Glastonbury ’15: our day-by-day review
We’re at Glasto all weekend. Here’s what’s going down
Friday
Chicago comes to Somerset, psychedelia in the rain and Genosys rules all...
Honey Dijon made us sweat
Honey Dijon can usually be seen on deck at Chicago's famous Smart Bar, which promotes a diverse range of LGTBI dance music events. On Friday at Glastonbury she played the NYC Downlow, the festival's resident gay club, touching down to bring some Windy City magic to Somerset.
After a couple of NYC Downlow's trademark stage shows, Honey took control of the space, which might just be one of the most fun clubs we've ever been to. Dark, intimate, with a capable system and plenty of hedonistic mischief, it's transports you to a pretty perfect place.
Effectively kicking off the night with a 12.30am set time, she worked through a selection of spanky disco house cuts peppered with classic tracks from Loletta Holloway, Cajmere and Diana Ross. Energised and feel good, it got us sweating, arms raised to the ceiling.
Jamie xx steals it at sunset
A bit like life itself, Glastonbury's a journey made up of epic highs and sometime soul-crushing lows. And after the Friday afternoon downpours had gone someway to dampening spirits across Worthy Farm, Jamie xx was there to lift morale with a majestic sunset set, playing second from last on the Park stage. While his particular brand of melancholic r'n'b-inflected house has come in for some stick of late, buoyed on by accusations that his pop-tinged take on UK underground sounds is 'not the real thing', the thousands who flocked to see him last night seemed to heartily disagree.
Reeling out the steel drums of 'Far Nearer' from his recent debut album at the off, before delving into his rework of Gil Scott Heron's 'I'll Take Care', a bit like the man himself, his set was un-showy but reliably entertaining and moving. A finale of the Idris Muhammad sampling and Romy xx featuring 'Loud Places', couldn't have been more suited to soundtracking the glowing amber sunset that shone above the Park Stage, providing one of the first of those spine tinglingly good moments that you can only really get at Glastonbury.
