Tidy Bag

The Wombles at Glastonbury

The Wombles at Glastonbury

The Wombles appeared at Glastonbury Festival on the Avalon Stage from 2-3pm on Sunday, 26 June.

Sadly their performance wasn’t broadcast by the BBC, despite public demand, as it doesn’t record every stage. But Mike Batt has confirmed that the show was filmed for Dramatico (The Wombles’ record label) and they’ll be posting footage soon.

Mike Batt added: “Woms gig was a huge buzz. We drew more people than the Pyramid stage at that time.”

Tidy Bag ‘liveblogged’ The Wombles’ appearance thanks to the wonders of Twitter, retweeting all the best comments and adding photos from audience members (below). A big thank you to everyone who tweeted news and photos during the set.

If you were lucky enough to be there, please share your pictures or tell us what happened! Follow @TidyBag or stay tuned for the latest updates, photos, videos and press coverage.

As expected, the Avalon Stage tent was packed, with people overflowing into the field outside. Many of the audience members were wearing cardboard Orinoco masks. Twitter comments included:

debbiemanley: “Bet Kitty, Daisy and Lewis loved getting the slot before The Wombles in Avalon - absolutely packed! Even the pap are here with long lenses!”

rhodeon: “It’s busy at the Avalon stage waiting for The Wombles to come on. Can’t even get close.”

Barnabia: “Front row for the Wombles… hope Uncle Bulgaria’s here!”

penwing: “Avalon stage packed out and then some for The Wombles…”

Blonde_Sazzle: “We have womble masks!”

jonathansebire: “About to watch Wombles 50% of crowd in masks!”

julietk: “Avalon stage absolutely rammed with people in Wombles masks. Faintly alarming.”

Even the official glastolive account tweeted: “Underground, overground, wherever they’re from, there’s one hell of a crowd at Avalon… for the Wombles!”

The band (Orinoco, Wellington, Bungo, Madame Cholet and Uncle Bulgaria, plus Alderney, backed by a few Human Beings) took to the stage around five minutes late, opening with the popular Remember You’re A Womble. Twitter users also revealed that the setlist included Womble Of The Universe, Superwomble and the rather unseasonal classic Wombling Merry Christmas.

The set ended with the first ever wombling anthem, the TV theme tune The Wombling Song (better known as ‘Underground, overground, wombling free’) - during which the group were joined by MacWomble playing his bagpipes (as promised by Mike Batt) and two marching soldier Wombles. Thanks to YouTube users for these video clips:

The Sun reports the full setlist, and says that “Superwomble, all the way from New York, came on to entertain for a bit” while the band took a little break to cool off:

  1. Remember You’re A Womble
  2. Banana Rock
  3. Womble Of The Universe
  4. Superwomble
  5. Nashville Wombles
  6. The Empty Tidy Bag Blues
  7. The Orinoco Kid
  8. Minuetto Allegretto
  9. Wombling Twist
  10. Ping Pong Ball
  11. Wombling Merry Christmas
  12. The Wombling Song

After all the recent rain, it was a wonderfully hot sunny day, prompting some concern about the furry Wombles:

DickCheeseman: “Who’d want to be broiled alive in a Womble costume today?”

RelishTweets: “Omg, dogs die in hot cars…what about Wombles on hot stages!! *concerned face*”

BMWavesBlog: “The Wombles are actually playing live in those hairy costumes. Amazing. They must be bloody boiling in those suits.”

There were rumours that famous musicians might be inside the costumes - from Florence Welch to Dave Grohl - but the identity of the live band was a well-kept secret (although a few people had let slip on Twitter that friends or relatives would be appearing with The Wombles). However, the NME reports that original guitarist Chris Spedding did make an appearance for the end of the set, ‘in civvies’, as Mike Batt hinted last month.

Even though many of their songs were unfamiliar to much of the crowd, The Wombles seemed to go down very well:

dottyteakettle: “I can hear several thousand people in Avalon going MENTAL for Remember You’re A Womble.”

ruduss: “I think the Wombles are getting more of a crowd reaction than Radiohead.”

thehotpots: “The Wombles started strongly but are playing loads of stuff I’ve never heard before.”

mattykevern: “It had to be done, #wombles now let’s never talk of this again!!”

ClearlyAM: “Just been to visit the Wombles! Hilarious!”

AliRoseRees: “Super Womble has just come on. Ace.”

ruduss: “Wombles are getting a great reaction.”

The final word should go to glastolive: “And remember, the Wombles are only here to perform, the litter picking is up to us this time.”

Press coverage