Thursday 27 June 2013

A Glastonbury warm up. (It would have been Wimbledon if Cliff had done some singing!)


Before I get to the main event, there has been much talk about my reasons for calling this blog Diary of an Incompetent Soprano. I suppose it does sound like I am deriding and have little faith in myself however, this could not be further from the truth. There are two definitions in my online dictionary that I liked relating to incompetence: 1 - Inadequate for or unsuited to a particular purpose or application. 2 - Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action. I do NOT mean it in the sense that I am mentally deficient (although you can be the judge of that). I do feel the incompetent bit refers to my inability to deal with life in general. I often feel inadequate as I am sure we all do. Therefore I am incompetent and happen to be a soprano. How you read it is up to you!


So, now that my title is as clear as mud (I hope you enjoyed that segue!) a good friend suggested Glastonbury as a good topic for my next diary entry. I thought this a very fine idea indeed but I know little of this magical, musical extravaganza. I have never been to Glastonbury (I don't really want to go to to Glastonbury, at least not during the festival), but it does intrigue me. I am sure many of you have been and have been to other, similar festivals and love them with great passion. I have to say... I don't get it. But then, those who have experienced my backstage antics probably don't get why I love crocheting (I know, I am THAT rock and roll). Anyway, I decided Glastonbury could make an excellent topic for my diary and thought I would put this entry out first to get a few facts and figures out of the way. Therefore there is little talk of singers and singing here today but hopefully you will find this vaguely interesting. (It's pretty short too so won't take long to read!)


Education was in order! (Do not fret. This is not going to be a history lesson.) The first thing I did was go to the website to see if I could perhaps procure a ticket. To my relief dismay it was sold out (actually camping really isn't for the the likes of a lady such as myself). But never fear, I recalled having watched the incomparable Beyonce live from Glastonbury on the television so figured they must be showing some of it on our telly boxes. So I went back to the website to see who would be involved this year and who I might watch and report upon. Did you know there are more than 60 spaces available to perform from in order to delight the thousands of people visiting over the weekend? 60! How does one even begin to decide what to see? Is it important to have your itinery in place before you arrive or do you just go with the flow and hope you stumble across something interesting? The stages themselves have great names. I love the thought of The Unfairground and Croissant Neuf and I am fascinated to know what goes on at La Pussy Parlure Nouveau! (I would like to imagine that it is a cattery for people who could not find anyone to look after their cat over the weekend, however I imagine I would be sorely disappointed if I went there in search of any feline friends.) I then attempted to find out how many acts there would be to choose from over the weekend. I could find no definitive number so I began counting them. I had got to 300 before I could not be bothered to count anymore and I was only half way down the page! 


I suppose I can't pick and choose from the full list who I intend to talk about as it depends wholly on who the BBC decides to broadcast. I will definitely be commenting on The Rolling Stones (I can't imagine they won't be given screentime) simply because I love the middle section of Gimme Shelter and hopefully they will have some fearsome Diva with them to show them all how it's done. (If you don't already know this particular tune I suggest you listen to the version on the Live Licks album. Lisa Fischer is fierce!). Of course I am assuming they will play this on the night. I simply live in hope. The rest I will play by ear I think. Unless you lovely lot have any ideas/suggestions/requests? I am particularly happy to experience acts I have never heard or even heard of before (there are a LOT of acts I have never heard of on the list). So, if you want to help a girl out, please get in touch with a comment at the end of this or through any of the social media thingys you can find me on and I will try to oblige. In fairness I could use all the help I can get!


Now, I promise we will get to some classical music and opera soon. I almost went to a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last night (but decided against it as The Apprentice was on). I did, however, actually leave my flat to go and see the Royal Opera House's production of "La Donna del Lago" by Rossini....at the cinema(!) the other week and, as cinematic viewing of theatre seems to be becoming evermore popular a future diary entry will definitely be on this subject. "Macbeth" from the Royal Opera House is in the cinema on July 29th and as the cast includes Simon Keenleyside (yum) I won't be able to stop myself putting fingers to keyboard about that!



Until next time....

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