N.E.R.D. and Dead Weather Solve 'Mystery' Gaps in Glastonbury Lineup

Posted on Jun 27th 2009 11:07AM by Stephen Dowling

It just isn't Glastonbury without mysterious gaps in the schedule; the unfilled slots that breed rumour after rumour after rumour.

Supergrass offshoot the Hot Rats (singer Gaz Coombes and drummer Danny Goffey) played to a rammed Park Stage -- partly because of rumours Arctic Monkeys and Glastonbury favourites Muse were supposed to be playing. Still, spirited covers of Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' and the Beat's 'Mirror in the Bathroom' fit the day's mood.

N.E.R.D., Pharrell William's festival-friendly beats machine, are also a last-minute addition to the Pyramid Stage, informing the late-afternoon crowd that there are 200,000 people out there. If there were, the fences had fallen down, Pharrell.

Jack White is no stranger to Glastonbury -- this year he turned up with the Dead Weather, his third band to grace the green fields of Worthy Farm (after the White Stripes and Raconteurs), and 2009 saw Mr. White and company take to the Park Stage in an "unannounced set." Well, OK, they had let slip on Thursday that they were playing Glasto, which meant there was one less mystery to solve.