The elusive Irish heatwave has come along with it’s obligatory dose of brainlessness, and it has been no doubt made worse with the onset of the festival season. While otherwise sensible humans are now flinging themselves into the Liffey or the nearest fountain for amusement, musicians and artists are also losing their minds on a larger scale.
Last weekend The Grateful Dead played the first gig of their reunion and/or farewell tour. They’ve been hounded ever since over the authenticity of a rainbow that appeared behind them in the sky.
It’s alleged that they whipped out $50,000 to create an artificial prism arc for their show. That anyone might want to use a fake rainbow generator surpasses the stupidity of the device’s conception. And is this the first time in history that a rainbow has caused a row (outside of Russia)? Then again, maybe the rainbow was actually caused by the spirit of Jerry Garcia: fans are still divided.
Glastonbury was wet, but it was a hot kind of wet (thankfully the rain once again failed to dampen spirits, numerous news outlets were happy to report). The balmy heat spurred Paul Weller to insist on audience consumption of class-A drugs. More specifically, his request was “How’s the brown acid? Get it up ya,” causing some apprehension among fans who had gotten other colours of LSD up them. Copious hugging was pursuant to his demand, numerous news outlets were happy to report.
Another band who might be au fiat with Weller’s recommendations are Californian act Sleep. Way back in 1995, London Records decided to jump on the stoner-metal bandwagon, and spent tens of thousands on getting the band’s third album out.
The group had other ideas and allegedly spent most of the money on equipment, weed and debts. They eventually produced Dopesmoker, one song that clocked in at about an hour.
A bewildered London Records refused to release it, and a new version failed to appease them. Now, though, Dopesmoker is appreciated for its truly innovative genius in less corporate circles.
Paul Weller would no doubt approve.
