I have taken some time out during my extended stay in the Arctic tundra to remark on the musical gatherings this year, and today of all days for a very good reason. It appears that the sales for Glastonbury 2008 are proceeding rather at a slower pace than last year. At the time of writing which is 6:23pm on the Sunday, tickets are still available for those who registered their details earlier this year.

The same time last year, tickets sold out in three hours.

A lot of people attribute the fall of interest in the fact that this year, the headliners are not exactly artists which get the blood flowing to the various organs. Kings Of Leon, Jay-z and The Verve are the main acts with others so far including Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Elbow, Kate Nash, Goldfrapp, The Editors, The Enemy, Dizzee Rascal, Jimmy Cliff and lastly The Fratellis.

Jay-Z has had a lot of attention thrust upon him as his music isn’t strictly in keeping with what the white middle-class mixture of pi**ed up uni students, old people and stag parties come to expect from Glastonbury. They expect rocky folky type music during the day and evening, with dance music from Fatboy Fat or Mobo to try and cop off with members of the opposite sex to and why not?

The festival is located in the south-west, a place not highly populated with Black ganstas rapping their way through being repressed by the man, buying jets, cheeseburgers and claiming all the bitches in the house as their own then wanting to shoot everyone. Then again, I’ve not listened to a lot of Jay-Z’s music and therefore cannot comment properly what it’s truly like. But I did listen to “Blue Magic” and “Show Me What You’ve Got” on YouTube, and well….judge for yourself.

Warning: Video contains 2 men and a woman driving expensive things while showing off how much money they have and how big their genitals are:

For the record I happen to think “Show Me What You’ve Got” is not that overly bad. However “Blue Magic” was effing rubbish.

Michael Eavis, the nice man who I met last year, who organises the festival every year for the purpose of raising money for charities, has told Jay-Z, that he will escort him onto the stage and introduce him to the audience at this years Glastonbury Festival.

Eavis made the offer after the rapper had expressed concerns about the audience not being the usual Birmingham or London crowd.

“OK, I’ll do something that I haven’t done for the entire 38 year history of the Festival – I’ll take you on stage and introduce you to the audience.” Eavis told the American rapper. And to make sure perhaps that no further naughty can happen from the audience, Jay-Z will be joined by several guests on stage, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Beyonce.

The main reason given for the different selection this year is to bring younger people to the festival and to shake things up by introducing different music.

I think the whole issue has been because the artists’ music has a limited appeal for most with some (a minority from reading NME’s website for example) praising the selection to put him on the main stage.

Last year at Glastonbury, we had the Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and the Who headlining all bands with huge followings in their own right. Kasier Chiefs, Amy Winehouse, Magic Numbers, and The Manic Street preachers, not to mention the awesome lung capacity of Dame Shirley Bassey all contributed to an amazing experience which was had by all of the group who went last year.

But this year, the acts we know who are going to perform, are simply not resonating with people hence why the sale has gone on slowly. They will sell out, don’t worry about that, but a lot of people will simply be finding other things to do this year, it’s not a factor of the mud, people would go to Glastonbury regardless, last year was a testament to that.

The music is certainly a big factor. Dizzee Rascal for example, played at the V festival and a Chinese man yodeling the German national anthem in every known language while having his testicles prodded with a knife would have been less of a traumatic experience. For that sort of music, the market is still small for a live performance.

And so far, the line-up which is confirmed, people are not jumping up and down for it. Even the possible promise of the return of Amy Winehouse to form has been met with: ok then. Perhaps that’s her own doing on that side but still it’s a valid point.

Add to the fact that everyone is feeling the credit pinch about having to pay huge amounts a month to go even just to work, let alone pay £200 and more a pop for tickets, transport and food etc. and suddenly you will get a bigger sense that people are perhaps being more conservative.

Sad as it is to say, charity be damned when you’re worrying about your own well-being first and making sure you’re ok in terms of having a decent quality of life, that’s why we all go to work day after day. You’ll be condemned by quite a few for being selfish, but it’s a natural thing to do. We’re human after all!

Just face it, this year is not the year of the festival not just because of Jay-Z at Glasto.

There are only a few select names from the mixture of the festivals which stand out, for example, the money-robbing, corporate bastardised, seat-nicking-because-they-fear-you-do-naughty V festival are featuring the likes of The Hoosiers, Lenny Kravitz and The Prodigy with the Leeds and Reading Festivals having the likes of Rage Against the Machine, The Killers, Metallica and Tenacious D on stage (Dizzee Rascal is there too, so never mind). T in the Park has REM, KT Tunstall, Counting Crows and once again, Rage Against the Machine. Very nice.

All of these have sold out and that’s not a shame at all.

The best way to enjoy live music this year, is to find the bands you really want to see that you can afford and just see them on their own tours. Myself, I have two tickets to see REM in Manchester and the Mighty Boosh in Birmingham. That’s all the acts currently booked at the moment, but perhaps that’s actually enough. You’re dry, it’s cheaper and doesn’t involve lugging around huge amounts of stuff. Beer’s not cheaper though. That is a shame.