Jay-Z at Glastonbury 2008 - The Sun REVIEW (plus DLBIA)

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"FIRST HIP-HOP HEADLINER AT GLASTO WAS COMPLETE YAWN"

"Crowd splitter ... American rapper Jay-Z failed to join Glasto legends like Coldplay"

By GORDON SMART
Published: 30 Jun 2008

I'VE got 99 Problems and JAY-Z at Glasto is one.
The Jiggaman's headline slot on Saturday night split the festival crowd right down the middle.
And I was one of those firmly in the underwhelmed camp.

I saw the man in action two years ago at The Royal Albert Hall and it was one of the best gigs I've ever been to.
But I felt seriously short-changed as I walked away from this performance.
The whole point of the big bill topper is to get your arms around your pals' shoulders and sing along to the chorus.

So when Jay opened the show by miming to OASIS megahit Wonderwall -- after playing a tape of NOEL GALLAGHER saying he was wrong for Glasto -- I thought we were in for a treat.

It was all downhill after that, though. There was no spine-tingling COLDPLAY Fix You moment. Or 50,000 people singing Don't Look Back In Anger and pointing at the sky.

There wasn't anything to rival ARCTIC MONKEYS and KASABIAN, who raised the Pyramid roof last year. And the rumoured cameos that could have saved the show, from CHRIS MARTIN or Jay's wife BEYONCE KNOWLES who was watching from the wings, never happened.

Bizarre lord Noel must have had a chuckle watching the performance.
A pal said: "I think he really enjoyed it. Particularly the way Jay-Z got the middle class kids down the front to throw their hands in the air and wave them around like they just didn't care."

TV host TIM LOVEJOY, who knows his tunes, agreed with me that it was poor. Speaking backstage, Tim said: "That was bland.

"You need big recognisable hits you can get involved in and after 99 Problems he didn't really have anything.

Noel and Liam must be laughing that they were played on the main stage and weren't even on the bill."

In all fairness a lot of people in the crowd loved it. The kids on their gap year before going off to uni were getting stuck in to the audience participation. As was my Bizarre Deputy Pete Samson, who was raving about the gig into the early hours.

Glasto boss MICHAEL EAVIS was happy too, hailing the set as "absolutely brilliant". He boasted: "It was incredible to bring hip-hop from the streets of New York to Glastonbury.

"We've a much younger audience this year. Despite all the doom and gloom, we're now in a stronger position. Headline acts will now come to us."

I have to disagree. It was a brave move by Michael and his daughter Emily to book Jay-Z, but an experiment they should not repeat.

However I am pleased to say that one brilliant thing did come of his gig.

Kasabian's SERGE PIZZORNO rang and said: "Watching that was a call to arms for rock 'n' roll. Next year we are going to take Glastonbury."

Verdict on Jay-Z? Average. But fair play to the rapper -- he obviously reads Britain's best showbiz column on the net from his US home.

He mentioned this paper twice in his set, even changing the lyrics of his most famous song to: "I've got 99 problems but The Sun ain't one."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/music/article1356444.ece

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*** Another Quotes ***

"Glastonbury is a highly successful event and one we expect to continue for many years. That said we do not think the organisers will choose such a controversial headline act next year and make the Artic Monkeys are favourites to headline in 2009."

- William Hill, bookmaker

Jay-Z is no stranger to Oasis hit Wonderwall — he pumps it out to plastered punters in his New York bar every weekend.
"I knew it so well because I play that song a lot in my restaurant on Friday nights after a few drinks. Noel has been one of my biggest detractors so I figured it was a cool way to start the show."

- Jay-Z

Noel claimed he was "blatantly" misquoted on the Jay Z thing, and that it's all been taken wrong - said he'd met him once before and he was a nice bloke and more.

- Noel Gallagher, at Russell Brand's Show

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*** VIDEOS ***

Cool Intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xCMvM7EDzs

Shit Cover and 99 problems
(supposed to be a joke, but the only joke was jay-z, cause everyone sings wonderwall more than any jay-z's songs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-xFoiQGFRA

The Crowd, who loves more Noel than Jay-z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJKJwMiOtiU

Boring Songs that came after
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H6NHMv3-lf8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3eODgkb7RPQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y_52IT8-SqY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LwzUGm1TZj4

Oasis at Glastonbury 2004
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2CDtH8qPd5s
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7CopfT3So

Glastonbury without Oasis
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hKM2_QuxzmM

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- MUSICS of the Video/Review:
Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger, by Oasis

OTHER VERSION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22d49SoaRCA

Keywords: 08, 2008, amy, css, gallagher, glasto, glastonbury, hip, hiphop, hop, jay-z, jayz, liam, noel, oasis, rap, sun, the, winehouse, wonderwall