Most Iconic Moments in Music Festival History

Music festivals can often be the defining moment in an artist’s career. Whether it is where they first get noticed by the masses or storm their way into the history books, these are the moments that people stand up and take notice. With the festival season fast approaching, I thought it right to reminisce on the most iconic moments in music festival history.

The Rolling Stones – Glastonbury Festival 2013

In 2013 Glastonbury was the site of one of the most well-attended headline acts to grace the festival scene. The Rolling Stones made their eagerly awaited return to the stage and did not disappoint. For once, this was a headline act which was not criticised by fans. Jagger performed 20 of the greats with all of the energy that had once made his act so famous. Festival organiser Michael Eavis called the performance “the high spot of 43 years of Glastonbury”.

Jay Z – Glastonbury Festival 2008

It had been one of the most talked about headline acts in years. Jay Z, the American Hip Hop artist was to headline Glastonbury, the predominantly rock festival. This decision had many critics, most notable of which Noel Gallagher who had spoken publicly of his distaste for the rapper. When Jay Z stepped on stage, microphone in hand, he was not fazed by the storm of criticism that had gone before. Jay Z opened his set with a crude rendition of Oasis’ Wonderwall to spite Gallagher. What ensued was the moment that Glastonbury rocked to the sound of Hip Hop.

Otis Redding – Monterey Festival 1967

The Monterey Festival in 1967 was one of the most influential that there has ever been, featuring life changing performances by some incredible acts. This festival was the first real time that Otis Redding had played for a large, predominantly white, audience. Racial stigmatisation and prejudice was high, black musicians had a very difficult journey to achieve stardom. Yet when Redding produced a historic set, the audience of 50,000 rose to their feet and took notice. Four encores later Redding reluctantly had to end his performance, clearly moved, feeling the love from such a positive crowd.

“Brothers and Sisters, Come on Now” The Rolling Stones – Altamont Speedway 1969

Iconic for all of the wrong reasons, this is an event that will be remembered as the end of an era and the day the hippy movement fell from grace spectacularly. This was a free concert put on by The Rolling Stones and was policed by infamous biker gang The Hell’s Angels. Intoxicated and drugged up, the Angel’s policing strategies were called into question as they dished out random beatings to the festival goers. The rendition of ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ was stopped repeatedly due to the violence as Mick Jagger famously said “Brothers and sisters, come on now... everybody just cool out”. Minutes after the set had begun again, 18 year old Meredith hunter had been stabbed and killed. This was a dark day for music.

Ozzy Osbourne – Des Moines 1982

During the dizzying heights of his fame, tainted with a bubbling drug addiction, Ozzy Osbourne was known as the bad guy of rock. His devilish image was becoming increasingly popular through his solo tour in 1982. On stage whilst performing at Des Moines, Ozzy had planned to bite the head off a rubber bat and spit it out in a display of demonic showmanship. What Ozzy didn’t know was that a fan had thrown a live bat at his feet. The bat lay dazed by the lights and was picked up by the star who then proceeded to bite its head clean off. The moment shocked the world including Ozzy himself who was later treated in hospital for rabies.

Jimi Hendrix – Monterey 1967

The infamous brilliance of Jimi Hendrix was already a recognised phenomenon in the UK by 1967 though he was yet to take the US by storm. Jimi’s return to Monterey, a small town he was stationed in whilst serving in the army, was seen as the perfect occasion to showcase his devastatingly unique sound. What happened when Hendrix began to play has taken its place in history. Hendrix blew the crowd away with his set then laid his guitar upon the stage, knelt above it, sprayed it with lighter fluid and ignited it. Hendrix then smashed the flaming guitar into pieces as an offering to the gods of rock.

Tupac – Coachella 2012

At 2012’s Coachella festival, Dr Dre and Snoop Dog sent the world into a frenzy as they “raised Tupac from the dead” for one final performance. Using a high-tech hologram effect, Tupac Shakur appeared on stage following a tribute of his hit ‘California Love’. The performance was powerful but received mixed reviews with some claiming it was distasteful and tacky.

Queen – Live Aid 1985

Live Aid has been hailed by many as the greatest concert that the world has ever seen. Not only because of the vast array of talent that was on display but also for the genuine difference it made to those in need. The sheer number of headline worthy acts on display was inconceivable, with performances by: The Who, Status Quo, Dire Straits, U2, David Bowie, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Run DMC, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and many, many more. No one stole the show in quite the same way as Queen did. At 6pm local time Freddy Mercury picked up the microphone in Wembley stadium and sang the world into submission. If you haven’t seen the performance for yourself then it is well worth a watch, never before has a crowd been so in awe of a performance.

Nirvana – Reading Festival 1992

By 1992 Nirvana appeared to be on the decline, Kurt Cobain was labelled a drug addict and many claimed him to not live up to the hype surrounding the band. In response to these accusations Kurt Cobain appeared on stage in a wheelchair, surgical gown and wig before entering into one of the greatest live performances of all time. This was a truly pivotal moment for the band that hit back at the attacks from the media and negative publicity they had been receiving.

Artist Spotlight: Strange & Primitive

I caught up with Canadian Duo Strange & Primitive this week for an exclusive interview to feature on this blog. I came across Strange & Primitive one day whilst looking for new artists on Twitter, I wasn't entirely sure what to think of them at first but soon became addicted. They are only at the very beginning of their career in music as Strange & Primitive but have released a handful of songs under their previous name Audiograft. It’s definitely worth having a look at their latest song ‘Eureka’, you can find the link below. I find this band increasingly interesting and they are definitely one to listen to if you are searching for something outside the ordinary.

For those who haven't heard your music before, who are Strange & Primitive?

Strange & Primitive is a Canadian musical duo comprised of Graham Fish and Jeff Musgrave. Jeff Musgrave performs all the vocals and all other writing, arranging, producing, and performing responsibilities are shared equally between Graham and Jeff. We aspire to a dynamic and cinematic style with a blend of earthy and synthetic textures.

How did you guys start out?

We met and shortly thereafter started recording together in 2007. Previously we were jamming in another band and found out we were on a similar aesthetic mission musically.  Early on we made amateur recordings above Jeff’s uncle’s garage where there was an upright piano. We both really loved the recording process and we pushed ourselves to learn a lot and improve with the goal of eventually having our own studio where we could achieve our full sonic vision.  Eventually, in 2011 we had completed our recording studio in Graham’s place in Guelph Ontario.  From there we recorded an instrumental album ‘Melody in the Half-Light’ under the name Audiograft and released it in 2012. The album was very much inspired by film structures and had weaving textures and melodies. We worked hard to create organic but surprising ways of transitioning. The next planned project was to be one with vocals (where Eureka would eventually come from) and as we started writing and putting it together we realised it was really very different from Audiograft so a name change was necessary and we became ‘Strange & Primitive’.

So where did the name Strange & Primitive come about?

The name is a reference to music being one of the oldest (primitive) ways of abstracting emotion (the strange). Previously we called ourselves Audiograft, and made instrumental music. Since the new music differs structurally from the old, we wanted to change the name despite the roster of the band remaining the same.

Where do you guys find your inspirations and how do you think those inspirations fit into your music?

We think musical influences can be detected in our structures, arrangements, production and approach to creating music but not necessarily melodically or lyrically. For example, while arranging for this album we listened to a lot of James Brown and made notes. His influence isn’t really felt though, since there’s no relation melodically or lyrically. Instead, we were more interested in his musical “call and answer” and playing “in the pocket”. We also look a lot to cinema for structural inspiration. This was more apparent with our instrumental work but it’s still something at the back of our minds. It’s always been the goal to make a record that we’d want to hear that’s not yet on our shelf.

Where do you see yourselves fitting into the modern music scene?

I think we’re an example of the modern band that’s doing a lot of stuff themselves.  The new musician will need knowledge of their craft but also knowledge of the recording studio, marketing process, and business practice. They’ll also need to know when and where to get help. On this record, the only task we didn’t perform was mastering, which we left to the professionalism and unmatched experience of Bob Katz.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?

Well we've really just started our career though completing our studio in Guelph and achieving that artistic freedom felt pretty great.

What does the future hold for Strange & Primitive?

We have at least two more singles coming out and our self-titled debut album is due out in late August. We’re also working on some more video content that will go up on our YouTube channel. The plan is to post full length music videos and live studio performances there.

Where can people hear more of you? 

We’d encourage everyone to subscribe to our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/strangeandprimitive for more videos. Also follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/StrangePrimitiv, like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/StrangeAndPrimitive  for news and check out our Bandcamp page http://music.strangeandprimitive.com/ for more music including our previous project, Audiograft (https://audiograft.bandcamp.com/). Our website is: http://www.strangeandprimitive.com/.

What was the inspiration behind your new song Eureka?

We talked a lot during lunch breaks while working in the recording studio, about technology, artificial intelligence and cybernetics. We talk about other subjects of course but for whatever reason during these sessions we were really on about subjects of the science fiction variety. This got us talking about limitations (of communication, understanding, love etc), which ended up being one of the themes we were originally playing with for our first album under the Strange & Primitive name. These themes still sort of hide out in little ways on each track but the limitation theme is still very strong with ‘Eureka’.

Lyrically we are touching on some of the paranoia and anxiety that naturally comes from the unknown. Musically the song attempts to capture an anxious rush to answer life’s questions. The song deals with the chance that our endless curiosity is matched with endless possible understanding. There’s a frustration with the inability to understand and articulate information to each other and also a frustration with technology being an unsatisfactory tool for communication. Those frustrations are present in the song. The chorus is meant as a realization that our problems communicating and understanding are getting more complicated and less in our control.

I’m a big fan of Strange & Primitive and really enjoyed their early instrumental songs under Audiograft. I think this is really a band that is going to explode onto the scene once their album drops in August. Be sure to keep your eyes out for them. I would love to hear your feedback on this band. Positive or negative, leave a comment below.

Photography by Crestina Martins

Flying Vinyl: An Exploration of Music

Since vinyl record sales were overtaken by that of the CD in 1988, there have always been a select few enthusiasts who have held on to what seemed to be an obsolete medium for music listening. In recent years, the sales of vinyl records have exploded and a revival of this platform has begun. This new boom of interest cannot solely be attributed to the aging generations who grew up with LPs but instead credited to the 20 – 30 age group.

As a vinyl enthusiast myself, at the age of 22, I can say with confidence that the comparison between listening to music on vinyl to doing so on an iPod is a real non-starter. Listening to a record simply isn't the same experience as listening to a song on iTunes. The key word here really is experience, that’s what a song becomes, there is an atmosphere and spirit that is achieved and can only be attributed to this medium.

Most of those who own a record collection take great pride in doing so and find excitement in the exploration of music. This is where Flying Vinyl come into play. Flying Vinyl is a company I came across on Twitter, I did a bit of research on them and just have to spread the word. Every month they will deliver 5 seven inch records of curated new music, exclusively pressed to vinyl. The artists featured will be a surprise every month and will be from Indie labels or under management companies. The music will generally be of an Indie / Alternative genre and will be from bands and artists that you have probably never heard of before. This is how listening to music should be; a surprise with absolutely no preconceptions about the bands in question.

I spoke to the founder of Flying Vinyl, Craig Evans, earlier this week. He had this to say: “It feels like the connection that you have to music is just far more pertinent on vinyl and I like that. Unlike streaming or digital downloads, it forces your attention, you sit and listen to the music and don't do anything else, you value it more. So I decided to put together an idea for a monthly subscription service where members would get a box of new music on vinyl and have this incredible music discovery experience. I launched the website two weeks later and was surprised how many people wanted to get involved. After the first week of launch an investor came on-board who has a background in both music and retail, which has really helped to move the proposition of the company into something really special. We're now getting ready to put the first box out next month.”

There is a possible limitation to this service though; not knowing the bands or artists that will be sent out in any pack means that there may well be occasions when not all 5 records are to your personal taste. This is however, the risk that you run by exploring music in this way. I personally find the concept very intriguing and believe it will play an important part in my future music interests. This company offers everything that my blog is about, it looks at independent artists who are not wildly popular and exposes their music to a new audience. I have just signed up to this service myself which is currently £20 a month, starting mid-June and will be posting a review of the first pack when it is received. Watch this space!

To read more about Flying Vinyl or sign up: http://flyingvinyl.co.uk/