It's Sancho Panza and we're off
For the clubbier end of the Glastonbury crowd, a traditional curtain-raiser for the beginning of the festival proper has emerged in the last two years. One of Glastonbury's newest traditions occurs on the Thursday of the festival, when South London party posse Sancho Panza hijack the Radio One stage for the day.
Is that really wise? After all, Sancho Panza are all about proper, messy partying - and the Radio One stage comes under the aegis of the fusty old Beeb. Nobody seemed to be complaining - Sancho Panza's blend of party-time tunes captured a sizeable crowd of blissed-out daytime ravers, which grew as the sun went down.
7pm came along and the seven Sancho Panza DJs cranked things up several notches - playing a record each, back-to-back, each attempting to pull out his biggest tune.
BBC presenter Edith Bowman and uber-DJ Nick Warren showed up on stage just before the Radio One stage sound system was switched over live to Radio One itself. Sadly, it wasn't to be Sancho Panza's gleeful battle DJing that would be beamed out to impressionable kids around the country, but DJ/god Sasha - a regular with the last set at Sancho Panza's legendary Notting Hill Carnival soundsystem.
As soon as Radio One flicked the switch, things went... well, down a bit, sadly. Sasha is a master technician and purist, and always employs the same modus operandi - building a set patiently, progressively. He is, after all, the king of progressive house. He's quite educational to watch close-up, employing the tiniest, most bird-like movements on decks and mixer, and mixing both vinyl and CDs.
But soon he was cranking it up and the crowd began to return to their loved-up antics. Finishing triumphantly with a mix of his own Xpander and Underworld's Rez, a moderately spangled crowd bayed for more then trudged off in search of further Glastonbury adventures. Last year, camped out in a double-decker bus in Lost Vagueness, Sancho Panza had a highly memorable all-night party, and Sancho Panza main man Jim KTel let slip that this year, the posse have brought a fierce outdoor PA with them. They're camped out in Hospitality, so keep your eyes peeled for that sound system making a surprise appearance...
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