Glastonbury 2003: Sunday Pyramid Stage

Andrew Future, Steve Jenner, Dan Hancox - 29 June 2003

Moby, Manic Street Preachers, Feeder, Macy Gray, Sugababes, Asian Dub Foundation, Waterboys, Leningrad Cowboys, Town Band

In typical fashion, Sunday's Pyramid Stage line up is remarkably weaker than the other days, with each artist being pretty much a case of 'How the hell are they still here?'

Take Waterboys for instance. It's been a while, but admittedly taking the time to watch them (and there is a surprising early afteroon turn out) and you realise the warm charm behind their hazy acoustics.

Asian Dub Foundation seem to have lost much of their momentum (maybe it has something to do with them actually releasing Saptal Ram?!) and to the casual passer by it does resemble a bunch of ethnic puppies bouncing and yapping out political-for-the-sake-of-it rants about this, that and the other. Still it's impressive and clearly goes down well with the under 13's contingent, who have massed to get near the front for...

Sugababes' various charms strangely seem to have stuck them some indie credibility despite their very obvious pop stylings. They've got some good songwriters and even better producers, as tracks like 'Round Round' and 'Freak Like Me' prove, and whilst their live backing band is as sharp as you'd expect, sadly the many thousands spent on tireless vocal tuition still don't seem to be coming to much fruition.

Pleasantly, though, Hiedi, Keisha and the unfortunately named Mutya (our favourite) make little attempt at synchronising their dancing, concentrating rather on looking sweet (yet naughty) and pouting like any true pop princess needs to do. It's true, they are spoilt, but they deserve it. Amusingly, former member Siobhan Donaghy entertains the New Bands tent at the same time.

Macy Gray is lucky not to have been gunned down after 'gracing' the airwaves with her skin-churning sandpaper scrawling screech the first time round. This time, sans media hype and Fatboy Slim single there's not so much interest, and she looks decidedly out of place. Still, she's completely barking mad and puts in a commendable effort to entertain, which she does so more than acceptably, and even gives Marilyn Manson a run for his money by mooning the crowd. Nice.

Feeder have certainly come back around since the death of drummer, Jon Lee. Forgoing their early promise of Pumkins-mashed rock simplicity for a more Radio 2 based sub-Oasis trajectory they succeed when it comes to the likes of 'Buck Rogers' but for the most part it's generically lame, processed rock that makes Reef look like Pink Floyd. People seem to lap it up though, but then we're on the last day and many people probably think they're watching Pink Floyd again. Ho hum.