[align=center][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4lcBS4XyA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tdNXnCgS4Y[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c28eoku5_-I[/youtube][/align]

Before I say anything about Shaky I just gotta mention this..

..Glastonbury is like nothing else on this earth. The TV/Media footage is NOTHING like being there.
Thousands upon thousands of people, all chilled, all friendly, all music lovers, a massive community in the middle of nowhere away from day to day life. Basically one big 3 day long party!

First day was awful weatherwise (dam you shakinic) and the traditional mud got flowing. I got drenched and slid about all over the place. But no one really cares, it's more fun when your pissed too

The festival has stages dotted about all over. But the main one is the monsterous Pyramid Stage. And Shaky was opening it the very next day...

Saturday morning, 7am and awoken by the sun baking me out of my tent. Yay! The sun was beaming and the mud had dried, never to return for the remainder of the Festival. So very excited and buzzing big time, we all made our way to the Pyramid stage to meet the others and to get a front row view of Shaky. It was gonna be worth the couple of hours wait.

Now normally opening acts don't get a big audience. Most are still passed out in their tents from just climbing into them at 6am 'ish'. You see, if Jay-Z had opened, it probably would have been quieter for him. But boy oh boy... the field started to fill.. more and more and more.. until we looked behind to see just a mass of reveilers flowing back like a real sea of Shaky fans. They were really embracing the fact that Shaky was doing their cherished festival. All those **** reviews and doubts of Shaky were gone. It was like this was natural for Shaky to be playing. They couldnt see what was so unusual for Shaky to be here. So many times I had to pose for photos with my 'Shaky Rocks Glastonbury' T-Shirt, with loads coming up to me asking where they could buy one. A few of us were interviewed by various media too which by now you may have seen.

There were huge banners and chants like a football match of 'SHAKE-KEY' 'SHAKE-KEY' 'SHAKE-KEY' and the hairs on my arms stood up. The massive screens had 'Shakin Stevens' blazened across them and the stage was being set up ready. My heart beating faster as every instrument got a tuning..

Then it happened... The background music stopped.. A voice - "Ladies & Gentlemen!..., please welcome to the Pyramid stage with a glastonbury cheer...Shakin' Stevens!" The cheers were deafening! Then the HUGE band kicked in with 'Don't She Look Good'! Ben Waters on Keyboards, also James Compton on more Keyboards, Martin on Lead Guitar, Howard on Drums, Jon Bishop on Guitar, Someone new on Bass and 3 Female backing singers.. WOW! the sound was LOUD and Booming! the quality actually there was awesome! Shaky came out waving and belted into the song.

The crowd took to Shaky just brilliantly and danced about cheering and whooping (and chanting 'Green Door' and even MCE! lol), Shaky was was just loving it and smiled constantly. His voice was spot on! I swear these things can sound different on broadcast...

It must have been a great buzz for him. Shaky danced about the most i've ever seen him do in about a decade! The whole band were flawless. All in black and looking cool, they rocked with the aggression it deserved at a Rock festival. At one point during an instrumental break, Ben Waters legged it over to join James on his Keyboard and they played it together in true 'balls out on the spur of moment' rock n' roll style! the crowd went beserk!

We got no slow stuff, Shaky did the wise thing of keeping it uptempo and rockin'.

The Set (I Can't remember the exact order)

Don't She Look Good, How Could It Be Like That, Turning Away, Now Listen, Lonely Too Long, Trouble, It's A Shame, Marie Marie, Oh Julie, You Never Talked About Me (Which Shaky said is called 'You Never Never' lol), Laser Love, This Ole House and Fire Down Below.

I had a feeling Green Door may have been dropped but I was surprised that YDMC was absent. Funny enough, I never heard any comments from the crowd about YDMC, only Green Door. But it was only about an hour's worth of stage time so we couldnt have everything. (and oh man! 'Laser Love' went down a storm! The crowd certainly knew their Bolan)

It was a fantastic set and just such a buzz to witness Shaky at Glastonbury with the massive crowds and screens, over head helicopters filming, cameras everywhere... I could have just cried. It was that moving for me. It was a major stamp that Shaky IS a legend. and the crowd knew it. The BBC with their snippets of footage never showed how big scale this set actually was! The deafing applause at the end was proof. You should have seen Shaky beam a smile back. "Thank You" he said. He meant it from the bottom of his heart. Doing Glasto was always gonna be nerve wrecking but they welcomed Shaky as one of their own.

I'm so glad I was there to witness this historic moment, masses of not Shaky lovers but 'music' lovers, who embraced our man that we lent to them. Their eyes and ears have been well and truely opened. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. was given with ease.

My T-Shirt said 'SHAKY ROCKS GLASTONBURY!' on it.

..you know what... He most certainly did just that.

Other highlights for me..

The Ting Tings on the John Peel stage - Excellent but too crammed out,

Leonard Cohen - Simply WOW. Cooler than cool.

Neil Diamond - what a pro and what a show. He is the man!

The Verve - Stunning show, with the dark skies and singing crowds. Perfection.

The Feeling - these boys can rock!

KT Tunstall - A rockin' gal who connects with crowd really well.

James Blunt - better than what I expected. A great live act.

Kate Nash - fun and energetic

The Lows...

Amy winehouse - what a waste of talent and now looking a joke. No Amy, it ain't cool being pissed on stage stumbling about and messing up the songs. You could have ruled the Festival but instead pissed it away.

Jay-Z - Because i missed the whole set looking for Sally's car with Trudi and mark too lol!

So pleased to hear shaky was such a big hit,although i couldnt get to glasto due to a wedding commitment those of us left behind were all racing round trying to tune in to any station just to hear a glimpse of our idols big gigg.From what ive read from the reviews most have been good,although those that wernt so good were always gonna shoot him down whatever the outcome.Glad you guys had a great weekend and i take your hat off to you for travelling so far to support shaky.

How did the new material go down with the non shaky fans,any reaction?

Great review Paul. There have been mixed reviews in the press but Shaky seemed very happywhen interviewed coming off stage.

The new stuff went down really well. It fitted in with the Glastonbury Rock feel perfectly.

I never saw anyone leave when the new songs were on. he crowd kept with him throughout.

They just love Rock n roll I guess!

I largely agree with Takeone's review. After going to Glastonbury for the last four years, to see Shaky up there on the main stage was truly a legendary moment and one I will never forget. There were a few minor niggles: could hardly hear the piano(s), Ben Waters' in particular; the vocals also suffered earlier on in the mix, with Shaky complaining aloud about his mic stand and making emphatic gestures offstage regarding the sound - actually quite funny to watch. As ever, when you're playing festivals like Glasto and Big Buzz, the sound will never be as perfect as when you're headlining your own venue with your own engineers and plenty of preparation time.

But when things clicked, it really did sound superb, with the Pyramid speaker stack sound system giving Shaky the fat rockin' sound his band deserves. It was also kinda funny when the ample banner-waving crowd started chanting "Merry Christmas" and "Green Door", songs which we knew would never arrive. However it didn't seem to piss them off too much, especially with a barnstorming rendition of This Ole House to divert their attention, featuring a fantastic 2-guys-one-piano solo towards the end to lift it to a higher level - would love to see this again.

Laser Love sounded awesome, as did Now Listen. As discussed, YDMC would have fit much better into the set at the expense of one of the album tracks - Shaky's certainly got nothing to be ashamed about that track? The backing singers sounded great, and should remain a regular fixture. And that's all I can think of for now. Overall, a massive success, as made clear in the interviews straight afterwards, and one that no one who took part or spectated will ever forget! I'm sorry to rub it in for those who couldn't make it, but for me no matter what happens now with Shaky's career I'll still remain eternally happy because 'I was there' when Shaky rocked the biggest and best festival in the world...

It seems to me that I ,after such a great Shaky's performance,would rather say" I want more more of Shaky's concerts".

I don't envy you, lucky guys,cause I was a witness of concerts in denmark where he's really got to give his all...was so fantastic on stage.So I can imagine how good your memories are.../ well...the truth is..I envy you..heh/.

And even if i wouldn't be able to attend his concerts it will be a pleasure to me to read here or somewhere else how great Shaky still is.

violetta

Aaaaaaaaaaawwww-PAINT IT GREEN-That hurts.. hehe.
well i can`t blame anyone but myself for not going. So if there wont be a uk tour this year i will cry my eyes out as that is what i have saved my money for by not going to this gig.

But always feels good too reading about the shows-knowing shaky did well and was rocking the night away like only he can

[align=center][/align]

Hey Ricky... No 'Boss Hogg' jokes ok! ;o)

Nice pic of our members.

There are specialist site's for that andy this is a family friendly board

[font=Comic Sans MS]I am so proud to have managed to make Glastonbury. And now that i have recovered, here's my version of events...

I got to wear wellies for the first time in my life !
Although mine have a Rock'N'Roll theme, it's not a YIPEEEesque thing to do, but i did for the three days ! The level of mud was not bad compaired with the Vig (DK) festival where we were swimming in it ! And there only was mud for my first day which was friday.

I crown Mark "king of Glastonbury" for having suffered and survived the appalling living conditions (in my eyes), camping from the Wednesday till i believe Monday ! What a brave man !
My party chose to "camp" in a warm room of a nearby travelodge, thus missing out ont the full Glasto experience but enjoying the luxury of a warm bed, clean and fresh smelling bathroom, mirrors and plugs ! Bliss !

On Saturday, we arrived at the stage at 8.30 and were about to go and find some breakfast when people started to arrive and pick their spot for the day. So we got breakfast (a banana and a hot chocolate that was gonna have to last us for the day) delivered by Fabrice instead and stayed in our spot until about 22.30 !!!! Madness !

We made friends with the lovely family of non Shaky fans next to us who were so nice they lent us their camping chairs to rest our weary legs for a while. (You see, one of the worst moments of Glasto for me was that every night we had to hunt for the car. After a whole day on our feet, to walk around in the dark for hours in the freezing cold of the early morning, desperate for a wee we had held out all day, while everyone else was asleep was sheer TORTURE ! In despair, we even tried to call cabs to pick us up in view to abandon the *@$~# car ! But none came to our rescue ! So just try and imagine our physical state of legs aching and serious lack of sleep waiting for Shaky to arrive.) Those newly made friends, by the way, had found it so hard to believe that we were here for Shaky that i had to prove it by showing My Shaky mobile phone dangler and Shaky Glasto Tee shirt !

All the hardship made sense when Shaky did arrive looking glorious ! All the worries i had had about the crowd not giving Shaky a proper welcome disapeared. Everyone was happy to see the legend (several named him that), singing along, dancing away ... I was thrilled to see some had made flags and signs for Shaky. He performed his set perfectly. It all ended so fast though and we had to accept that our main reason for being there had gone although the day was only starting.
I was so glad to see that our non Shaky fans friends had been converted ! The daughter and son (in their late teens) and the mum had danced, clapped and cheered along with us. The father, who had been so nervous to be caught on the tv cameras and be seen by his work mates at home, admitted Shaky was far cooler than he had originally thought and not at all what he expected ! He actually said he would definitely go to a proper Shaky concert if the opportunity arose... but that he was far from becoming a fan ! Not bad still ! And judging by the public's cheering, all agreed !

After this, we stayed on, as i wanted to see James Blunt (i'm not a fan although i find his music...erm...pleasant ! I wanted to represent my three children who absolutely adore him.) and mostly, i wanted to see Amy Winehouse who i do like a lot. Plus, everybody now knows she styled her look on mine (isn't it obvious ! )so i had to be there !!! And Amy's presence is the sole reason why i didn't do my trademark beehive at Glasto ! Although i have been doing the make up and hairstyle since i was 16, way before she did, people now assume i'm a sad fan of hers for doing it so i couldn't let that happen !

Anyway, in order, i thought Martha Wainwright was cool (i didn't know her, not my style but a cool chick all the same !), Seasick Steve : EXCELLENT ! What a guy !!!, Crowded House: good (not my choice of music but good), then came James Blunt...

I have to say James knocked me off my feet ! The guy is surprisingly full of energy, extremely endearing AND, he squeezed my hand when he jumped off the stage to touch the crowd ! (my babies are finally proud of their mummy !!! ) I will never listen to his songs in a passive way again !

The Raconteurs were definitely not my type and nor was their fans, rubbing against us a bit too much while dancing ! This is when we started to get squished against the barrier and had to exerce superhuman strength pushing against the flow ! I was not gonna abandon my first class spot now ! It permitted me to see that the lead singer had ripped his lovely green trousers ! (That wasn't sarcasm : i truly liked his outfit ! That's all !)

After that we endured the nightmare named : Manu Chao.
They got an hour and a half slot !!! AN HOUR AND A HALF !!!???!!! WHY ??? Are they mad putting us through that ??? If you don't know them, look them up to get an idea and you'll see that 10 minutes would have been more than sufficient. Because at their first song i thought : How nice ! A bunch of happy people full of energy to shake up the place. But by the second chorus of their second song i was crying !!! All their tunes seemed to be the same and, therefore, became depressingly annoying. But we were brave ...

Then finally, Amy.
It was sad to see her in that state but i was happy to finally see her. She has so much wasted potential, an amazing voice and unlimited talent. Such a character as well. Halfway through her show, she went to each member of the band and whispered her plans for her surprise to the fans : She was gonna come down and shake the crowd's hands ! How sweet is that ? And sure enough i shook hers ! Looking like a demented woman on the large screens i was told later !!! All worth it though !

We decided to get lifted out over the barrier before Jay-Z came on for fear of being crushed. And it's at that moment that my lovely "SHAKY ROCKS GLASTONBURY" tee shirt disapeared.
Mind you, i'm not so sad as it did serve its purpose: I wore it as a cape during Shaky's gig. Then, i hung it on the barrier as a banner until Amy. So all the photographers took a pic of it, some asking me to pose ! I found a photo of it in the Guardian.
So it has been immortalised and probably lives on under the earth, back there, in...
GLASTONBURY ![/font]

xxx

You don't become a fan overnight, and it matters not, the main thing was they enjoyed the show and if they come to another Shaky gig or buy a cd, that means a lot.

Shaky pulled in the crowd that morning, and those we spoke to after said they enjoyed Shaky's performance. (We interviewed a few on video). As I walked around Glastonbury in my "Shaky Rocks!" t-shirt, I was approached with comments like "Yeah, Shaky Rocked!".
I would have loved to have been at the back just to see the reaction of the crowd on this historical moment and take it in as life long memory. I hope Shaky gets to do it all again, but if not I plan to.

One funny moment I recall was when a group of fans held up the Shaky banner with the letters in the wrong order , we had to get them to rearrange them, and when they finally got it right there was a big cheer.



It was a wonderful experience.