Reviews

The Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza is also known as the 'posh' Glastonbury event.  

Forget the mud, cider and flooded tents of the 'Pilton Pop' festival, the Extravaganza caters for a much different crowd- ones with picnic tables, Pimms and folding chairs.

Light sabers replaced the flags, wellies were replaced with heels and the only thing which was burning was incence sticks.

The event is organised by Michael Eavis as a thank you to the residents of Glastonbury town for putting up with the disruption his other event causes. I think it was a perfect gift and one which was well received.

Over the course of the weekend, Van Morrisson, Corinne Bailey Rae and the London Philharmonic Orchestra took to the stage. I went on the Sunday evening to see Paolo Nutini and former Kinks lead singer, Ray Davies, perform.

Thousands attended the event

Paolo Nutini started Sunday's event off with an hour's set. For someone who only has one album, he stretched his performance out with fantastic covers including The Jungle Book.

Vocally I could not fault him- he is naturally gifted with an amazing voice however his performance technique is very laid back so visually there's not much to see- unless you fancy him which many teenage girls seemed to.

The main act of the night, Ray Davies, has a very different performance style- you can tell he has around 40 years of playing live as he oozes charisma and certainly knows how to get the crowd going.    

The set list featured some of his solo songs, including one called the Tourist, which he introduced by saying: "You want them for their money but then they ruin the place" - a statement the crowd seemed to agree with it.

Of course no Ray Davies concert would be complete without some Kinks songs- Sunny Afternoon, You Really Got Me and Dedicated Follower Of Fashion all went down well.

To begin with, the crowd seemed satisfied with sitting back relaxing to the music and it wasn't until he played his Kinks songs that the crowd came alive and got up onto their feet to dance.

Paolo sang his hits as well as covers

After three encores, Ray finished his set perfectly with Waterloo Sunset which the crowd sang along to perfectly.

The evening finished with a bang (literally) as there was an amazing fireworks display. 

The weekend wasn't a 'musical' extravaganza in terms of the number of acts playing for the money, however the ones who did play were top notch.

Although the event doesn't make a profit, I hope this doesn't prevent it from happening again next year.  

I don't know whether it is the famous Glastonbury spirit or the fact that Eavis organised it, but the event had an amazing, natural atmosphere- very relaxed and laid back- something which is missing from a lot of commercial festivals.