Glastonbury

Wellies at the ready - it's that time again when thousands of revellers descend on Somerset for Glastonbury Festival.

This year's festival will be my second visit to Worthy Farm after my maiden experience at last year's event.

I became truly captured in the magic of Glastonbury as the sun beamed out over the Pyramid Stage when Crowded House played 'Weather With You' on Saturday after two days of rain.

And I placed my deposit to guarantee a place for 2009 as soon as I could.

The outlook for this year's event is set to be unsettled with warm weather interspersed by summer showers. Not that it's likely to bother anyone.

As usual, the gates to the campsite open on Wednesday but I will be arriving on Thursday due to logistical reasons.

But, hopefully, I will be in time for the first main act, Newcastle-based band Maximo Park playing at the new William Green area.

The opening night of wandering aimlessly around the site is sure to follow with likely stop-offs at the Brothers Bar and the Cider Bus before late night indulgence in Trash City and Shangrai-La.

A visit to the Stone Circle is a must and, this year, I'm hoping my body-clock holds out to allow me to see dawn rise over the campsite from the hill.

In terms of music, the festival remains generally as varied as ever, though without the JayZ-sized risk from 2008 in the headliners.

Instead, Michael Eavis has lined up Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur to finish on the Pyramid Stage over the weekend.

In a Friday night clash, Young will compete against The Kinks' Ray Davies who I am more likely to see for the expected sing-a-long.

But Saturday will be all about The Boss and his two-hour set as a headliner with Kasabian as the warm-up.

On Sunday, there is another unseemly clash with Blur on at the same time as The Prodigy.

The return of Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon et al is likely to shade it for me, though, especially having seen Keith Flint's group on previous occasions.

As for the rest of the acts, I am very excited to see ska legends The Specials on Friday with Madness on Sunday thrown in for good measure.

And another personal favourite, Art Brut, will make an appearance on Saturday at the Other Stage

Novelty acts Bjorn Again and Spinal Tap earn their place alongside old-timers Rolf Harris and Sir Tom Jones.

And I expect to make room for the traditional speech from Tony Benn, a real conviction politician who completely shows the current spineless bunch for what they are.

But the wondrous element of Glastonbury is its unpredictability.

These plans are just that - plans. I expect many of them will go to waste, which makes the whole muddy mess even more fun.


Useful links:
*The official Glastonbury Festival website
*Halvin's Clashfinder - an impressively accurate compilation of the set times for every act on every stage
*Efestivals messageboard - Glastonbury rumour and counter-rumour
*Glastonbury Map
*BBC Weather (for Glastonbury)