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GLASTONBURY 2009 SUNDAY
28 June 2009 / Worthy Farm / Shepton Mallet, Somerset
:: The Prodigy :: Bat For Lashes :: Bon Iver :: Linda Lewis :: Tom Jones ::
Closing night at Glasto and a battle of conscience = Blur or Prodigy - Liz Tray does the mental arithmetic - Rave or Britpop by 40+'s ? Read on >>

GLASTONBURY 2009 SATURDAY
27 June 2009 / Worthy Farm / Shepton Mallet, Somerset
:: Metric :: Kasabian :: Spinal Tap :: Crosby, Stills & Nash :: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ::
Saturday comes around - will The Boss topple Mr Young's benchmark as the sun bakes the mud and everything moves into full swing ? - Liz Tray reports...

GLASTONBURY 2009 FRIDAY
26 June 2009 / Worthy Farm / Shepton Mallet, Somerset
:: Neil Young :: Fucked Up :: N*E*R*D :: Fleet Foxes :: Lamb :: The Specials ::
By the time you see your first band you’ve been there two days and almost forgotten there is even music coming...Liz Tray makes the pilgrimage to Britain's best festival..

FUCKED UP ALL DAYER
28 June 2009 / Dry Bar / Manchester
:: Closed Eyes Are Dancing :: La Haine :: The Window Right :: Trojan Horse :: Insect Guide :: Anthony Harris :: Hadaka No Fi :: The Resistance :: Before I Explode :: Fonik :: Blood Moon ::
If you're reading this sometime in the distant future, just cast your mind back to the last weekend of June 2009. Michael Jackson's been dead for two and a half days and his music is carpet-bombing every TV and radio station

FEELING LIKE A PAIR OF CURTAINS?
26 June 2009 / Fuel, Withington / Manchester
:: Shrieking Violets :: Amida :: Monster Island ::
Pull Yourself Together adds fuel to the fire in Withington...

THE LAST STAND
30 June 2009 / Tiger Lounge / Manchester
:: The Vipers :: Lux Decorus ::
The visceral sandblasting feel of those early Sub Pop singles to the point where you can half imagine John Peel's dry tones coming in at the end

AND I FEEL HEAVY METAL...
18 June 2009 / The Roadhouse / Manchester
:: Skeletons :: Life Among People :: Mental Defect ::
...The drummer sports a rather large silver sheriff’s badge - some kid's going to be disappointed at the fancy dress..

A TRANSITION
12 June 2009 / The Deaf Institute / Manchester
:: The Longcut :: Beat The Radar :: King Tree & The Roots ::
Within about three seconds of The Longcut coming onstage you can spot exactly who's downloaded the album

WELSH WHIRRING
05 June 2009 / Ruby Lounge / Manchester
:: Its A Buffalo :: The Joy Formidable :: The Heartbreaks ::
In an electro-soaked year where the humble guitar has almost become unfashionable, The Joy Formidable are happy to go against the grain

CANTEEN'S GENEROUS HELPINGS
06 June 2009 / Abode (Chorlton) / Manchester
:: Daniel Land And The Modern Painters :: The Lucid Dream :: Yucatan :: Crooked Rooks ::
Three pints of shoegaze with a skiffle-pop chaser, please. Certainly, that'll be nought pounds and nought pence....

RHYMING SLANG
11 June 2009 / The Roadhouse / Manchester
:: Smuggler’s Run :: Hope In The Proles :: Mista Rizzo :: Nothing Rhymes With Orange ::
He must be wearing the tightest trouser in Manchester....In fact, they’re such a slim fit, it was distracting, being hard to tell on a first glance if he indeed had any on at all

A NORTHWEST PASSAGE
02 June 2009 / The Roadhouse / Manchester
:: The Northwestern ::
A fine set of fuzzy, pacy alternative pop which is not short on catchy melodies and uplifting spirit

HALF A FIELD AWAY
06 June 2009 / Heaton Park / Manchester
:: Kasabian :: Oasis ::
As individuals, they are everyman, never changing into something you can’t identify with