Oi vey. On Thursday week before last Natalie, the showbiz producer at Five News, informed me we were going to Glastonbury. This was a good thing. Then I remembered I was presenting on Five News over that weekend, which meant I would have to bug out on the Friday after my reporting duties were done.
I could have called the other Five News weekend presenter, Phil Lavelle, and asked him if he would cover me, but I didn't get round to it, and as I'm doing 3 out of 4 weekends in July, it would probably mean doing something in August when I'm meant to be on holiday yadayadayada. So it was to be a flying visit.
As I drove down on Thursday night with my cameraman, the Incomparable Hedley Trigge (below),
we started listening to the various BBC local radio stations, to get some idea of what we could expect. The production plan was to do something on the average age of the Pyramid stage singers, which someone had decided was 45.
We were staying at Glencot House in Wookey Hole, quite the best hotel I have ever been to, and the plan was to meet there, but half way down we decided to try and get accredited the night before, as it can take a couple of hours to get a vehicle on site at Worthy Farm, even if everything goes smoothly.
I checked my twitter feed in the car and saw (via a couple of retweets) that TMZ were reporting Michael Jackson had been taken to hospital with a suspected 'heart attack'. I knew TMZ were a good gossip site, but given the qualifying adverb and the quotes, and the fact the last thing we'd heard was that he was being treated for cancer, I didn't think too much of it.
We got to the hotel where a platter of sandwiches had been laid on for us and discussed the morning options. On the way down we'd heard BBC Somerset say there would be "severe thunderstorms" and "potential flooding" at Glastonbury in the early morning. Hedley and I wanted to be there to film this so we arranged to get up at 5am and head to the site. We went to bed at 11.30pm for a short lie down. At 11.45pm Hedley banged on my door.
"Sky are saying Michael Jackson is reported dead."
"Dead?!"
We had a quick think and decided to stick to our early filming plans and then call the desk the moment someone got in (usually at 6am).
The alarm went off at 5am and I switched on Sky by which time they had dropped the "reported" bit and were into rolling news mode. Lara Lewington was the presenter's friend in the studio and Steve Hargrave was doing the odd live from Glastonbury.
We were on our way to the site by 5.30am. At the gate, as we passed the stewards I asked, out of interest:
"Your reaction to Michael Jackson's death?"
The steward gave the thumbs up and sneered "f***in' paedo."
At the next gate I asked the same question to a younger steward who immediately started gushing:
"Mate, I cried. Honestly. I couldn't believe it. I've got tickets to go and see him at the O2 and I've been collecting his albums for years. I've got some vinyl albums still in their original cellophane..." etc etc
Hmm. It was raining - like this:
but nothing "severe".
Once at Worthy Farm we met Steve who was packing up for the day as he had to go to a funeral.
We realised that rain was not going to be our story, nor was dadrock. Sky were in all hands to the pump mode, but we had left our stuff at the hotel and hadn't checked out so we went back, checked out and started wolfing down our breakfast.
Vivek, our programme editor, called and said we weren't doing a package or a live, but would be newsgathering for a Ruth Liptrot package. I was convinced that they would change their minds and request a livelater in the day, but to some extent it felt like the pressure was off.
We drove back to the site and couldn't get in. The gate guards had changed and apparently we didn't have the right vehicle pass. No matter how organised you try to be with Glastonbury, there's always something that isn't quite right. We got stuck for 90mins.
When we did get back in we spent the day getting voxes and interviews, none of which were used. Back at base everything had gone completely mad - Five had cancelled the 7 o'clock news programme and commissioned an hour long documentary from Five News, which was a massive undertaking.
By the time it got to 2pm I was starting to feel a bit down - there's nothing more frustrating than being surplus to requirements on a big news story and I couldn't understand why they didn't want a live. It would have been a nice bit of texture to the programme and all you'd need is a lead-in along the lines of:
"Michael Jackson was one of the biggest and most influential pop stars in the world, and at Glastonbury, the world's biggest music festival, fans have been coming to terms with his death. Nick Wallis is there..." and then I could say what I've been doing, what the atmosphere has been like, specifically...
a) most people at Glasto aren't natural Michael Jackson fans, but news of his death was being shouted around the campsites last night, impromptu tributes have been breaking out among fans and DJs in the various dance tents and that most people I've asked about him (the first two I quoted above being the two most extreme reactions I got) gave thoughtful replies about a man with a phenomenal talent but a terribly troubled life.
b) it's the musicians as diverse as Baaba Maal and the lead singer off of Maximo Park who've been the most shocked - paying tribute to his influence on them and how he changed pop forever...
Okay not earth-shattering revelations, but, as I say, I thought it would have added something. I suppose I can see why they didn't - most of the Five News audience would never have been anywhere near Glastonbury and the festival just doesn't have enough relevance to them or to Michael Jackson to make enough sense to put it in the programme, but I should have pushed harder to do something.
I only saw the first half of the 1700 Five News, but it was superb. Whilst Sky does what it does very well, to see the 1700 built programme tie up every single important line of the day, with such brilliant writing, production values and editorial depth made me realise the importance of stand-alone news programmes. We all watched the first half in virtual silence in the Sky truck and (including the Sky people) and felt a lot more across the story as a result.
With our job done I was left wishing I didn't have to go back to Sky on Saturday. To make the most of our Friday Hedley and I spent the rest of the evening haring between the Other Stage and the Pyramid Stage (with a half hour detour to Trash City (below)
as Hedley had never been and I thought, as he is a visual person, the visuals might appeal) to catch as many bands as possible. I had to leave Lady Gaga on account of her supreme pointlessness and enjoyed the final half-hour greatest hits medley by The Specials. We both wuz v impressed by the Ting Tings, and I got a new perspective on some of Neil Young's songs by seeing him live (particularly The Needle and The Damage Done). Besides, being part of that Pyramid Stage headliner crowd on a warm evening is a natural high in itself (realised below in true Almost-Like-Being-There-Vision by my mobile phone).
The act I enjoyed most was Friendly Fires. The singer is clearly nuts, and seems driven by an intensity utterly at odds with his unselfconsciously ankle-deep lyrics. And 'eckers do they look a shower. Really - the whole band couldn't muster an ounce of cool between them, which is, of course, what makes them strangely hypnotic.
I am sure they are all very knowing dadaist synth-pop intellectuals, but on face value they resonate with endless pop fascination. It's the best thing in the world to stumble on a band you know nothing about and actually get to like the music first. Now I am a Friendly Fires fan, I am going to spotify/itunes and google them to death and see if I still like them in 3 hours.
We left the site after Neil Young and Hedley drove us back. At 2.30am I got on me scooter and was asleep in my bed at home, sober and a little leggy, by 3.30am. Rock and roll.
PS There are permanent, clean flushing toilets at Glastonbury and I have found them, here:
No prizes for guessing where they are....
0 comments:
Post a Comment