Traffic Jams: Arcade Fire – ‘Wake Up’
Oh hey, would you look at that? We’re staring down the barrel of the last full weekend in June. And where I’m from, that means it’s time for the greatest party on Earth, the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts.
Glastonbury normally comes around every year and sees 175,000 musicians, artists, performers and music fans descend on a dairy farm in the south of England for five days of music and good vibes. It’s, honestly, my favorite place in the whole damn world.
In 2019, I got my hands on a ticket to the 2020 festival and was psyched to see Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney take to the iconic Pyramid Stage at the festival. But that was canceled and the event was pushed back to 2021. One thing lead to another and now, instead of packing into a sweaty coach to head to a field in England, I sat in an office in NYC, left reminiscing about festivals gone by.
Topping those goosebump moments from the festival is Arcade Fire singing “Wake Up” at the 2014 installment of the event. God knows how many people were singing along to that chorus, but it made for a pretty special moment.
It’s just so beautiful. Photo: Matt Cardy (Getty Images)
Then there was Arctic Monkeys’ triumphant headline set in 2013, closed off with the exceptional “Certain Romance”. And what about that time The Killers performed “Always On My Mind” with the Pet Shop Boys? That was almost as great as the entire set from UK grime artist Stomzy.
Honorable mention also goes out to Kanye West, who sang “Touch the Sky” from the top of a crane one time, and that year I accidentally saw James Bay four times over one festival weekend.
It really is a magical place. On the off chance that you’re stuck in traffic en route to Worthy Farm right now, have a great one.
