Lemon Jelly

Lemon Jelly Review

Bringing their techinicolour live show, and their equally sunny tunes, to Glastonbury for the first time, Lemon Jelly are the musical equivalent of a Teddy bear's tea party at a psychedelic rave. The child-like simplicity of their melodies, combined with that knowing intelligence behind wry song titles like “What Do You Do In The Bath?”, or the wonderful “Rambling Man”, Lemon Jelly are full of wry nostalgic references to an idealized past where tea and cake are always being served; this is about olde worlde England.

The crowd, particularly those who were the curious as opposed to converts, were uncertain how to take the first part of the set and some left, but the hardcore fans were with them all the way. An important thing to note about this band is that they make albums, not singles, so the swathe of tunes to look forward to is a long one.

One particular highlight (in a set that rarely rips off old samples for the sake of novelty) is their version of Chicago’s ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’, where - linked arm in arm - Jack and Fred held their lighters aloft, as did the crowd, in a fabulous bit of 1980s nostalgia.

Building their set with studied attention to detail they save their best for last, namely the brilliantly bent ‘Nice Weather For Ducks’ – with it’s aptly Glastonbury-friendly lyric “All the ducks are swimming in the water, falder-ralder-raldo.”

Ending with the ‘The Staunton Lick’ (Basic Plucking for the guitar) the possibility of leaving this set minus a smile was a distant one; the final song’s driving groove and the relentlessly happy chord, notably G Major, sent a warm fuzzy glow over your being. Aaaah, Lemon Jelly we love you!

Mike Flynn

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