Glastonbury line-up hots up by Yvonne Gordon
The excitement is hotting up for Glastonbury 2007 – the official line up has now been announced and the exciting list includes so many massive names and treats planned for all stages, it’s going to be hard to decide which acts to see. Big headliners include Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Killers, The Who, Kaiser Chiefs, Bjork and Arcade Fire and treats include Amy Winehouse on the main stage, The Who headlining on Sunday night, with Bjork and Arcade Fire promising explosive sets on the Other Stage.
Main Stage The main attention is, as always, focused on the Pyramid Stage, an iconic stage which has had some of the most famous artists in the world playing on it and forms the centre of the festival every year. This year promises to be just as legendary, with Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Fratellis, Bloc Party, The Magic Numbers and Amy Winehouse among the main acts that will burst onto the Main Stage on opening day and night, Friday 22 June. On Saturday, it’s the turn of The Killers, The Kooks, Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini, Lily Allen, Dirty Pretty Things and Guillemots among others, and Sunday night will see appearances from The Who, Kaiser Chiefs, Manic Street Preachers, Dame Shirley Bassey, James Morrison, Marley Brothers Present The 30th Anniversary Of Exodus and The Waterboys
The Other Stage Acts playing the other stage are just as crowd-drawing – Bjork, Arcade Fire, Rufus Wainwright, The Coral, Super Furry Animals and Bright Eyes on Friday; Iggy And The Stooges, Editors, Maximo Park, Babyshambles and Klaxons on Saturday, with The Chemical Brothers, The View, The Go! Team and Mika among those confirmed for Sunday – so it’s going to be difficult as always, for festival goers to decide which big name acts to go and see.
John Peel Stage Organisers say that the John Peel stage will be bigger than ever this year, and this year’s big acts include Hot Chip, Maccabees, Mum Ra, Jack Penate, Hold Steady, The New Pornographers and Tokyo Police Club on the Friday, with acts like The Twang, Get Cape Wearcape Fly, Patrick Wolf, Bat for Lashes, Pigeon Detectives and Calvin Harris on Saturday, with Jamie T, Just Jack, Mark Ronson, Scott Mathews, Young Knives, Rumble Strips, The Horrors and Noisettes all taking to the stage on Sunday.
JazzWorld Stage The Jazz World stage will host a generous helping of Jazz and a wide range of World music, with many types of funky fusion in between – headliners for Friday include Damian Marley, Amy Winehouse, Toumani Diabaté & Symmetric Orchestra, with Rodrigo y Gabriela, John Fogerty and Guillemots playing on Saturday and Corinne Bailey Rae, Fat Freddys Drop, Amp Fiddler, Beirut and Tinariwen closing on Sunday.
Acoustic Stage
The acoustic stage promises a lot of treats – many Irish – from Damien Rice, Hothouse Flowers, Sandi Thom, Jack L and Lisa Hannigan on Friday; The Waterboys, Nick Lowe, Eric Bibb and Richie Havens on Saturday, and The Bootleg Beatles, KT Tunstall, Moya Brennan, London Community Gospel Choir and Steve Forbert on Sunday.
Dance Village
If the great line-up of bands is too much, dance it all off to a mix of hot live acts and DJ sets in the Dance Village, where some of the main stagers will play second sets. In the East village, Friday will see Fat Boy Slim, The Klaxons, Gus Gus, Simian Mobile Disco and Max Sedgley get the crowd grooving; while Saturday brings Mr Scruff, Mika, Mark Ronson, Yoda and Sugadaddy to the stages. Dance Villagers will be moving to Carl Cox, Pendulum Live, Dave Clarke, Vitalic and The Glimmers on Sunday.
Over in the West side of the village, expect great sets on Friday 22nd June from Trentemoller Live, Danny Howells, System 7, Surgeon A/V Show, Eatstatic and Jim Masters; with Sasha, Hybrid, Mr C, Meat Katie and VJ Anyone, Uberzone and DJ Hal on Saturday and acts like Krafty Kuts, Coldcut, Steve Lawler, Dreadzone and Bitesize blazing the village on Sunday.
Other Stages
Other great venues this year include the GStage, Roots, The Lounge which opens on Thursday 21st June, *** Parlure, ID Spiral, Avalon Stage and Avalon Café Stage, The Glade Stag, Croissant Neuf Stage, Left Field stages one and two, the ever popular Lost Vagueness village, the Babylon Bandstand, Stonebridge Bar (in The Park), and a Poetry&words tent, Late’n’Live, Theatre, Circus and Cabaret, and lots of travelling street and circus acts – and a cinema for anyone who needs to escape for awhile.
Festival gates open at 8am on Wednesday 20th June. Glastonbury 2007 Tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale. For more information on the line-up and facilities, visit www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
Yvonne Gordon is a MelodyTrip writer, view her preview of Electric Picnic 2007 at http://www.melodytrip.com/MTNews/Default.aspx?NewsID=4501