London Grammar @ Glastonbury Festival 2024

London Grammar @ Glastonbury Festival 2024 (Kalpesh Patel)

On Sunday night, the final day of the legendary Glastonbury festival, London Grammar returned as headliners of the Park Stage. Despite being the more low-key of the major stages, the Park Stage is one that has attracted hundreds of outstanding artists in the festival’s 50+ year history and, for a band making a slow return to the spotlight, it felt wonderfully apt. As the sun began to set, the trio emerged sombrely (and almost unnoticeably) to rapturous cheers from tens of thousands of fans who had sprawled way beyond the barriers and all the way up the hill to Glasto’s iconic Ribbon Tower. Front woman Hannah Reid looked almost unrecognisable in a matching oversized denim tracksuit, Raybans, and brown-tinted hair – a radical shift from the hot blonde ponytail that has come to define her style, but which continued to ooze coolness and glamour.

For just their second Glastonbury appearance, following a headline set on the smaller John Peel tent (now Woodsies) in 2014, the band kicked into classic sombre openers Hey Now and Nightcall, before launching into their first live performance (in front of a crowd, that is) of House, their latest single. After a brief moment to remove her sunglasses, Reid sheepishly addresses the crowd with a soft “hello”. It’s no secret that the singer has suffered from severe stage fright all her performing life and, in the build up to the festival, she further revealed just how much this performance means to her and her band. The nerves seem somewhat reflected in her shyness – and occasionally her vocals – but it is never deters from the beauty that comes from the music. Most importantly, it also never deters their fans.

She takes a moment to soak in the welcoming atmosphere before making a joke at how the band seem to easily “get away with selling sadness” and that the show will be “emotional first, and then…party vibes later on”. She wasn’t lying.

In a perfectly timed transition, the sun sets and the stage turns a deep red for Hell To The Liars followed by Wasting My Young Years and Lord It’s A Feeling. Visually the show is perfect in its simplicity: a few animations projected on a screen behind them, choreographed lighting to complement each beat, and the natural darkness of the night sky. It’s here when the confidence of the band really peaks, and the crowd gets the crescendo they’ve all been waiting for. More energy, faster beats and an assertive, physical energy on stage.

Nearing the end of the set and George Fitzgerald is welcomed as a special guest for Baby It’s You and Lose Your Head, Reid joking how it’s virtually impossible for any outsiders to join “this tight-knit trio”. The songs clearly resonate across the field as the crowd turns from sombre observers to vocal enthusiasts, before eventually usurping Reid’s role entirely by singing every lyric of the melancholy closing song, Stronger. It moves the band to tears, as they pause to take stock – hardly believing what’s happening.

With one deep bow (and a few photo memories) they close by thanking this deeply loving crowd for their energy, voices, and support. It’s a performance that, for all the pressure they admittedly created themselves, is sure to be the kick-start they needed as they return.

It’s true that there is no place on Earth ever quite so welcoming as Glastonbury.

Review of London Grammar at Glastonbury Festival 2024 by Lilen Pautasso, photos by Kalpesh Patel

Jamie Webster Keeps It Political With Billy Bragg At Glastonbury 2024

All Points East 2023

A short stroll around the park invites all kinds of experiences. There’s the jazz-pop independent artist, Raye, whose Winehouse-esque style drew a huge audience, shouts of “we love you!” picked up through her microphone. Around the corner and hidden deep within a large circus tent is French electronic music artist Folamour who had people very literally running to his set and roaring at every mix. And if it’s just dancing that you want, there’s always the BBC 6 music DJ corner, complete with arching light fixtures that give off a Glastonbury Arcadia vibe.

Late into the evening it was time for the headliners of the day: British nu-disco funk band, Jungle. With a big red curtain covering the stage, and distant jazz melodies playing in the background, the ambience felt far removed from the party scenes around the corner. A few notes into their first song, Us Against the World, the mood turns to elation and the curtain, which was supposed to dramatically fall to the ground, falls terribly off-cue and clings helplessly in the middle. It’s a comedic moment that no one really seems to care about – the energy has cataclysmically reached 100. 

Jungle, which consists of only two permanent members, has become immensely popular since first forming in 2013. Its founders, Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, have always spoken about the band as a ‘project’ where the emphasis is on the music’s surrounding artwork and videos, rather than any member’s own identity. This is exactly what they delivered. Against a backdrop of flashing lights, and mesmerising patterns on giant screens, the musicians perform in leather jackets, trench coats and sunglasses. They look fiercely cool.

Tonight, the founding members are joined by their touring band Lydia Kitto, George Day, Geo Jordan, Dominic Whalley, and Andreya Triana. Together they spare no time moving from one hit to the next – Candle Flame, Dominoes, The Heat, and Heavy, California – all without a breath, or a word for that matter. 

Their love for aesthetics really shines through. The show is a visual delight, each song perfectly paired with a visual design so perfect it’s entrancing. Casio with orange kaleidoscopes, Cherry with deep red veils, Happy Man with a funky yellow disco ball. It’s simple and effective. Meanwhile each musician sticks to their post, grooving along and occasionally encouraging an audience clap-along. They seem happily anonymised. While for any of the guest artists not appearing in real life they appear on giant screens, looking almost like hologram versions of themselves. 

Closing off the first part of their set with the totally groovy Good Times the space opens for an encore which is barely a minute long. There’s no desire for theatrics, merely a sense of duty to play all those songs their fans have been wanting to hear (and endlessly trying to guess). It’s all about getting the basics right – the music and the experience – and what better way to end their epic 25-song setlist than with hits Keep Moving, Fire, and perhaps their most famous of all, Busy Earnin’. Having featured in dozens of television shows, ads and even video games, the song evokes a rapturous response and concludes the performance in emphatic style. Still silhouetted in the darkness, the band humbly bow, exiting just as quickly as they appeared.

Live review of Jungle @ All Points East, London on 26th August 2023 by Lilen Pautasso. Photos by Dnieper Cruz.

Alison Goldfrapp Shines Among Equals At Somerset House

Take That @ BST Hyde Park 2023

(L-R) Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen of Take That perform on stage during Day 5 of American Express Presents BST Hyde Park on July 1, 2023 in London, United, Kingdom. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock)

The fact that the day coincides with London’s annual Pride parade couldn’t be more serendipitous. Around the park the crowd is a colourful and joyous mix of generations – there are the 20-somethings delighted for The Script, 30-somethings rejoicing the original Sugababes lineup, and the 60-somethings counting all the former members of Take That. It also feels particularly busy, and it’s no surprise that the festival has completely sold out for the day – about 65,000 people are in attendance, to be exact.

The crowd cheers when all three original members of Sugababes – Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Siobhán Donaghy – march into their positions on stage, choreographically of course. The trio, barely aged and donning their own 90s outfit (a trend that has also seemingly returned to the mainstream), bring with them a vibrant energy and style. Together they performed ten back-to-back tracks with only a few short intermissions to shyly promote their upcoming tour. But they certainly don’t shy away from all of their hit songs – Freak Like Me, Red Dress, Overload and, from the soundtrack of Love Actually, Too Lost In You, before concluding with Push The Button and About You Now. It’s a lovely, and sweetly humble performance.

Sugababes @ BST Hyde Park 2023

The Sugababes (L-R) Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy, perform on stage on Day 5 of American Express Presents BST Hyde Park on July 1, 2023 in London, United, Kingdom. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock)

The Script is up next and their arrival is a moment that feels particularly sentimental. It was the band’s first festival show since the death of co-founder Mark Sheehan in April – a moment the band tributed through the song If You Could See Me Now late in their set. Early on the band, led by frontman Danny O’Donohue, gave the crowd plenty of opportunities to sing along to long-term favourites such as The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, Rain and Nothing – a warm welcome that didn’t’ go unnoticed – “we feel like we’ve made so many friends today, thank you”, said Danny, as they gratefully said goodbye.

Headliners Take That are next and the crowd is a little rowdy. A few tipples in the sunshine and hours of anticipation have made them excitedly anxious – it’s clear they won’t leave disappointed. When it’s obvious the time has come, the roar of their fans is deafening. These fans are legit, so much so that when Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald run to the centre of the stage there is no music – just an acapella version of their opening song The Flood sung almost exclusively by people before them. The stage is busy with back-up dancers running up and down some makeshift stairs, your eyes drawn to the many hundreds of things happening at once. It’s chaotic and wild, it’s Take That.

A few songs in and the band welcomes Britain’s Got Talent’s Calum Scott for their most recent release, a remake of Greatest Day, before moving into a piano-led rendition of the song, Dancing On My Own by Swedish pop star Robyn (made famous by Scott on BGT). The camera pans around Calum, the same way it might do if he were performing at Eurovision, and perhaps sometimes it feels more like we’re there rather than the centre of London. Douze points for escapism!

There were pop anthems old and new, and with each one a very literal visual display in accompaniment – Shine involves thousands of phone torches, A Million Love Songs sees love hearts fill the giant screens, and Relight My Fire triggers (you guessed it) a row of flamethrowers along the stage, and a sneaky entry by 60s pop icon Lulu. As one fan put it before the show: “Take That feels like it could be a parody, but it’s very real”.

There’s a short break to allow the trio (and the audience) time to catch their breath after such a high-energy first half. The pause opens the door for some very enjoyable, and very British, banter. As Mark Owen thanks the audience for coming to see them after “four very long years” he goes on to pick his favourite banners in the audience: ‘this song is older than us’ draws a few giggles, ‘I think of you when I shag my husband’ roaring laughter, and ‘today is my greatest day, I made it through cancer’ a long and emotional applause, which leads the group into a special song dedication – The Garden.

It’s moments like these that make you realise the thin line between band and audience. Throughout the show there’s a sharp sense of togetherness not often felt at gigs these days. At a time where mobile phones, Tik Tok and Instagram stories can truly ruin those unique and beautiful moments you can only experience live, the nostalgia that was deliberately threaded into the day via the line-up, also came through in the experience, with people choosing to sing their hearts out and put their phones away (for the most part) to just enjoy the moment. One might say, to simply Take That all in.

Review of Take That at BST Hyde Park on 1st July 2023 by Lilen Pautasso. Photography by Dave Hogan.

Guns N’ Roses At BST Hyde Park 2023: Rock On A Scale Only Legends Could Achieve

BST Hyde Park 2023

BST Hyde Park 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)

What’s enjoyable about a festival of this scale is to simply observe the types of revellers the main acts attract. With a classic rock lineup there’s the standard black T-shirts, leather jackets, bandanas, and a few Slash hat/sunnies/wig combos, but what’s also evident is the generational variety – from the very young, the long-timers, the families, and friends some of whom share how Guns N’ Roses has been a part of their lives since they can remember – “my parents would sing Patience when I was a baby, and I walked down the aisle to a rendition of November Rain” said one.

BST Hyde Park 2023

BST Hyde Park 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)

Preceded by their loyal touring companions The Pretenders – rock legends in their own right – it was a joy to see frontwoman Chrissie Hynde and her band back touring. Together they played an engaging set, blending hits with back-catalog tracks, looking classically cool while doing so. With the wind picking up on stage (would it be a rock show without a wind machine?) the group moved quickly through their set ticking off Talk Of The Town, Hymn To Her, Tattooed Love Boys and the classic I’ll Stand By You – “I promised Axel I’d do this one”, Hynde proclaimed. It was a smooth and easy exercise, and perhaps not before the type of crowd they had a week earlier, but an excellent opener no less.

Seven o’clock and the anticipation was palpable, the gaps between bodies promptly filling up.

Rock ‘n’ roll imagery beamed onto giant screens, skull caricatures with snakes moving slowly from one eye-socket to the next, before it transformed into a chaotic and dizzying spiral through buildings, waterfalls, mouths, forests filled with dinosaurs – a cacophony of nonsensical visuals all culminating in a nuclear explosion as the band runs on stage and soars into It’s So Easy. It’s the euphoric entry one might expect, and be disappointed to miss.

All the long-standing members are all there – Axel Rose with a bandana by his waist, Slash with his hat and blue aviators, and Duff McKagan donning his patched leather vest. Alongside them are Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer and Melissa Reese, all of which are more than capable of keeping pace – a pace so fast Axel himself fell over during the second song – “I don’t wanna jinx it, but hopefully I got all that slipping and sliding out of the way”, he joked.

There’s a surprise performance of Slither (a song by Velvet Revolver, a band born out of the GNR ashes), before a non-stop journey through Mr. Brownstone, Welcome To The Jungle and Pretty Tied Up. Civil War became an ode to Ukraine, TV Eye (with Duff on vocals) a tribute to The Stooges. And then there’s Live And Let Die (possibly their best cover) performed on its 50th anniversary.

Axel’s energy is as inspiring as it is exhausting – his signature sways giving us a renewed taste of the 80s. And there’s a moment for Slash, too, his solos are long and masterful, his facial expressions traditionally unreadable. And all of this is just two hours in. There’s a whole hour to go.

While it feels impossible that the show could dial up further, it effortlessly does. Sweet Child O’ Mine and November Rain both gleeful performances, fans singing in tandem and (somewhat annoyingly) recording the moment on their phones. Patience, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Nightrain proved that there were still many bangers to come.

So as the stage went black and a voice proclaimed they’d be ditching the traditional “we’re not coming back… or are we?” encore it was a strong queue that this gargantuan 25-song, three-hour show was nearing an end. And what an end it was. Don’t Cry and Paradise City closed off the evening in emphatic style as Axel, wearing a union jack top hat, exercised some British politeness to thank the 60,000 people before him and asking them to “please get home safely”. Rock and roll can be sensitive, too!

Review of Guns N’ Roses at BST Hyde Park on 30th June 2023 by Lilen Pautasso. Photography of Guns N’ Roses by Guilherme Nunes Cunha Neto. Other BST photography by Kalpesh Patel

Guns N’ Roses Bring The Energy And The Hits To Glastonbury 2023

In fact, it is Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron who has played in both bands from 1998 and until the untimely passing of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell in 2017. The band has regularly cited many punk and classic rock bands as influences, including the very band supporting them at British Summer Time (BST) – Pixies, Vedder making a point to recall a time he and bassist Jeff Ament bought a bootleg tape of Pixies live at the Brixton Academy at Camden Market way back when.

On an exceedingly hot day in London, thousands of fans crammed into the ‘Ten Circle’ (aptly renamed for the occasion) for well over the planned starting time.

Extra waiting time gives plenty of opportunity to look around. Immediately noticeable is the stage design which, through clever lighting rigs, has been made to portray a feeling of intimacy – a feat seemingly impossible amongst the tens of thousands of people watching. As real life images of the crowd are beamed onto the screens, the familiar Beatles tune All You Need is Love is played to introduce the band on stage.

Dressed in black jeans, a black tee and a white oversized shirt – frontman Eddie Vedder draws an emphatic roar as he stands motionlessly, soaking in the chorus of voices before him. Squinting through the beaming sun he peers into the distance as the camera pans to show an arena replete with people, the emotion visible on his face. “Fuck it’s beautiful out here!” he says. “I feel like Adele right now” – a clear reference to the English singer’s shows on the same stage the previous weekend where her singing fans, by some accounts, could be heard well outside the park.

Starting with Better Man and veering into Low Light and Breath (a tour first), it was lovely to watch the lighting rigs acrobatically shift with the music, and the footage on the screens cleverly superimpose images of the band and crowd into colourfully edited filters – making it look just like a music video.

Whilst only allowing a few short moments for between-song-banter, these were meaningful intermissions that offered Vedder the chance to highlight some of his muddled thoughts. The silly side of him compared the sunset to an LSD trip, and made jokes about fans fighting during The Eagles’ song Take it Easy at BST a couple of weeks prior. While his more serious side – the one for which he’s famously known – dedicated the song Light Years to a fan that passed away too soon, and uttered his contempt of religion and gun control laws in the United States. It was an eclectic jumble of themes, but one that has come to personify his own brand as frontman.

After a few songs, there was no greater enthusiasm than for the jewel in Pearl Jam’s discography and debut album single – Even Flow. A song known to everyone, and one that offered Vedder’s bandmates a moment to put on their own show for the audience. Guitarist Mike McCready playing the iconic solo entirely behind his head and going on for way longer than originally recorded, a performance fittingly ended by smashing his guitar into the wall of amps behind him. Perhaps a ‘nod’ to their grunge rock roots.

Turning the notch down with 1993 single Daughter, the lighting rig shaped into deliberate angles above them creating beautiful purple curves, before sharply turning diagonally to form triangles as the song changed into 2020 single Superblood Wolfmoon and moved progressively into a cover of Public Image and popular hit Once.

With the sun setting in the background, the band returned after a short dalliance offstage, and were joined onstage by support act Simon Townshend – a musician most famously known for his association with The Who (and notably the band’s frontman and his brother Pete Townshend). With a real life image of the moon magnified behind them, Vedder and Townshend performed an acoustic version of I’m the Answer – Simon adding depth with a beautiful 12 string.

As the band ventured back to rejoin Vedder, they closed off their set in rhapsodic fashion, playing bangers Jeremy, Alive and Neil Young’s classic Rockin’ In The Free World for which they conjured tennis legend John McEnrore – in town to commentate at the Wimbledon tennis championships – to join them on guitar.

With two tambourines in hand Vedder repeatedly ran from one side of the stage to the other, jumping off amps and throwing the tambourines into the crowd in hectic fashion. It is a chaotic end befitting of the artists frequently touted as the pioneers of grunge, and repeatedly acclaimed as one of the best live acts in the world.

Live review of Pearl Jam at BST Hyde Park by Lilen Pautasso on 8th July 2022. Photography by Kalpesh Patel.

The Rolling Stones at BST Hyde Park 2022: All About Charisma