Diary of a Strumpette, Part Four: The show must go on!

First off, let me get the bellyachin' outta the way. Call us naïve if you want, but when we were told we would have “artists’ facilities” backstage, we kinda believed it – maybe ‘cause the alternative was too horrible to contemplate. We were expectin’ decent powder rooms, showers, maybe even somewhere to plug in our curling irons. Hell, this look don’t come easy ya know. But what do we get? We get a big fat nothin’. Zilch. A nice spot to pitch our tent, a cold tap, and that’s it.

Now, The Strumpettes did not take this news at all well, I can tell you. I confess, we may have allowed a little vexation to mar our perfectly painted faces. But not for long. Our resourceful streak kicked in and we hot-footed it to the West Holts stage where we’d been booked to play backstage in the bar. We’d been promised backstage passes but yet again, The Strumpettes were disappointed. Nothin’. Not even a drink on the house. I betcha Kylie didn't have this problem. We spent hours waitin' around for the guy who’d booked us to sort out our passes and get us access to a shower, and eventually, it paid off. Sorta. Showers involved trekkin’ miles across Worthy Farm – until the water ran out after two days, when it then meant stickin’ our head under a cold tap in a field, and puttin' it up in rollers to be sun-dried. This was makeshift glamour on the road folks, and it wasn’t easy I can tell ya. But hell, at least it wasn't rainin'. Be thankful for small mercies, huh?

So, come our first gig, we weren't exactly in the mood. But gripin’ outta the way, it was time to get down to business. Bettina couldn’t make it to the festival until the weekend, so Wednesday night, Velma and I took to the stage in the bar backstage of West Holts as a duo, which was kinda strange. Our set was restricted; there are only so many songs we can perform without Bettina's beautiful soprano harmony. It sounded a little a thin to us of course, but it worked. We had the crowd singin’ along to "Minnie the Moocher" and makin’ us feel right at home before long.

When Bettina arrived, our trio was complete and it was time to show Glasto what The Strumpettes are made of. First came our one showbiz moment. We’d been asked to do an interview for Radio Netherlands, so we met the sweet young lad out in the Greenfields and had a little chat about what we do, playing Glastonbury, and the ukulele's recent renaissance. We also gave him a little on-the-spot rendition of "Goody Goody" for good measure. We then hit the bandstand in the Croissant Neuf field – totally acoustic, no amplification, just an intimate little jam for those hangin' out around us. Real good fun.

And then the big one. Sunday afternoon in the Croissant Neuf tent. After a bit of hangin’ around backstage, all dressed up in the summer heat with nowhere to go, we trooped onstage for our sound check. Once we were all wired up, we took it in turns to sing into our beautiful retro-style mics and strum our plugged-in ukes while those clever ol’ sounds guys got the levels right.

Now, the air bein' a little warm and sticky, and with some football match goin’ on that folks seemed to be gettin’ kinda het up about, we knew the tent wouldn’t exactly be heavin’, but the atmosphere was beautifully chilled, so The Strumpettes had a gay ol' time playing our finest tunes to the laid-back festival-goers present. We played our little ukes for all they were worth, sang our little hearts out, and were pretty pleased with the results. You can see us in action below, playin' our version of "Why Don’t You Do Right?" In this one, Bettina and I have a little break from the uke, and shake our tailfeathers instead.

Watch The Strumpettes play "Why Don't You do Right?" live in the Croissant Neuf tent at Glastonbury 2010