14 DAY TRIAL // 2014 was a year fraught with controversy for the yearly Glastonbury Music Festival which strives to bring in the biggest names in the musical industry for the eager crowds that grow bigger year after year. This time it was bad weather, environmental issues and a lip-synching scandal that could have brought it all down.
The festival was opened to the tune of “I Predict a Riot” sung by Kaiser Chiefs, and it couldn't have been a more appropriate way to kick things off, as the crowds began chanting and bobbing their heads. Rain clouds soon gathered over the concert, and people in the audiences hunkered down for what was announced as a couple of days of heavy rain.
Later in the afternoon, an electrical storm gummed up the works and the festival was forced to shut down the power in an attempt to avoid a nasty accident. You can imagine the disappointment in fans when the set played by Rudimental and special guest star Ed Sheeran was cut short.
The best way to describe the atmosphere at the time the festival organizers pulled the plug is the phrase “the natives were getting restless.”
On Saturday, the second day in the festival, there were several acts that fought for the public's attention that was gearing up for the main performance by headliner band Metallica. Among them, Lana Del Rey and Royal Blood, tried their best to get people's heads bumping.
Metallica's participation at the festival was a scandal in itself, when it emerged that frontman James Hetfield was a supporter of hunting big game animals. Animal rights activists tried boycotting their taking part at Glastonbury and even set up petitions to have them removed from the lineup.
The band took notice and before their set began on Saturday evening, they made sure to roll out a tong-in-cheek film about the hunting controversy, presumably to anger animal rights activists even more. Hetfield and his band played a 14-song set that didn't quite convince people.
On Sunday, the biggest controversy was Dolly Parton's performance. The country music legend was brought in with great fanfare, but when she showed up on stage with an energy that seemed to be surpassing her advancing age, many pointed out that the singer was in fact lip-syncing.
This was more evident for people watching the show from home, which is why many people, including celebrities, jumped to her defense and blamed the fact that her lips didn't move in unison with the sound, on the fact that the HD transmission was lagging.
Despite the fact that Dolly was being blasted on social media for faking her performance, at Glastonbury, the crowds really enjoyed the set of songs she put together, which included her hits “Baby I'm Burnin',” “Jolene” and “9 to 5.”
All in all, 2014 was a solid year for the festival, despite the weather and the scandal and the rumors that it could all come to an end in the year 2020, according to Michael Eavis. The organizer concluded in a post-festival interview that this year's edition was a “great success” and that he had already secured the lineup for next year.
But he also admitted that the festival is becoming too much of a hassle in terms of health and safety. Eavis, the man who first organized the festival at his farm back in the ‘70s, has hinted that the 50th anniversary of the festival could very well be its last.