In just a week or so, the 2013 Glastonbury Festival will be opening its doors. With the full line-up announced and stage times revealed, it’s off to the clash calculators, but away from the headline acts, Glasto has a habit of throwing up some interesting nuggets you might not notice at first glance, and has its own quirks totally worth highlighting. Here’s just a bunch that popped out when I trawled through the line-up, as well as some light guesswork…
ASAKUSA JINTA
Hell Stage (Shangri-La) Thursday 20:00 – 21:00 / The Rocket Lounge (Shangri-La) Thursday 21:30 – TBA / Salon Carousel (The Unfairground) Friday 23:30 – 00:30 / Snake Pit (Shangri-La) Friday 02:00 – 03:00
Big, loud, brassy, punk ska always goes down well at a festival as it’s perfect live party music, and self-styled Asianican Hard Marching Band Asakusa Jinta (named after the Tokyo district where street bands used to roam and play) look set to deliver the goods. I unfortunately missed them last time they were in the UK (with a short tour in 2009), but they’re playing almost as many times over two days as they did over a longer period then, so there’s little excuse to not try and catch them peddling their glorious rambunctious noise at least once.
FIRST AID KIT
Pyramid Stage Sunday 12:45 – 13:30
First Aid Kit at Field Day 2009
One of the joys of returning to a festival year on year is seeing the rise (and some times fall) of acts based on their stages and placement on the bill. Last time First Aid Kit played in 2011 (or was it 2010?), they flew in for a brief appearance on the Greenpeace Stage to an audience of roughly 20 people. This year, their Somerset House headline gig was one of the first to sell out, and here they are on the Pyramid Stage – an early slot for sure, but still a neat indicator of their growing popularity. Guess there is a market for gorgeous Swedish country-folk after all.
FOKN BOIS FEAT. SISTER DEBORAH
Toad Hall Saturday 01:30 – 02:30
Need I say more?
WILLIAM’S GREEN
Tucked down at the bottom of the line-up list, you’d be forgiven for not even knowing what William’s Green was. Seemingly taken over a space recently occupied variously as the Queen’s Head Stage and the Leftfield Stage, it also plays host to some of the biggest names of the festival playing secondary slots. Sure they may be slightly truncated, but it gives you another chance to see the likes of Everything Everything, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Savages, The Vaccines, and Palma Violets at a more reasonable, less clashy hour (similarly if you don’t fancy getting an Ulrich Schnauss fix at 3.30am on Sunday night/Monday morning), as well as your only opportunity for potential goodness from Public Service Broadcasting, New Build and more.
MONSTER’S UNIVERSITY
Pilton Palais Sunday 11:00 – 12:50
Sunday morning’s first film screening of the day has traditionally been a TBA slot filled with a preview of the latest Pixar offering, and all signs point to Monster’s University appearing in this slot in 2013 (especially as Monster’s Inc 3D is showing in the same slot the day before). Though you’re not getting quite the jump on the general public as in some years (it’s UK release is July 12th), it’s still worth it for bragging rights, as well as masking those bleary Sunday morning eyes with a pair of 3D glasses. That is if you are up in time – the queue is always massive for this one, so be prepared to get there at least an hour before show time to stand a chance of getting in as space is limited. Though the thought of depriving a toddler of their ‘new bestest film evah’ might be too much bear.
SPECIAL GUESTS
While we’re on the subject of TBAs, there seem to be less obvious indicators of special guest slots this year. More will no doubt become clearer once you’re on site, but The Park is usually where the big ‘surprises’ turn up. Unless The Park is closing early on Sunday night, there would appear to be a slot up for grabs after Cat Power is done at 21:45. Given that Thom Yorke has previously hinted at appearing in some shape or form this year (and Radiohead having played The Park as a special guest act in 2011), I would be pretty amazed if Atoms For Peace didn’t fill that gap (or at least one gap somewhere). They recently played a secret pre-tour gig in LA, so maybe this could also have counted as a Glasto warm-up too.
Viewing Gum 