Glastonbury Festival - One More Punch For the Night.

One More Punch For the Night.

27 Jun 2004

It’s possible to think that Leeds based pop protesters Chumbawamba sneaked in through the back gate to play their rather annoyingly short set at this year’s festival. Then again, of course, it’s highly appropriate that this band should want to just tickle the fringes of anything that in the least way claims to offer such an idealised sense of freedom as Glastonbury.

The select crowd gathered feverishly into every last available pocket of space. The crowd spilled way out beyond the small Ballroom at Lost Vagueness all to catch a gig that consisted of a few of their better known anti-fascist anthems. The memorable song line; “I get knocked down but I get up again” displays an uncomfortable sort of ease that seemed a little bit too clean and tidy for its own good.

“Where have all the anti-fascists gone?” they sang to a grinning crowd of frenzied fans. It’s a question that urgently needs asking, especially within a popularised and vain culture where anything goes.

Chumbawamba play up to the tradition that once upon a time artists were employed to jest for the ruling classes with a brilliant sense of their own irony reminding us that nothing much has changed.

The fact that they lacked the same clout and shout of their earlier punk days doesn’t mean they can’t still swing a punch or two and, for all its over familiarity, their added pop grinning masquerade makes it seem every bit more acidic and perverse.

Chris Cundy

LostVagueness.com

One More Punch For the Night.

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