Saturday 28/06/08 Glastonbury Festival, Day Two @ Worthy Farm, Pilton

The second day of first class festival antics started with some high-calibre hangovers for those revellers who had over-indulged on day one.  Thankfully the sun defied Glastonbury convention and came out, easing headaches everywhere.  There was more than enough to draw punters from the comfort of their sleeping bags, too, especially in the run up to headliner Jay-Z, as the tension mounted over the ‘hip-hop at Glastonbury’ controversy…

Festival favourite, Seasick Steve, took to the world famous Pyramid Stage early on in the proceedings.  He could’ve been lounging on a porch-chair somewhere in America’s deep south as he kicked back onstage, recounting stories about riding freight trains and confronting his step-dad at the age of thirteen, whilst casually swigging from a bottle of whisky.  “Do you want to boogie?” he cried to the crowd before slipping into ‘Dog House Boogie’, played on none other than the ‘Three Stringed Tranz Wonder’, his poorly assembled, customised guitar (which also introduced several Seasick story-telling specials).  With the sun shining, there couldn’t have been a better start to a big day, as punters shook and slid about in the dusty fields to this very distinctive brand of modern-day hobo-blues, smiles abound.

Just a little later, over at the John Peel stage, the synth strong thumping emanating from the tent signalled the start of Holy Fuck’s set.  The genre-defying Canadian experimentalists proved that electronic-sounding music can be created mac-free and still be just as hypnotic.  Holy Fuck’s wall of organic beats stood at the gates to Glastonbury’s Dance Village, where Metronomy, A-Trak, and Simian Mobile Disco played on into the afternoon, for those that preferred their afternoon mash-ups with a side serving of sunshine.

Jack and Brendan were the main afternoon draw for most, however, as The Raconteurs graced the Pyramid Stage, pulling a huge audience.  Benson’s electric vocals during ‘Shades of Black’ prompted more than a few embarrassing, cider-fuelled air guitar performances in the crowd.  But it was White, pallid as his name suggests, that proved himself perhaps the greatest guitarist of his generation during the jaw-dropping squall of the ‘Blue Veins’ guitar solo.  

Word went round almost faster than the growing number of people suffering from sunburn, not least thanks to a Gigwise exclusive, that The Last Shadow Puppets were filling the Park Stage’s ‘Special Guest’ slot with a very special acoustic set. The stage came into its own in the failing daylight, as Turner fans gathered for the occasion.  The ensuing performance proved that sometimes bigger is better, as Alex and Miles struggled to bring the epic song-writing on ‘The Age Of The Understatement’ to life minus their usual 16-strong string section.  Despite a patchy set, the adoring crowd left elated due to a particularly dazzling cameo by Jack White to a cover of Billy Fury’s aptly-titled ‘Wondrous Place’, a moment from the likes of which Glastonbury legend is surely born.

If The Last Shadow Puppets suffered from a scaled down live sound, Pyramid Stage support act, Amy Winehouse, had the opposite problem.  Whilst Winehouse’s showstoppingly good live-jazz band stopped and started with ease according to their frontwoman’s every whim, the critically-ill tabloid darling herself staggered and slurred her way through a shamefully poor set, her emaciated, drug-addled appearance alone unsuitable for the huge numbers of families and small children in the audience.

Dusk turned to dark as Amy made her way off stage, and the families in the audience thinned as everyone jostled for space in front of the main stage.  The air was static with tension and onlookers fidgeted, eager to see how the great 2008 hip-hop debate would end.  Suddenly, the huge cinema screens flanking the Pyramid Stage crackled to life, and Noel Gallagher’s northern tones cried out from the speakers, “Hip-hop at Glastonbury, no fucking way.”  Then, defying all expectations, Jay-Z emerged sporting a (purely decorative) acoustic guitar to the sound of Oasis’s Wonderwall, inducing an elated sing-a-long on a scale that must have made the greatest rapper in the world quake in his boots.  As it turned out, there was little need for concern.  Wonderwall morphed into cries of “Jay-Z, Jay-Z!”  The big man threw his guitar to one side: “I just got one thing to say,” he screamed to the name-baiting crowd, “I got ninety-nine problems but a bitch ain’t one!”

Over an hour of top class hip-hip followed, thick with chart-invading hits that were welcomed with open arms and ears by the lively sea of punters, who ‘bounced’ and sang along at Jay-Z’s command.  It was unexpectedly brilliant entertainment, encompassing everything from serious political statement about Bush’s legacy, to spurious, commercially colourful stuff like ‘Girls Girls Girls’.

“I thought you didn’t want me here?” Jay-Z playfully taunted to the audience as the gig drew to a close to adulatory applause.  There were undoubtedly few in the dancing mass that hadn’t had their misgivings about American gangster rap snatching Britain’s top live spot of the festival season.  But, just like the unusually glorious Glastonbury weather, Jay-Z proved to us all that sometimes it’s from the lowest of expectations that the most magical festival moments emerge. 

Click through below to see all the action from Day Two: