I Can't Get No Satisfaction...

Sorry for the lengthy gap between posts. Unfortunately life threw me some curved balls which temporarily crushed my creative spirit. Nothing I'm going in to here. I'm not one for airing my laundry, dirty or otherwise, in public. But I'm back now.

The Boy has just paid (for just paid, read I have just paid) for his ticket for Glastonbury, the lucky bugger. I so want to go. The line up is awesome, with some of my favourite bands; The Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons, Elvis Costello (last saw him in the Assembly Hall in Tunbridge Wells when dinosaurs walked the earth), Rufus Wainright, The Lumineers, Two Door Cinema Club, Newton Faulkner, Penguin Café, Kenny Rogers (joke!), the list goes one and on. For a brief moment, I was nearly in the line up. Yes, really. Our ukulele club very nearly had a place on a stage at the back between the toilets and the ice cream van which is reserved for local bands. Unfortunately, when push came to shove, Mr Eavis wasn't prepared to provide the 30 day tickets that we would have needed. Swines! As if they don't make enough money out of the £205 ticket price. That's £205 plus a booking fee and a transaction fee which stick another £16 on top of it. If you were to break down the cost of seeing all the bands individually, it represents good value for money, but blimey, it's still an awful lot.

This morning, the papers are full of righteous indignation over the cost of tickets to see The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park. People paid up to £300 for tickets that gave them access to a reserved area. Unfortunately, what the organisers forgot to mention was that people who bought the cheapest tickets, and cheapest is £95,  more than some people spend on feeding a family of four for a week, would also have access to the same area. Bit of a rip off.  I wouldn't be bothering to waste my time on them, even if I did have a ticket. 95 quid to stand in a publicly owned park and watch a bunch of old codgers who don't even pay tax in the UK. They should be doing the concert for free to thank all the poor fans they have shafted in recent years and the country that gave them fame and fortune but to which they contribute nothing.  Apparently they often show up in bars in the US and do impromptu jams. Clearly they don't think their British fans are worth it.
The Stones, incidentally, are headlining Glasto this year. Quite an achievement for a bunch of 70 year old men.

£300 to see this bunch of pensioners? You're having a larf!

I saw them over 20 years ago on their Voodoo Lounge tour. We had free tickets as a friend was working as transport manager for the tour.  All I can say is thank god they were free. Then in their 50s, the quality of their vocals was questionable and the dad-dancing was just embarrassing.  We had passes to the aftershow party as well but they had all gone home for a restorative mug of cocoa and a lie down. Anyone who saw Sir Macca wail and trill through the Queen's Jubilee concert and the Olympic ceremony knows that at some stage in your life the voice goes. Sir Mick has never been a great vocalist but even 20 years ago, he was rubbish. So more fool these idiots who have parted with so much money to see a bunch of incontinent geriatrics warble and strut around a stage. I'd rather have a nice cup of tea myself.

Bleugh! Pretty much how I feel
about the tax-avoiding Creaking Drones