Sister Sledge

Sister Sludge


Pyramid Stage - Saturday

Joni and Debbie were looking good in the Saturday morning rain. You could call it fate, Kismet, destiny or blind luck but there’s something special about having Sister Sledge sing “Rise and Shine”, seemingly breaking up the cloud and temporarily stopping the light, persistent drizzle.

The classic bass lines remain recognisable, but the Sisters gave some funked-up, tricked-out updates of every one of their hits, and more. Their phased wicki-wicki guitars was just the thing for the odd assembled crowd. They responded to a man with a touching dance display of The White Man’s Nod ™, growing later to a proper grimy bop. Crusties swaying gently in the breeze…

There’s more to Sister Sledge’s set than you might initially expect. Of course you’ve got classic disco party music by the bucketload, but the reggae touch put on “Frankie” works very nicely, put against the slower soul edge with a touch of rock guitar on “Lost in Music”.

After some enjoyable new material from new album “Style”, it all got quite serious for a bit. “Brother, brother, stop” is an impassioned anti-violence song, a reminder of the Sisters’ involvement with the disarmament campaign.

That couldn’t last too long, however; the more observant of the mud-jiving crowd would have noticed the absence of “We are family”. A perfect finale, surely – and the Sisters didn’t disappoint. They even dared some audience participation, which worked a treat.

So we came out on a loved-up funk disco love groove high, baby. An inspired bit of programming for the Pyramid stage, and an ideal remedy for the onset of the rain…

Peter Allen

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