Smarter than the average meter

Smart meters are pretty controversial. Or, at least, they should be. Sure, there's a bunch of easily-dismissed EMF radiation panic about them. And, yes, they can help you keep track of the energy you're using (in case somehow you might have so many rooms in your house you don't know when you've got a radio switched on in one.)

But more concerning is the privacy aspects. All of a sudden, your meter will be sending data about your behaviour to the power companies. It's becoming a large civil rights question in America.

"Right, but what has this got to do with pop music?" you're probably wondering.

Well, faced with intrusive technology that ultimately could tell British Gas when you're home and EDF if you're awake in the middle of the night, what sort of shill could the industry find to sell their case?

Guardian diary, can you tell us?

A diary date, finally – 8 July sees the launch of the Smart Meter Central Delivery Body's nationwide campaign to persuade everyone to buy gas and electricity via a new "smart meter". Special guest speaker: Sir Bob Geldof. Whatever the worthy cause, call for Bob.

Ah, Bob. Increasingly, taking great strides to be on the wrong side.

Hey Ho, Let's Go... eventually

It's taken the best part of forty years, but The Ramones' debut, Ramones, has finally gone gold in America.

The differential in sales between Ramones albums and Ramones tshirts is, perhaps, a question for another day.

Claim of thrones: Alfie Allen doesn't exactly back up Lily

A short while back, Lily Allen was telling people that she could have been in Game Of Thrones but they'd tried to cast her in an incesty role with her brother.

Oddly, though, Alfie doesn't seem to know anything about this. The Mirror reported this:

The actor, who plays Theon Greyjoy on the hit HBO series, has refuted that Lily was ever an option to play Yara Greyjoy.

He said: "The only thing I'm going to say on that is that it's not true."

Interesting in many ways - not least that The Mirror doesn't know what "refute" means. Also interesting that that report appeared on the Mirror site nearly a fortnight ago, but the Daily Mail is reporting exactly the same story this morning like it's news.

Also interesting is how the Mirror takes Alfie as saying 'it's not true' and somehow manages to take from this that Lily was never an option.

Still, it must be hard for Alfie - now the rising star of the family, suddenly finding a relative trying to wet their beaks by saying 'yeah, they offered me a role but I turned it down'.

At least that's lightning that won't strike twice, though.

Oh. Hang on.:

Keith Allen could be joining his son in fantasy drama Game Of Thrones after auditioning for a role in the bloodthirsty show. - See more at: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/game-of-thrones-alfie-allens-dad-tries-to-get-in-on-the-act-30349270.html#sthash.qfodOVZf.dpuf

The actor told The Times he has gone for the role of a slave who leads a rebellion "like Spartacus".

He said: "Every scene is a bloodbath. Frankly I think I'm cut out for that."

Allen also revealed he had previously auditioned for the part of his son Alfie's on-screen father but said he deliberately failed the screen test.

He told The Times the offer was "a bit cheesy, a bit obvious" so he "did a rubbish audition"

Sources close to Alfie Allen say he's mulling a "I could have pranced about bellowing in a Fat Les video" counterstrike.

For those who haven't seen Game Of Thrones, it's a series a bit like Merlin but with more nudity.

This week just gone

The most-read things so far this year:

1. Liveblog: Brits
2. Armenia try a homophobic entrant for Eurovision
3. Simon Bates dropped by Smooth
4. Terry Christian's suggestions about disability are, erm, interesting
5. Liveblog: Eurovision
6. The kids? They're all buying cassettes these days. Supposedly
7. MTV assumes women at gigs are waiting to be picked up
8. Alfie Boe humiliates audience members
9. It turns out Michael Jackson was a little odd
10. Man has to refocus energies from cancer onto dealing with Aston Merrygold's prank


These were last week's interesting releases:


First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

Download Stay Gold



The Proper Ornaments - Wooden Head

Download Wooden Head



Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin



Chrissie Hynde - Stockholm

Download Stockholm



Various Shambling Beauties - C86 Box Set

Casey Kasem: TMZ show their class

Traditionally, the international standard for heartlessness was 'the relative who nips upstairs at the wake to try on the deceased's shoes'.

The world today, though, moves more quickly. The world is more douche-spattered. And thus, TMZ have redefined that international standard of heartlessness:

Casey Kasem is still clinging to life, and TMZ are trying to get a fight going over the corpse he has yet to vacate.

Well done, TMZ. You've made Uncle Digby leaving a funeral with better shoes than he arrived in look like a humanitarian.

James Arthur embraces exciting, open, bold new future

James Arthur has been dumped by Syco, who suddenly realised that there was no role for a record label in running a career which seems to consist mostly of making a dick of oneself on Twitter.

It does mean the end of the modern tradition which would see, once a month, Arthur take to Twitter to deny rumours that Syco were dropping him.

But the good news is that this will free Arthur up to spend more time building his social media presence (or "regularly turning the pile", as gardeners would describe it.)

He's started already, look:

"Just to clear things up - I am no longer with Syco. I would like to thank all at the label for making a great record with me," Arthur tweeted today (June 11).

"I now have to move on and do something different - the future is bright! #LOVE."

It's unclear what the "great record" Arthur refers to is - speculation is that some of the Syco interns and Arthur collaborated on making the world's largest rubber band ball.

Dana International incident

Dana International, who won Eurovision a while ago (don't look up when, you'll only feel old) has created something of a storm in Israel with her new video.

It's for her song in support of this year's Gay Pride, and judging by the summary, I suspect International was hoping to make some sort of stir with the work:

The video, which was produced by Tel Aviv Municipality, features real Hassidic kids in a bar mitzvah service of International’s supposed son, Raam International. The service goes bad as too many celebratory candies thrown at Raam wound him and draw blood.

However, it's not the content, but the participants, which has caused the kick-off:

According to Ynet, the parents of the kids who participated in the video were invited this week to their children’s religious school for a reprimand about having their kids participate in a Dana International video clip. The parents claimed that they were invited by Tel Aviv Municipality to participate in the video, and it was presented to them as a clip that represents Jewish values, and especially Bar Mitzvah. The parents claimed that they had no idea that it’s a clip for Gay Pride.

The International camp's response is to shrug and say 'well, yes, tolerance and respect is what the Torah's all about, surely?' which manages to be right without actually dirtying hands on the question of if everyone involved knew exactly what they'd signed up to. Because - even if the parents are homophobes, or transphobes, or hate Eurovision - respect also involves being upfront with people. Surely?

What the queen likes

We live in a strange age, where people have many different careers, but I think I'm right in saying that Cerys Matthews must be the first person to do the specific double of an FHM cover spread and an MBE.

(Although, presumably, that's trumped by Angelina Jolie's French FHM cover and an honorary damehood.)

Other musicians who will have to worry about hiring a posh includes Talvinder Singh Matharoo, who's got an OBE.

Darcus Beese, the president of Island Records, also gets an OBE for services to music, although giving an award to a major label exec for services to music is akin to giving Ronald McDonald a prize for services to cows.

Kasabian defenders even more lumpen than Kasabian themselves

Billy Bragg - in common with (checking list) Most People Ever - doesn't have much time for Kasabian. He took time out of his busy schedule to chuckle aloud:

He explained: "They have an import role to play. They are there to remind us how true Spinal Tap was. I'm not a fan, but if you read their interviews as if it was dialogue from Spinal Tap, it's very entertaining. Especially the stuff Sergio Pizzorno says, he's Nigel Tufnel. Particularly with the album title, '48:13.'

"I'm guessing that's how long the record is. Someone sent them a CD that just said 'Kasabian', and they didn't know what else to put on it, 'cos they hadn't bothered to think up any fucking titles, so they just put the time on and Serge said, 'that is fucking genius.'"

Oh, if only Bill knew that they started with the length and worked their way backwards from there.

Still, not everyone was going to take that lying down. The Drummer From The Raptors took to Facebook to defend Kasabian against this assault:

Writing on Facebook, Luke asked: "Why are you such a cunt?"

I'll say this for Kasabian fans, they have a love of language and a deftness of touch you don't often see since the Algonquin Round Table stopped meeting.

Twitterblob: Liam Gallagher

Interesting:

I actually really like Adrian Chiles… said no one… ever. I’d rather listen to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds than listen to Chiles. LG

— Liam Gallagher (@IiamgaIlagher) June 12, 2014

Not that Liam Gallagher has these opinions, but it's interesting that he signs his own tweets (presumably a compromise given he can't use sealing wax and a signet ring).

It's also interesting that he's still doing "said no-one ever". I look forward to Liam's I can haz cheezeburger tweets in about six months' time.

UPDATE: Parody account. Bollocks. Pwnd.

Kerrang! Awards 2014: The young people finally give the Quo respect

Kerrang! did its awards yesterday - so we finally can acknowledge that Gerard Way is the best at Twitter (within the tolerances of Kerrang! readers). The full list of winners suggests why the paper might be struggling to hold on to readers:

BEST EVENT
Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll Tour

BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER
Neck Deep

BEST INTERNATIONAL NEWCOMER
5 Seconds Of Summer

KERRANG! INSPIRATION
The Dillinger Escape Plan

KERRANG! ICON AWARD
The Ramones

BEST SINGLE
You Me At Six – Fresh Start Fever

BEST VIDEO
Deaf Havana – Boston Square

BEST LIVE BAND
Bring Me The Horizon

THE RELENTLESS AWARD
Watain

KERRANG! SERVICE TO ROCK
Status Quo

BEST ALBUM
Architects – Lost Forever // Lost Together

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND
Fall Out Boy

BEST BRITISH BAND
You Me At Six

KERRANG! HALL OF FAME
Deep Purple

KERRANG! HERO
Gerard Way

BEST TV SHOW
Game Of Thrones

BEST VIDEO GAME
The Last Of Us

BEST FILM
The Lego Movie

BEST COMEDIAN
Jarrod Alonge

TWEETER OF THE YEAR
Gerard Way

HOTTEST FEMALE
Taylor Momsen – The Pretty Reckless

HOTTEST MALE
Andy Biersack – Black Veil Brides

BEST FESTIVAL
Slam Dunk

When You Me At Six is leading the field for the best band in your realm, you're pretty much putting a message on the front page 'awaiting delivery of new inspiration - please call back in 2015 for an update'.

Still, interesting to see Status Quo and The Ramones getting the 'let's give an award to someone who might generate wider interest in our awards' awards - neither band (nor Deep Purple, come to that) feel especially like they're the forebears of what a Kerrang band sounds like these days; they might as well have chosen to give the prizes to Spirogyra and Violinksi.

Will Amazon trickle out a stream?

The New York Times reckons that Amazon might quietly launch a music streaming service today.

That they'd pick World Cup Of Soccer day to do this suggests it's the softest of soft launches. Which may be down to the likelihood that one of the majors - UMG - doesn't appear to have been signed up yet.

Give people what they want in lethal doses: Jade Tree comes to Bandcamp

Jade Tree records - Milemarker, Girls Against Boys, Denali and many others - has been not-quite-shuttered for the last few years. It was in a status of more or less silent running.

Now, though, the label is shaking itself back to full activity, starting with putting their full back catalogue onto Bandcamp for sale or streaming.

There's a promise of a ramped-up release schedule for the coming months, and the label's Darren Walters says he's in love again. He's keen for it not be thought of as a comeback, but it's clearly a new, happy chapter.

Embed and breakfast man: Kristeen Young

But why, Kristeen, why would you have poisoned Morrissey with a headcold? Why would you do such a thing? Why?

Oh... the devil made you do it.

Aaaaand that's the formal cancellation

Inevitably, then, the Morrissey US tour has been cancelled.

It's now thirty-four years since Morrissey completed anything (on that occasion he finished the general knowledge crossword in a copy of the New Family Titbits).

But of course, it isn't his fault, says an official announcement:

Morrissey announces the close down of the present U.S. tour with "unimaginable sorrow".

On Saturday, June 7th, following the show at Boston Opera House, Morrissey collapsed and was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where doctors treated Morrissey for "acute fever". Difficulties had arisen on May 31st following Kristeen Young's opening set at the Miami Knight Concert Hall, after which Kristeen confessed to "a horrendous cold", the symptoms of which were passed on to Morrissey resulting in the cancellation of the next show in Atlanta.
For the good of all, Kristeen was asked to step down from the immediate upcoming shows, but instead she decided to leave the tour entirely. Morrissey and the band wish her well and hope she is now in good health.

Morrissey received medical attention in Miami, and once again in Boston, but it was not enough to shake off the virus, the recovery time for which is too lengthy to meet the final 9 shows of the tour.

These devious people with their apparently weaponised colds.

Morrissey and the band are otherwise delighted and very grateful for their experiences on the U.S. tour, some shows of which they considered to be their best-ever.

It's the best-ever on the basis that, this time round, they actually got as far as doing a few soundchecks and actually turned up to run through some songs. On several occasions.

If you thought the current Morrissey tour was going too smoothly...

It was never going to happen that Mozzer made it through a tour unscathed, was it? He's just rescheduled two dates on medical advice; last week he cancelled Atlanta altogether because of a "virus".

Morrissey tickets: all the fun of a lottery ticket.

How Kasabian work

There's an interesting detail in the tour Kasabian give to the BBC of their dreadful new album:

In that spirit, the album is called 48:13, which is precisely how long it lasts.

"I wasn't trying to be clever," Pizzorno says. "The album is the sum of all its parts - and that's 48 minutes and 13 seconds."

Bizarrely, he decided on the title before the album was recorded, having become "attached" to the numbers. "It's so silly," he says, "but for me something about that felt right."

This explains a lot about what Kasabian songs are the way they are. They're delivered to fill a pre-dug hole, like when you get readymix cement delivered to plug a gap in a back yard.

Comedyobit: Rik Mayall

We've not only lost a great comedian and actor with the death of Rik Mayall; he's a loss to music, as well.

Lest we forget, he was part of Bad News:


He was the focus of the otherwise-forgotten Butcher Bitches by Circus Circus Circus:


He also supported the band The Company She Keeps in the video for What A Girl Wants:


And was in the clip for Lionheart's Die For Love:


The video for Art Of Noise's remake of Peter Gunn? Send for Mr Mayll.

(Turns out having Rik in your video wasn't a lock-in for sales.)

Also, Rik would turn up on The Tube in the early days, when the series was still heavier on pardoy than self-parody:


Let's not forget he also had a number one in his own right, even if it was in character:

That also went to number one in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

We've lost a great man.

Prokofiev, Sir Mix-A-Lot collaborate

Not Sergei Prokofiev, of course - he's dead - but his grandson, Gabriel, who is also a composer. And THE Sir Mix-A-Lot. They came together at the request of the Seattle Symphony, in order to do an orchestral version of Baby Got Back:

Not, perhaps, the greatest sentiment to tempt young (let's be honest, middle-aged) people to the orchestra ("hey! Everyone can enjoy classical music, although if you're a woman you might find the transportation of some of the shitty stuff hip hop does into the orchestra a bit of a turn-off.) But an interesting collaboration.

World Cup: J-Lo doesn't make it to the finals

If the BBC has chosen a poor theme for the World Cup, the official song from FIFA isn't going down any more smoothly:

FIFA said in a news release on Sunday that Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte will sing the official tune "We Are One" before Brazil takes on Croatia on Thursday in Sao Paulo.

The song has let down many Brazilians who complain that it sounds too generic for Bossa Nova-crazed audiences in Brazil and that it features foreign musicians singing mostly in English and Spanish. Leitte sings only a few seconds at the end of the song in her native Portuguese.

It's unclear how the song was chosen, but given this is FIFA we can't rule out brown envelopes; strange handshakes; or mysterious deals relating to global gas supplies.

On the record, J-Lo adds... something, as this picture of her enthusiastically posing with Pitbull and in no way looking like she'd much rather be elsewhere, shows:

(editor's note: the caption on that photo says it's Pitbull; I'm not entirely sure it isn't the late Mike Reid.)

Having agreed to do the awkward photocall, though, Lopez seems to have had enough, and won't join her colleagues for a quick run-through prior to kick-off:

Soccer's governing body says Lopez cannot perform at Thursday's event because of unspecified "production issues."

Not only can she not be arsed to turn up, she can't even be arsed to come up with a proper excuse for not turning up.

Madonna: I knew her when she was Flaca

Here's a nice story, about a guy, Lamont Clarke who used to know Madonna when she was just starting out. When she was still Jenny From The Bl... no, hang on; that wasn't her. When she was our Madonna. The one who made the first records. The one who didn't make all those movies.

He's - apparently reluctantly - told his story to the New York Post because his fellow convicts (oh, yes, his story wasn't quite so rags-to-riches) spotted him in a picture:

“I’m a humble guy and never told no one that I knew Madonna,” Clarke, 44, told The Post in an exclusive jailhouse interview at the Eastern Correctional Facility upstate in Napanoch, NY.

“But fellas kept coming to me with the paper and asking if one of those kids was me. I couldn’t lie and told them the truth.”

The details of the time when a pre-Sire Madonna - they called her Flaca or Sis - was looked out for by his group are really sweet.

“We were tough dudes, and you didn’t want no one to see your weak side, but Sis listened to me,” says Clarke. “I got into a lot of arguments with Danny, and she’d say, ‘C’mon fellas,’ and calm it down.

“We were poor. We didn’t have the latest fashion or the latest jewelry, but she liked our style. We didn’t have much, but we had a whole lot because we had each other.”

And once Madonna hit it huge, do you think she was going to forget the gang she used to hang with?

Yes. Yes, she did. Dropped them like an oiled herring:

“One day, Junito was sitting on the stoop and the dude looked down,” he recalls. “ ‘Sis broke out,’ he said. ‘Sis left.’

“I tried to cushion the shock, saying that maybe she’d be back. Maybe one day she’d come in a limousine, and the door would open, and she’d say, ‘Get in,’ and give us tickets to her show.

“As a kid, you hope for that kind of thing. But none of it ever happened. We just went on with life.”

Not even a handful of tickets to a gig. When her New York pals knew Madonna was going to be successful no matter what, they didn't realise that "what" that was no matter included them.

Pete Doherty: Don't hold the front page

You think, Pete?

Justin Bieber: Some free PR advice

Hi, Justin.

You're in it up to your neck, right? Turns out that you've done some pretty nasty, pretty racist things, and videos of them have got out into the wider world.

I'm sure you'll spot the irony - the ease of creating and sharing digital video made you into a massive celebrity; now, that same ease of creation and sharing shows that you're a massive asshat.

And I know that there's a scrum of people running around, trying to work out how you can make this 'Justin Bieber is a massive racist' stain go away.

Here's a hint. If your PR team cook up a stunt that results in a headline like this:

... you're probably screwed.

(Sidenote: You - or the growns up around you - do know that 'reading the Bible' isn't always the opposite of 'being a massive racist', right?)

This week just gone

The most-read things during May:

1. Liveblog: Eurovision 2014
2. Midge Ure stitched up by the Mail
3. Radio Academy Awards
4. Terry Christian keen some disabled people don't become a burden on the state
5. Allan Jones leaves Uncut
6. Radio One: using stats to drive the playlist
7. Peter Andre has a trestle table
8. You won't believe how many cassettes the kids are buying
9. The US Now Playlist
10. Brotherhood Of Man have a prior engagement


These were the releases the week before I went off to swan about on holiday:


Swans - To Be Kind

Download To Be Kind



9Bach - Tincian

Download Tincian



Foxes - Glorious

Download Glorious



Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines

Download Unrepentant Geraldines

Radio 1 launches cull that Owen Paterson might think a bit much

There's been the sort of cull of Radio 1 presenters which, in the past, would have triggered a thousand 'whither pop radio' think pieces but seems to have slipped by without much comment at all.

There's some big names going, too:

BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra are to axe DJs including Edith Bowman, Rob Da Bank and Nihal in a schedule shake-up driven by the need to cut costs.

Controller Ben Cooper admitted that the cull of presenters – which includes Mike Davies, Jen Long, Ally McCrae, CJ Beatz, Crissy Criss and Robbo Ranx – have been driven by cuts across the corporation introduced after the last licence fee settlement.

This boils down mostly to Huw Stephens being asked to pick up a lot of the slack, with him getting a programme that sounds a bit like Colin Murray's post-Zane Lowe slot.

Da Bank going is something of a hit; and in terms of losing interesting people do worthwhile things, Davies' punk show has been a quiet gem in the Radio 1 schedule.

Difficult times at the BBC, of course, but it's a pity that the savings are coming at the cost of the diversity which makes Radio 1 worth keeping.

World Cup of Soccer: Theme time

The great thing about the World Cup being in Brazil is the massive range of options this offers the BBC for choosing a theme tune.

Who have they gone with? Seu Jorge? Nação Zumbi? Maria Rita?

Oh, man, I bet they've gone with Maria Rita. Imagine kicking off every Match of the Day with this:

But it's so difficult to choose. So many great local artists. So many distinctive local genres and sub-genres. How do you choose one to drench your Brazilian soccer coverage in a sense of place?

What have you chosen, BBC?

Stevie Wonder's song Another Star will provide the theme tune for the BBC's Fifa World Cup coverage.

The song, with its Latin American vibe, will be used as the opening sequence for all of the BBC's World Cup programmes for Brazil 2014.

Ah, yes. How better to get a "Latin American vibe" than by approaching someone from Michigan?

I suppose Brazil only has itself to blame. If just one of its artists had ever produced a single track which sounded even half-way as Latin American, they'd probably have been in with a shot of providing a tune for the event.

Perhaps it's elaborate social commentary from BBC Sport, reflecting how the World Cup has seen Brazilians shoved aside to make room for multinational brands to make money off of soccer.

The BBC is keen to stress the sort-of-historic significance of 'man licences track to broadcaster':

It is the first time the musician, 64, has given his approval for one of his songs to be used in this way.

Perhaps that's true, but this is the man who supplied the entire soundtrack for The Woman In Red, so let's not pretend opening with a Wonder song is automatically a blessing for all involved.

Glastonbury 2014: The BBC headcount

It's now a fixed point in the summer season; newspapers who dislike the BBC getting all overheated about how it takes people to do broadcasting of a music festival.

Because this is a year divisible by two and not four, that means the comparison must be made with the World Cup of Soccer, which is going to happen in the next week or so:

BBC sends 300 staff to cover Glastonbury Festival - that’s 28 more than its Brazil World Cup crew

This compares to 272 who are heading to Brazil for the World Cup

I'm sure the Daily Mail will, elsewhere on its website, be clearing space amongst the upskirt shots of teenage girls to complain about the number of BBC staff covering the World Cup as well, but for now that's the comparison they want to go for.

How can it be, then, that it takes a larger number of people to cover a number of stages running simultaneously for about a dozen channels across TV, radio and digital, than it does to cover a football event where the match coverage is provided by somebody else and which plays out languidly over the course of what feels like an entire month?

Oh, hang on. The question has answered itself, hasn't it?

We'll see you back here next year for "the BBC has more people covering Glastonbury than turned up for the defenestration of Nick Clegg".

Pharrell upsets Native Americans

The July edition of Elle UK is dubbed a "special collector's edition":

One for collectors of culturally insensitive artefacts, apparently, as Native Americans aren't thrilled with Pharrell playing dress-up with their image:

Taino Ray: How can you do something so stupid and disrespectfulll.. you are not a Chief Pharrel.. The eagle feathers are sacred... Even if you are part Native the headdress is off limits... Its for Warriors and people of the plains culture.. You don't have the right to wear that Pharrel... neither does Cher or Emerson Windy... You guys don't get it.... You will learn the hard way by us Natives telling you so...

"Pharrell" has issued a statement through his publicist:

"I respect and honour every kind of race, background and culture. I am genuinely sorry."

How genuinely sorry you believe Pharrell to be is probably going to be a function of how far you believe the words to be genuinely his. It's such a slight 'sorry about that' it suggests more a damage control than actual contrition.

Fortunately for Elle, the magazine comes with a choice of covers this month, and fortunately they didn't get Keira Knightley to do blackface for hers.

Humperdinck pursued by the Palace

Albany's Palace Theater has issued proceedings against Engelbert Humperdinck, claiming he failed to show for a show:

Humperdinck was scheduled to perform at the Palace on June 29, 2011. The theater provided him with a $20,000 deposit, spent nearly $10,000 on advertising and $632 for transportation. Also, 668 tickets were sold for a total of $31,549.

The Palace, represented by Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, is looking to be reimbursed for a list of costs totaling more than $70,000, including the $20,000 deposit, advertising expenses, transportation funding, ticket sales and attorney fees.

You can understand the Palace being upset - although it sort-of looks like the event was going to be a financial hit anyway.

And given what happened when Engelbert does show up - like in Baku, in 2012 - you might consider they had something of a narrow escape.

Glastonbury 2014: You might be able to hear the sound of slaughtered animals

Remember when Glastonbury was a lovely, earth-positive sort of place to be?

That's obviously long since become a memory, but they cling to supporting causes like Greenpeace as a memory of the good times.

But they will let anyone play these days - hence, the 2014 event is going to be headlined by Metallica. That means James Hetfield will be taking time off from working on a documentary about the not-quite-humans who get their kicks killing animals. Bears, in this case. Kodiak bears, the near cousins of the polar bears that Greenpeace are trying to keep alive.

Perhaps the Eavises just like the irony of that.