Bluedot / Day 4: La Planète sauvage

It was raining this morning and there wasn't a tremendous incentive to get out of bed, let alone leave the tent, except perhaps for coffee and pastries. But the Minx told me there was a showing of 'La Planète sauvage' accompanied by Stealing Sheep and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop. And so I set off.

I hadn't heard of Stealing Sheep before but I was immediately taken by their outfits* and I was bowled over when they started playing. The set up was that they played music to accompany the (silent) film, whilst the Workshop provided sound effects and a little narration. It was a very impressive show and I enjoyed it from start to finish.

We did take refuge from the rain for most of the afternoon, though, emerging for food and drink in good time to catch Björk's set. In fact, the festival was still packed, as was the area in front of the Lovell stage. There are a lot of Björk fans out there! But we found a spot near the sound desk, which is always a good location from which to watch a gig.

The Hallé Orchestra took to the stage and then were joined by the lady herself, dressed in a characteristically marvellous creation. All other music events were cancelled during this performance - meaning we didn't get to see UNE - and there was an announcement before she came on stage saying that Björk didn't want anyone filming or taking photos.

So, we were all focussed solely on the performance!

Which was a shame because it wasn't much cop. The first song was a bit of a dirge, will some vocal gymnastics, as you'd expect, but not much in the way of melody or interesting orchestration. The second song followed this arrangement, as did the third. By the fourth, we were back in the VIP area, where, happily, we bumped into our friends Joe and Gemma.

I did keep an ear on Björk's performance but nothing much seemed to change, which perhaps accounted for the steady stream of people coming into the bar and the gradual reduction in crowd noise at the end of each song.

Of course, you can argue that Björk is an artist and not a crowd pleaser but my take on it was she might have taken a different approach for a festival setting. She could always have saved 'Björk Disappoints And Wastes The Hallé Orchestra' for another occasion.

*One of the things I disliked about Britpot was the de rigeur dressing down.