Brilliant reads everyone! Thank you - I hope I can meet some of you next year
x

ok so here's my massive missive......
 
Thursday:
I’m bafflingly sluggish, not been really looking forward to the festie with my usual excitement and even on arrival (first major kudos to FR for getting the gates open early so no queuing in the rain) I’m just not my normal, bouncy, self. But then…..
Guillemots:  Secret set in the Sunday Times (only here a few hours and already feel like I need a shower). Simple set up (three guitars and a box), only four songs….but still I loved it…….8/10.
Nabokov:  Not quite as fabulous as last year’s production but still an incredibly enjoyable hour. 8/10.
Bush Theatre:  Compelling and laudable solo show in the middle of the woods. 7/10.
 
Friday:
Braids:  Electric and ethereal, good start 6/10
Temple Theatre: Kid orientated but superbly acted whiz through about 30 muddled together Greek myths. 7/10.
The Duke and the King:  Take a while to warm up but really deliver. 7/10.
Chapel Club:  First slight disappointment – they’re good but was hoping for better…guitarists in particular seem to be holding back and new songs are patchy 6/10.
Caribou  Pulsating, driving, brilliant. Shame I have to leave early for Bright eyes. 7/10.
Bright Eyes:  Fabulous from the start…love the duet with Jenny & Johnny…ending of Road to Joy and One for You is my first real wig-out. 8.5/10.
Admiral Fallow:  Beautiful and captivating 8/10.
Jenny and Johnny:  Marvellous…Big Wave a highlight….much more Rilo Kiley-esque than the album. 8/10.
The National:  Collosally good. Slow song stands out. Matt is on good form and surprisingly chatty. Missed a short bit for Alabama 3 but back for the encore. 8/10  (would’ve been more if I had’n’t’ve seen it last year)
Alabama 3:  Lucky timing allows me to catch their last three songs in among The National. They’re good but his voice is so shot this days it’s a bit of a sad reminder 7/10.
 
Saturday:
Rain rain rain……..7/10 (ok it was wet, but where was the real effort, the pyrotechnics, the new material?)
Yellowire:  lovely hotch-potch of The Only Ones and The Verve. 7/10
They Might Be Giants:  Brilliant fun – ok not musical genius but fabulously entertaining for 45 mins  7.5/10
The Walkmen:  They are clearly good but I just can’t warm to them 6/10.
Dionne Bromfield:  Looking for Dog is Dead, what happened to them? Passably average soul singer, more average than passably, 5/10.
Cerebral Ballzy:  Worst band in the world^TM 0/10
British Sea Power:  Fabulous. They’ll always be a “does exactly what it says on the tin” band but I danced throughout 8/10.
I am Kloot:  Ferris Wheels followed by To The Brink, Bigger Wheels too but Radiation is the highlight, my favourite set to that point 8.5/10.
My Morning Jacket:  Like a greatest hits of their stuff since I last saw them, which is great for me but I think more older stuff would’ve pleased the crowd more. Smokin’ from shootin’ and Touch me I must be dreaming pt 2 send me into heaven. 8/10.
Steve Mason:  More fabulousness if you ignore the hyperbole and silly statements  8/10.
Paolo Nutini:  Over and over is great but the early part of the set is too ordinary….where’s the jazz band I saw at V? They do wake up after Coming Up Easy 7/10.
1927 Theatre:  Fantabulous interplay of actors, animation, shadow puppets and music. Brilliant, hilarious and moving. 9/10.
 
Sunday:
Early Edition;  Between the Murdoch bashing and the News International bashing and the NOTW bashing it’s hilarious  7/10
Anna Calvi:  Damn good but slightly one-dimensional at present for the festival circuit. 7.5/10.
Treefight for Sunlight:  Mad as a box of frogs. Astonishing Kate Bush cover. 8/10.
When Saints Go Machine:  Prog-electro-folk meets drum’n’bass. I admired rather than enjoyed.  6/10.
The Naked and Famous:  Could not get in the tent but then they played my fave two tracks first so I boogied in the rain for 10 or 15 minutes then left for aptly named Waterboys.  7/10 
The Waterboys:  Solidly good and entertaining. Another Jewson band. Fitted in perfectly with the set I say at Wychwood. Steve Wickham puts in the musical performance of the weekend. 8.5/10.
Caitlin Rose:  Beautiful in every way. Going to be HUGE very soon. 8.5/10.
OMD:  Party of the weekend. Set of the weekend. Crowd went bonkers throughout and their reaction was just gorgeous….so stunned by the reaction they got.  9/10
Dry the River:  Bit ropey at the start but by the end they had me dusting off my HOTS comparisons. 7/10.
eels:  Garage blues stompy set that was just a perfect way to end for me. Well, not perfect – no Susan’s House, Mental, Not Ready Yet or Lucky Day in Hell!!!!  8/10
James Blake:  Too quiet to rise above the chatterers or to get my mind off eels. 7/10
 
Overall, lots and lots and lots of 7s and 8s….very little below that or above – sums the festival up really… solidly excellent, without the sprinkling of truly “special” that’s been there in the past, a la Jonsi last year.
 
Organisation wise though – it’s a massive improvement – loos, bridges, space, letting us in, all fab!

nice one geof, perfectly timed for my lunch time read.
 
think you need to have a beer sometime with call_h and discuss cerebral ballzy, i'd like to be a fly on the wall there.

You've spurred my interest in 1927 Theatre -- hadn't even read about them before this mention.