time Experiment (that's the experiment going wrong again on the left). However their shows appear to have been increasingly more shambolic. This time around as they were playing the 1am slot which is a Silent Disco. Unlike the Silent Discos up at the Park you had to pay £10 for hiring your headphones. This confused late arrivals. Secondly a lot of people didn't understand Vexkiddy's way of playing out scenes between the music. So people started booing when the music stopped and the two guys started chatting. It ended with microphones everywhere, a decimated stage and some disgruntled looking roadies.

On the way back up to the tent I got stuck behind some guys with a huge flag. On the flag it read 'TEXT ME ON 077998...'

I was so glad I'd charged my phone. I texted away, but didn't get a reply, which I assume means he took my message of 'YOU'RE A MASSIVE COCK' the way it was intended.