My favourite parts of summer are nice hot beer garden's, girls wearing a lot less clothes and well ,  the daddy of all festivals ,  Glastonbury.  Deciding that cars a) Kill the environment and b) Get stuck in 8 hour traffic jams into the site, the Wax Music crew decided that travelling by Coach would be the safer option.  After being cursed by a Witch at Victoria who called  the  group of four men 'Silly cows' because we took more than 30 seconds to move our bags out of her way (She then said she 'hoped it would rain'), we successfully boarded the coach and the crazy brummie driver set about getting us to the Vale of Avalon.

After what was possibly the most boring coach journey of all time, we arrived in sunny Somerset.  Sensibly deciding that camping next to the Dance Tent was the way forward we pitched up the tents.  By now it was about 4pm on the Thursday  so we started to explore the site.  By the early hours of the morning we had danced to the Trance on Radio 1's mini-pyramid stage, danced with Puppets to 50s Rock n Roll and shouted abuse at the 'Live Forever' screening in the Cinema Field.  By now we were all rather wasted and decided the way forward was sleep.  

Friday is when the real fun begins, missed the Darkness because they were on at 10:15 am and that really kids is no time to Rawk!  So our first band of the weekend was the Inspiral Carpets.  The Witches curse was working and rain started, but that didn't matter as we were treated to some old Madchester classics, greatest hits all round and good vibes. Clint Boon is the only one who still looks 'Cool as Fuck' though, especially when playing with his organ.  After Madchester we joined the Daisy Age with De La Soul.  I thought there sound was a bit ropey, but when you have tunes as great as 'Me Myself and I', the peace and love vibes of Glastonbury kept the party going. 

Not having fully recovered from the previous nights abuse, we decided to retreat to our tent to where we could chill out and listen to the beats wafting over from the nearby dance tent. However, the sound of the Audio Bully's taking to the stage was too much to resist and so a quick wander into the dance tent was rewarded with an anthemic rendition of We Don't Care along with the excellent Joe Cocker sampling Face In a Crowd. It all sounded a bit UK Garage live but maybe that was just my wasted mind playing tricks on me. I hope.

Next up  it was back to the Pyramid stage for Idlewild . Idlewild are one of my favourite bands, but I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed by what was quite a subdued crowd.  Unlike last year when 'American English' soared it just felt flat, where 'A Film For The Future' should encourage mass moshing and anarchy, I think the majority of the crowd were getting themselves prepared for 'Royskopp'  who had us reaching for the  lasers, although a bit too prog in places for me . Always nice to nod your head along to 'Poor Leno'  though.  Then the dilemma was Bald Middle Aged Man singing like Kermit the Frog or Bald Middle Aged Man gurning like Kermit the Frog?  In the end we chose Fatboy Slim over REM on the strength of last years set in which he ripped the place apart with real party anthems.  This year though was a bit too dark for me and in the end we just got bored and wished we were watching REM instead.

Saturday and the sun was shining.  Started the day by trying to catch Anthony Wedgewood-Benn in the leftfield tent  but it  was far too hot in there so what better way to enjoy the sun, than  by checking out Living Legend and all round top guy Jimmy Cliff.  You want hits! This man has got them  -  'You Can Get It If You Really Want' , 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People'  and 'The Harder They Come' being the outstanding highlights of an amazing set.  Was truly touched by it and have now started exploring his back catalogue. After that the sunstroke and intoxicants started to kick in  we ended up passing out in the beer tent and managed to miss most of The Polyphonic Spree  (who were wearing nice red robes) so instead headed towards Steve Harley. Not too sure what went on but we didn't make it.  Next band seen were Supergrass, one of my favourite live bands. Made me feel 16 again longing for hot summer days and cider  (wait up its Glastonbury and we have both )! Personal highlights being 'Caught By The Fuzz' and 'Moving'.  

Animal Costumes, Fireworks and Fake Blood, it could only be The Flaming Lips, although due to circumstances beyond my control I missed most of the set.   However,  I was lucky enough to witness 'She Don't Use Jelly' and 'Race For The Prize', my 2 favourite songs so I was happy.  Then Radiohead, with what is probably the finest festival set I have ever seen!  From the almost Tribal opening of 'There There' to ending with a positively orgasmic version of 'Karma Police' via an incredible journey, which saw an almost jolly Thom Yorke dancing and joking.  Radiohead played the best bits from 'Hail To The Theif' (and there are lots) and an incredible selection of their greatest hits. They didn't play 'Creep' but with a set this good, it wasn't missed.

By Sunday the weekends abuse had started to take its toll and so getting to see bands became almost impossible. However, there was some an amazing line up in the dance tent and so the occasional short wander was made by various members of the Wax Music crew. Camden resident Just Jack was first up in the dance tent and he performed an excellent set of mellow cockney grooves (click here for full review), the perfect warm up for the pursing mayhem of EZ Rollers stunning drum & bass assault. My only qualm is that the set was too short and that they clashed with Asian Dub Foundation on the main stage (Mr Eavis, tut tut). A quick dash across the site ensued and luckily we managed to catch the best part of the ADF's fusion of beats, banghra and bedlam. I did find the set slightly disappointing though as the band seems to be leaning further towards dub rather than their earlier breakbeat powered live performances. The following few hours still remain a blur although vague recolitions of Roni Size, DJ Zinc and an excellent rendition of 'LK' by DJ Marky & XRS still remain.

It was now time to brave the world of indie music again and so we headed off to catch Grandaddy on the other stage. I have seen Grandaddy at various festivals and have never failed to be mesmerised by their beautiful live renditions of an amazing repertoire of songs. Today was no exception and as far as I am concerned, only their beards stand in the way of world domination.  

It was now time to head back to the dance tent in anticipation of The Streets.The Scratch Perverts were up first and they provided a set of full on party anthems that included Nirvana and The White Stripes - not at all what I was expecting but they certainly had the dance tent jumping. Which was more than that can be said about The Streets who finished the weekend with a hugely disappointing set. Having seen Mike and his crew at Brixton a few weeks before, this show was the ultimate anti-climax with a terrible sound that made his MCing fade into a low rumble hidden somewhere behind the music. Still, the anthems were there and the crowd swayed along regardless to the whole of Original Pirate Material while the big screen projected images of an array of promo videos in the background. Infact, the much loved Irony Of It All was played back on the screen while the band stocked up on reefers and stellas backstage before returning for their finale of Weak Become Heroes which eventually morphed into the Ashley Beadle remix that had the tent bouncing away.

Well Monday we got up packed up the tents and headed back to London. Well what can I say ? As always a great weekend, didn't see half the bands I wanted to but we fitted in a bit of comedy - special mention should go to 'The Mary Poppins Experience'  who was truly terrible.   Tom Conte's daughter with her hand up a monkey's arse while it shagged  a pint glass was another highlight of the weekend.  The green fields are always good value, just for chillin in and watching the mad people  and there is nothing more amazing than sitting up at the stone circle just watching all the craziness around. Once again Glastonbury has done as proud.