Glastonbury Festival - Unsigned Bands Competition 2004

Unsigned Bands Competition 2004

01 May 2004

Unsigned Performers Competition 2004

The Finals

Some of the greatest unsigned talent in the UK competed for places to play at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival at The Pilton Working Men's Club where the finalists played live.

The Subways.

The first two finals of our competition saw Menlo Park, bodixa, The Rosinators, RaLfE banD, Hushpukena and Note for a Child make their way to Pilton Working Men's Club in the last stage play-off for a place on the Festival's Acoustic Stage.

After sifting through thousands of CDs to find these gems we expected great things of our performers and those expectations were more than met. It was heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to five of the acts acts we'd selected and so we wish everyone present the very best of luck and thank them for making the judges' jobs as difficult as possible.

Bodixa travelled from Leeds to be there and their shimmering sound and haunting vocals won the day. We will be proud to host their music on the Acoustic Stage at this year's Festival. Be sure to check the time in your program and seek them out - we were not disappointed and nor will you be.

The New Tent competition had been even more hard-fought than the Acoustic Stage - we still had more than two hundred acts in the running after our first attempt to narrow it down! By the time we were down to six, we knew we were in for an excellent night. Okay then, let's be honest here: it rocked from beginning to end!

HombresImposible, Cream Tangerine, The Bilderberg Group, BlackBud, Skyscraper and The Subways were all present and correct... The loveGods were too busy flying to Derry for Radio One's One Big Weekend festival, but would have been there if they could.

The old cliché that "there could be only one winner" would ordinarily go here, but in fact by the end of the night it was clear that there couldn't be any less than two. BlackBud's live sound is something to behold, whilst The Subways (see photo at the top of the page) turned in a set that can only be described as blistering to ensure they couldn't be overlooked. The judges couldn't choose between them, announced a tie, and both bands will be playing the New Tent this year. Do NOT miss them or you'll be kicking yourself on your way out of the Festival on Monday lunchtime when all your mates tell you about how they've just seen next year's headliners.

Competing in the next of our four finals was:-

Jazz World Stage

Hazah
Mooose
Mosiamo
The Magenta House
Walking Wounded
Zuba

Dance Tent

Cakeboy
Dark Chunk
Death Before Dishonour
Deluxe
Earl
Roullet

On Friday 30th April, Pilton Working Men’s Club welcomed Mooose, Mosiamo, Walking Wounded, Zuba, Hazah and The Magenta House.

The JazzWorld CDs had taken seven of the top ten scores on our shortlist, so we knew we were assured an outstanding night. The bands onstage claimed heritage from as far afield as Nigeria, Liberia, Holland and Hackney (when we say “world” music, we mean it), and an equally broad range of styles was displayed to great ability.

Mosiamo

Ultimately, Michael Eavis announced – in what he described as the hardest decision so far – that Mosiamo will play the JazzWorld stage this year as our winners in this category. But he also confirmed that a slot at one of the festival’s many venues will be found for Walking Wounded. The fact that our judges had now chosen to put five bands through to the festival, having only been asked to pick four altogether – and that with one night still to go – should give you an indication of just how good the bands are.

One night still to go. Talking of which, do Dance acts know how to party, or what?

On Saturday night, Death Before Dishonour, Dark Chunk, Roullet, Earl, Deluxe and Cakeboy put on the best possible finale to our competition.

Death Before Dishonour hail from as far away as, er… Glastonbury town itself… which meant they were able to bring their full allocated contingent of supporters with them, and the three mcs and band put on a great show. So we started already in full swing, and the night just went on in the same fashion. By the time Cakeboy finished the mood in the club was so celebratory you’d almost think people weren’t worried who’d won it – if there hadn’t been so much at stake, that is.

Dark Chunk.

Dark Chunk’s self-styled “Runk” music took the title and will play the Dance Tent at the Festival, while Cakeboy was also promised a slot. Try not to miss any of these winners if you can, they’re so good we had to make room for seven when we only expected four.

The next morning The Subways took a call letting them know they’d been crowned as overall winners of the whole competition – this guarantees they will play the Other Stage. Should be awesome.

Congratulations to all of our winners, who we very much look forward to welcoming at the Festival proper in June, and sincere thanks once again to everyone who entered the competition. It has been a huge success and one which we hope will be repeated in years to come. Particular thanks go to our twenty-four finalists, all of whom we wish great futures.

Special thanks to Reality Check for the superb sound and lighting production they provided on all four finals nights.

by Wes White

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