Gossip at Glastonbury 2024 review: “You missed the train motherfucker”
It is a sad reality that, in the modern age, the success of a music festival is judged almost entirely upon the strength of its headliners. So, what are you meant to do on a Saturday night at Glastonbury Festival when its main offering comes in the form of Chris Martin and Coldplay? In my case, and the case of many other hardcore Coldplay haters, the answer lay across the festival site at the Woodsies tent, in which dance-rock legends Gossip were poised to take the stage around 45 minutes after Coldplay’s Pyramid set had begun.
Expectedly, for a set which overlapped with one of Glastonbury’s big ticket headliners, the crowd in Woodsies was somewhat sparse, particularly towards the beginning of Gossip’s performance. As it turns out, though, the extra space in Woodsies was certainly needed, as the blisteringly good performance by Beth Ditto and company required more than a little room for dancing. Upon entering the stage, Ditto immediately affirmed her skill as a performer and frontwoman, addressing the crowd by saying “My name is Chris Martin” before singing a few bars of ‘Yellow’.
After this brief interlude, the group erupted into an onslaught of their best-loved tracks from across the years, including the likes of ‘Listen Up!’, ‘Heavy Cross’ and ‘Crazy Again’. The sheer power of Ditto’s voice was enough to gradually drag more punters into the tent to bask in the excellence of her performance. Even though she was, by her own admission, sick – regularly blowing her nose on the inside of her leotard between tracks – her vocal talents seemed virtually flawless. Ditto is certainly among the greatest frontwomen of the 20th century; it is as though the punk attitude of Poly Styrene, and the soulful vocals of Aretha Franklin were extracted, and blended together by John Waters.
In between tracks, Ditto took the opportunity to perform something of an impromptu stand-up comedy set, talking to her bandmates and the audience, as well as reflecting upon the history of Gossip. At one point, she exclaimed that Kim Gordon was playing the same stage on Sunday, and demanded the audience all attend that show, saying, “If you’re not, I don’t know what to tell you. You missed the train motherfucker”. That quote could equally be said of Gossip’s performance, the enormity and euphoria of which dwarfed Coldplay’s bloated Pyramid offering.
Gossip commanded the audience with all the poise and expertise of a band that has been a cornerstone of indie rock for upwards of two decades. Standing in the crowd, it felt as though we were all in the palm of Ditto’s hand (the hand that wasn’t wiping her nose, that is). As such, the frontwoman was able to alter the mood of the crowd on a sixpence. While the performance featured its fair share of infectiously danceable tunes and funny stories, it was also an unsuspectingly emotional set.
At multiple points during the night, Ditto could be seen tearing up between songs, before thanking the growing crowd for turning out. The most emotionally affecting point in the set came towards the latter stages, when Ditto opened up about the loss of her friend and hairstylist Lyndell Mansfield, who passed away in 2021. Both the band and many members of the audience – myself included – could not help but well-up at this heartfelt tribute, which came before Gossip launched into their final tracks.
After calling to “Free Palestine”, the band finished on a particularly driven and emotionally-charged rendition of their 2006 anthem ‘Standing In The Way of Control’, which Ditto introduced by expressing her dismay at the fact the song is still relevant all these years later. Of course, the performance and accompanying light show managed to get everybody in the Woodsies tent dancing, all the more so when the singer interspersed elements of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ with the track.
Gossip finished on a message of hope and solidarity, with the crowd endlessly chanting “There’s more of us than there are of them”. No band at Glastonbury 2024 thus far has managed to embody the spirit of togetherness, support and solidarity that the festival was built upon quite as well as Beth Ditto and Gossip. If you missed the train, too bad, I hope you enjoyed ‘Yellow’.
