As Beach Fossils came onto the stage and began their first track of the night, the audience was brought alive by a sudden moshpit. Kicking off the show was Generational Synthetic. Beach Fossil’s stage presence was charismatic and amusing. They filled the pauses, in between songs, by joking about. Continuously, they played hit after hit as the crowd fell into a pit, constantly lifting crowd surfers above their heads.
A few songs later they played Down The Line, which was clearly a fan favourite. The entire performance of the band was phenomenal. During sugar, the entirety of the crowd sang every word along with the band. As the set progressed, the audience did not seem to tire as energy buzzed between them and the band. Once the astonishing performance of Closer Everywhere came to an end, Beach Fossils exited the stage. Instantly, a chant for an encore began.
Re-entering the stage, they brought The Haunt back to life with Crashed Out. Afterwards, they did a brief cover of Wonderwall with the lead singer of the opening band. To conclude their exceptional set was daydream. The crowd surged forward as the stage became the new pit. By the end of the song the stage was taken over by an invasion of the audience.
100% would recommend you attend a Beach Fossils shown the next time they play near you. Unbelievably talented live and create an immense, remarkable and intimate connection with the audience.
Completed as part of my work experience at NME Magazine.
As the sun has set on Glastonbury 2019, we look back over the new killer acts who rocked the weekend.
With the post-Glasto blues still raging, we decide to look back over the sunny weekend at who were the upcoming artists who had their very own “Glastonbury Moment”. Many artists humble beginnings began at Glastonbury. Even rumoured 2020 headliners, The 1975, started off at Williams Green and early slots on the Other Stage; like many artists, they’ve grown over the years they’ve performed. Although Glastonbury does boast a lineup of artists who are all the rage right now, they don’t ignore the smaller ones trying to make their way up. Thankfully, 2019 was no exception to this, so here are, some of, the best upcoming artists who had the “Glastonbury Moment’ they really did deserve.
Who: Roma Palace
Where: The Rabbit Hole, 2pm Thursday
Why: With only one song on Spotify, the Brighton based there piece are proper newbies to the music scene. The lads found it “felt quite surreal playing Glastonbury so early” yet “ felt very honoured to be there”. Heading down the Rabbit Hole on a hot Thursday afternoon, punters were greeted with funky indie tunes and dance along songs. On it being their first time, the band said “it was such an amazing experience for us. We didn’t really know what to expect as we’re still quite a new band but we couldn’t of asked for a better first gig at Glastonbury, the tent was packed, the energy was amazing and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves!” Regardless of the size of a band, Glastonbury is still a major thing, “There were quite a lot of nerves before the show, a lot of our favourite artists were playing this year, we arrived at the rabbit hole 2 hours before our set so there was a lot of sitting around”. Thankfully they found ”as soon as we got on stage the nerves went away, we had an amazing time”.
Must watch moment: A highlight for myself as a member of the crowd and the band themselves was during their single ‘Tell Me’.”We asked for the crowd to get down and jump for the last chorus and the tent went off!”
Who: Dream Wife
Where: Left Field Stage, 7:30pm Friday
Why: Founders of the bad bitch club, Dream Wife are a band setting a stage on the political music scene. By blending notes of the riot grrl genre with an underlay of indie rock, they’ve been created a sound powerful enough to propel themselves onto various festival lineups around the world. Dream Wife, without any doubt, stormed Glastonbury. Their presence on stage made them seem no longer first timers but as though they’d been coming to Glastonbury for years- as performers, not punters. (waiting on interview answers)
Why: Since releasing ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, newcomer Slowthai has grabbed the our attention and refused to let it go. He took to the West Holts stage on the Saturday, unfortunately for him he didn’t anticipate heat of the stage as he went out barefoot and soon realised he needed socks. Rapid politically fuelled singles took the crowd by storm as pits opened up throughout the whirlwind of his set.
Why: Their Park stage triumph was probably one of the standout sets of the weekend to many. Idles were phenomenal. Being one of the largest crowds they’ve ever played to, a band typically very outspoken were silenced by their emotions.
Must watch moment: ‘Danny Nedelko’, oh my god it was emotional.
Who: Fontaines DC
Where: John Peel 3:15pm Friday, Williams Green 4pm Saturday, Left Field 6pm Sunday, Rabbit Hole 3am
Why: The Irish rockers were a receiving a lot of hype for their sets. Over the course of 3 days they played the festival four times, including a replacement set for Sam Fender who pulled out due to medical reasons. As I roamed the festival, Fontaines DC merch was oddly a common sight, no wonder they filled the Williams Green tent so much- to the point it was impossible to get in before their set even began.
Must watch moment: THIS performance of Boys In The Better Land
Who: Sports Team
Where: Williams Green 1pm Saturday
Why: Seriously, if you ever want to see a band that’ll set the crowd alight, Sports Team are the ones. Their set at Williams Green was electric and frantic and full of some pretty odd dance moves. Catching up with the band, they found their first Glastonbury to be “mean it’s great, very spirited and nice to see all the other bands on the circuit”. Adding “Shame camped next to us and were effortlessly charming. Always good to hang around industry figures too, seems like the one weekend they give the interns company cards.’Despite the tent heaving with sweaty punters, lead Alex did manage to work up the crowd into the odd pit. Even they struggled; it was “genuinely the hottest show we’ve ever played too. Kept looking back at Oli just trying to hold it together, his knees were somehow streaming with sweat”. Regardless of the heat they found it to be “amazing though, tent was packed, there were a few kids who had just been looking for some guitar music all weekend, they found it and really threw themselves out there in the mosh for Stanton”.
Must watch moment: because who doesn’t love a bit of crowd interaction in pair with “some awful stage chat about seeing power couple ‘posh and spice’ backstage”
Another highlight so far… Someone tell me that @SportsTeam_ won't be headlining a stage in a couple of years. First blow you away performance of @GlastoLive, Pulp for a new generation. pic.twitter.com/yyxrWLKSAi
Why: Performing songs while standing on top of the crowd, chucking around mics, Shame came to Glastonbury with an attitude which made their performance undeniably captivating. Having been given the headline slot at the Williams Green tent, the 5 piece brought their A-game. With their blistering punk tracks Shame set alight the crowd.
Must watch moment: he makes standing on top of a crowd so so easy…
Why: Liverpudlian punk rockers Queen Zee have forever provided crowds with a riot of a show since their early beginnings as Queen Zee & The Sasstones. Their angst filled tunes were welcomed with open arms by the Left Field tent crowd. They really made Glastonbury their own. For being Glasto newbies, here’s how they found it. “This was my first ever glasto, so I’m pretty mind blown I got to play it. It’s up there with the highlights of my life never mind my musical life. Looking out to see Billy Bragg fist pumping to you is a really kick ass sight.”
Must watch moment: tour mates Dream Wife joined them for some extra support during ‘Porno’. On that moment, Zee said how “it makes me so happy the relationship between our two bands and how close we’ve become. That’s really summed up the Glasto vibe, togetherness.”
Where: The Rabbit Hole Thursday 1pm, BBC introducing 1:15pm Saturday,
Why: Winner of the 2019 Emerging Talent Competition 2019, Marie White’s blissful soft-sounding music captured the Rabbit Hole crowd. The 23 year old singer songwriter has only three Spotify single releases- so yeah she’s still at a very early stage in her career but she is doing amazingly.
Must watch moment: as unable to find any footage from her performances, do check out her Emerging Talent winner performance, it’s great!
Abi Barthrop: portfolio 