The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

It was announced yesterday that Burt Bacharach is a late addition to the Glastonbury Festival line-up. The world-renouned festival will be staged from June 24-28 and Bacharach is scheduled to appear on the main Pyramid Stage between 4.30 & 5.30 in the afternoon of Saturday the 27th. It will be remembered by us in the UK that the last time he was scheduled to play the festival in 2000 he had to pull-out because of a broken shoulder.

Burt plays Glastonbury......I hope he remembers to bring his "Wellies"

"blue"

Great news. For those of us not prepared to live in a field for four days, we can relax in the knowledge that all the acts on the main stage will be televised and broadcast live or otherwise. The Glastonbury Festival is essentially a rock event but has traditionally welcomed artists from different genres of music to its many stages. In recent years Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond have all been rapturously received on the main stage by the mostly young audience and with only the merest hint of irony. Having seen BB wow a young audience at the BBC Electric Proms in 2008, I have every confidence he will go down a storm with the Glastonbury crowd. And if it rains, as it often does, there'll be 200,000 people singing along with 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head'.

This kind of thing is inconceivable at USA festivals. I envy and admire the British-Euro willingness to keep open ears and minds!

Martin Johnson wrote:Great news. For those of us not prepared to live in a field for four days, we can relax in the knowledge that all the acts on the main stage will be televised and broadcast live or otherwise. The Glastonbury Festival is essentially a rock event but has traditionally welcomed artists from different genres of music to its many stages. In recent years Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond have all been rapturously received on the main stage by the mostly young audience and with only the merest hint of irony. Having seen BB wow a young audience at the BBC Electric Proms in 2008, I have every confidence he will go down a storm with the Glastonbury crowd. And if it rains, as it often does, there'll be 200,000 people singing along with 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head'.

Last year Kenny Rogers did that slot on Saturday afternoon its become known as "The Legends" slot, its usually very popular.

The BBC televises all of this and puts it on its website via the BBC I-player.

I hope Burt plays this beautiful song at the Festival on Saturday.



"blue"

I'm not sure, Blue, if Bacharach's set at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon is scheduled to last more than an hour. If it is only an hour then the 'hits' medley that usually follows the 'What the World Needs Now' overture and the film song medley which usually precedes the encores are almost certain to be there, including 'A House is Not a Home', of course. Add Josie James and 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and perhaps Donna and John's 'Make it Easy on Yourself' - 'On My Own' duet and you probably have the likely set-list. Incidentally, for those of us who live in the UK, his set starting at 4.30pm will be shown on BBC4 at 7pm according to the Radio Times, BBC's television and radio guide.

pljms,
Thank you for the info...it will be an absolute thrill to see Burt and his band at Glastonbury !

Can't wait !

"blue"

At least part of Burt's gig at Glastonbury(Saturday) will be aired on BBC radio 2 from 4pm UK ( 11am EST, 8am PST) so if you can tune this in on Internet you should be able to hear him LIVE.

Tomorrow on BBC4,

BURT BACHARACH@Glastonbury.

Time 20.00hr

BB's set lasted about 70 minutes so the BBC had to
lose 10 minutes for the hour-long TV broadcast a few
hours later at 7pm. Inexplicably they chose to edit out Josie James's
Anyone Who Had a Heart plus Trains and Boats and Planes from
the first hits medley. Watching on TV, Burt and his
singers and band really seemed to be lapping up what
must have been an extraordinary atmosphere and on a beautiful
sunlit afternoon.

Burt's concert, I hope the link opens okay.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... -bacharach

Enjoy,
"blue"

Sorry, I've just realized this link cannot be opened in the U.S.A...many apologies.

"blue"
PS
Hopefully Burt's Concert could be available on "Youtube" pretty soon.
Don't miss it folks, it's a great show !

Reading the coverage of BB's appearance at Glastonbury in the media and on the net I see that the usual misconceptions of him still exist, the most common, outside of the 'Easy Listening' tag that's been stuck on him for years is that he's a 'singer-songwriter' who now has to rely on others to sing the majority of his live set because of his advanced age. He's even referred to as a 'crooner' in some quarters and for that I suppose we have to blame the first Austin Powers movie. As for the Glastonbury set itself, from what I heard on the radio live and saw on the TV later I think that overall it was a below par performance and singing outside on a warm, dry afternoon seemed to take its toll not only on Burt's voice, which according to one of my daughters resembled nothing less than a death-bed croak, but also Donna Taylor's as well. The BBC's decision to cut 'Anyone Who Had a Heart', which as usual was the dramatic and emotional highpoint of the set, from the TV broadcast later was hugely disappointing and made no sense at all. If they had to cut just one stand-alone 4 minute number then 'My Little Red Book' was a more obvious contender, as well performed as it was.

I saw the show in Manchester last night and it was fabulous, my first time seeing him live, I must say that for a guy as old as Burt and self confessed non- singer I thought he did rather well, he definately sounded better than at Glastonbury.
Josie James was brilliant on 'Anyone who had a heart', and received a deserved standing ovation.

It was a change to see people with genuine talent perform for once.