Spinal Tap Team With Unlikely Guests for Glastonbury One-Show World Tour

Posted on Jun 27th 2009 4:12PM by Stephen Dowling
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Think of Spinal Tap -- those giants of hard rock famed for their lyrical genius and amps turned one further than ten -- and you don't immediately then think of Britpop, nor piano-based pop. Do you?

The Lord works in mysterious ways -- or at least his agents working in the entertainment industry do. The Tap, titans of tongue-in-cheek rock, boasted no less a figure than former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker on bass in their Glastonbury line-up, as well as Sophie Dahl's shorter half, Jamie Cullum, on keyboards.

Cullum played keyboards in a "jam" of 'Short and Sweet Because It's Long and Sour' while Cocker temporarily became the Tap's bassist for a version of their unreconstructed hit 'Big Bottom.'

Unlike Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, however, the Tap's Glasto appearance was their only date -- a one-show world tour. No problems with jetlag on this jaunt.

The role of Tap Stonehenge roadie may well be up for grabs next time they deign to tour -- again, the plans for a towering version of Britain's prehistoric tourist attraction were scuppered; this time the Tap played to a miniature inflatable version. Truly, you just can't get the staff these days.