Jay-Z Wows His Critics at Glastonbury
From all indications, Jay-Z successfully quieted his critics at the just concluded Glastonbury music festival. I wasn't privileged enough to crash the show, but I've received tons of emails from readers and friends in the U.K. who claim that Jay-Z dazzled at the event.
Here's a sample of the feedback I've received on Jay-Z's Glastonbury performance:
"Jay just came on stage strumming a guitar, playing "Wonderwall" by Oasis and got the crowd on his side straight away."
"He destroyed it! Just killed Oasis"
"The general pulse was that he won over the festival. A solid B+"
If you've just returned from overseas, you're probably wondering, "why all the Oasis references?" Here's the backstory: Shortly after Glastonbury organizers announced that Jay-Z would headline the 2008 festival, a first for any hip-hop artist, many people criticized the move. Worse still, ticket sales were lower than previous years. They blamed Jay-Z for that, of course. Noah Gallagher of the Oasis went out of his way to say, "Sorry, but Jay-Z, I'm not f***ing having him at Glastonbury."
Jay, a 12-year veteran in the recording industry, relished the challenge and rose to the occasion. Gallagher is probably somewhere chewing on a coffee table right now.
Were you at Glastonbury 2008? Feel free to share your experience with the rest of us.
Photo © Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Comments
I watched Jay Z’s performance at Glastonbury 2008 on TV. I’m not a big Jay Z fan but his
whole set was impressive.
From the Oasis-killing Wonderwall joke at the beginning (which was really funny and yet
underlined an important point) and then
going straight into 99 problems. Brilliant.
It started well and then just never let up.
The live version of ‘Encore’ to finish things
was just amazing.
I have much more respect for Mr Carter than
I had before thats for sure. Not easy going
into the Lions Den and winning but he did.
I Hope Gallagher Is Chewing On Something That Rhymes With Lick.
Just seeing Jay with the guitar is a good look. I’m watching footage of that show as soon as I have some downtime. That’s why Shawn Carter never falls off.
I peeped the video on Youtube. Jay wasn’t actually playing that guitar, just in case anyone was thinking he was (he had a live band though). It was pretty funny though, even though you could barely hear him when he was reciting “Wonderwall”…the whole crowd sang along. I love Oasis but Noel deserved that for talking badly about someone else for a really stupid reason. The “99 Problems” performance was bad ass.