About this time last year I wrote a similar little note shortly after the lineup had been announced of things I wanted to see and do ahead of Glastonbury, scheduling clashes notwithstanding. Looking at the lineup for this year, I started getting excited again, and figured I would do the same. Similar to last year, the nice thing about the lineup is that there are a lot of artists I know of, but none I’ve particularly thought I’d ever get the chance to see. Also as with last year, I’ll just hit the names down here,  and aim to do a full writeup after the fact.

Here goes then:

• Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs
• Neil Young
• Lily Allen
• The Specials
• The Streets
• Rolf Harris
• British Sea Power
• Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band
• Eagles of Death Metal
• Pendulum
• Jarvis Cocker
• Spinal Tap
• Florence and the Machine
• Newton Faulkner
• 2ManyDJs
• Scratch Perverts
• Badly Drawn Boy
• The Lancashire Hotpots
• Blur
• The Prodigy
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
• Madness
• Tom Jones
• Noisettes
• Black Eyed Peas
• Manu Dibango
• Roots Manuva
• Mr Scruff

So, yeh, a bit of a longer list than last time, based on what I’ve seen so far. In addition, some of the stand-up options sound most appealing, as does the Free University of Glastonbury idea. May have to be spending quite a lot of time wandering about the place…

One thing that disappoints me about the lineup is the highly likely clash between Blur and Prodigy – both bands of particular note I would love to see live. If there’s one thing Jay-Z and Massive attack taught me last year it’s that I can’t succesfully mix between the two halfway. Some tough decisions may have to be made…

Obviously, it’s a long list, and many things will clash, especially as I intend to be nipping to and from ‘The Park’ fairly frquently to see what the special guests lineups end up being – I was more than a little gutted to hear I missed Last Shadow Puppets last year. Hmph.

Either way though, I think the essence I’m trying to get across here is this: I’m excited. If you’re going, I hope you are too.