A well-behaved Friday night meant we arrived on site for the not too shabby hour of 1.30pm on Day 2 of Glastonbury 2015. First up was Slaves playing the John Peel Stage. Slaves have come to my attention in the past couple of months for their rather unique English punk sound. The sun was shining which meant for an extremely warm tent. The gig was one of the highlights of the weekend. There’s something special about the John Peel Stage anyway but watching these guys makes you think you’re witnessing an important moment in music history or mini-revolution. This band captures the dark and more dismal sides of modern life very well in its lyrics. It had all the ingredients of a ‘proper’ gig, moshing, crowd surfing, human-sized mantarays(!), also crowd surfing. ‘Cheer-up London’ was preceded with some advice for the audience from lead singer Isaac Holman, “If you don’t like your job, try something else” not exactly profound, he was simply paraphrasing the song lyrics. All the more poignant for everyone, on holiday, doing exactly whatever they want to do at Glastonbury. ‘Feed the Mantaray’ was a definite comedy moment amongst many, when guitarist Laurie Vincent nearly getting wiped out by the giant mantaray at the culmination of the song. This duo’s sardonic take on modern life was fodder to the crowd who were whipped into a frenzy and left wanting for more. It turns out Slaves gave and gave, performing two further shows over the weekend on the BBC Introducing Stage and in Shangri-La, heralded as one of the hardest working bands of the weekend along with Wolf Alice, who alas, I did not get to see.

Into the sun and a trek to the Other Stage for the remainder of Young Fathers set. This band has just gone from strength to strength in the past 18 months. However, I was surprised they didn’t have a bigger crowd, considering their recent Mercury Music Prize win. A booming, unavoidable barrage of music and vocals came from the stage which screamed ‘take notice of us’. Sadly, the crowd was sleepy and it didn’t seem enough people wanted to take notice.

On to the Park Stage and first up was Gaz Coombes, admittedly I’m not a fan and this performance didn’t really do much to change that. He seemed to have a huge amount of musicians on stage with him, really to no avail. Bar the charming ‘The Girl Who Fell to Earth’ it would have probably been best avoided, although, he did command a large crowd for one of the smaller main stages.

The Bimble Inn is one of those venues at Glastonbury where it’s really difficult to know just what’s going to be served up. On our first visit there we were greeted by topless folk dancers. An hour later I was relieved, nae delighted, to see Marc O’Reilly on stage. We happened across Marc in the same place two years ago, it could have even been around the same time. It feels like this Irish singer songwriter could be the next Hozier or Ray Lamontagne, he is very talented and an absolutely gifted guitar player, arguably better than these comparisons. His repertoire is varied with the single cover he did blowing this little, unassuming, folk-love-in venue away. ‘A Whole Lotta Love’ mashed up with ‘American Woman’; if you’re only going to do one cover, this is it, in a beautifully arranged manner.

Kate Tempest had the crowd enthralled by the time we got back up to the Park Stage. She is a very commanding stage presence. It was refreshing and quite inspiring to see a woman being as articulate, aggressive and domineering as she was during the part of the performance I did see. She performed some spoken word too and I wouldn’t normally seek out this genre of performance but I really enjoyed it. I will certain take the next opportunity that comes along to see her in action for a full set.

Father John Misty, aka Josh Tillman, formerly of Fleet Foxes, had been gifted the late afternoon slot on the Park Stage when most people are chilled and slightly merry and just about recovered from the night before. His recent album, ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ has been critically acclaimed and his live performance did not fail to support and enhance this. Dressed sharply in a dark suit and white open shirt, he poked fun at his ‘farm wear’, he went on to deliver a very entertaining, comedic at points, performance. It didn’t lack dramatics or rock ‘n’ roll swagger either with more than one guitar being thrown through the air (admittedly not smashed though). Tillman has a very dry wit and he didn’t stop trying to eek a laugh out of the crowd for the duration of the show. ‘Chateau Lobby 4’ was a highlight but every song was performed with energy and passion. A resoundingly good show.

As twilight began to descend we opted for a very different sound and moved to the hill-free West Holts Stage. Initially the show had that feel of disconnection between one man in a box and the crowd but Terje stepped up his game with each track, having other musicians on stage with him and ultimately bringing a whole dance troupe on stage for the infectious ‘Inspector Norse’ crescendo. This is really a warm-up slot for the big one, the Saturday night headliner and we were warmed up nicely.

A controversial addition to the Glastonbury line-up from the moment he was announced. The impression I was certainly given by almost everyone I spoke to at Glastonbury in advance of his performance was that no-one was actually going to see Kanye West headline. I was pleased to see this wasn’t the case when we arrived in front of the Pyramid Stage in advance of his performance. In the name of full disclosure, I would class myself as a fan of the musician(less so of the ego). Anticipation hung heavily in the air. The first 3-4 tracks nailed it. Kanye, a shadow on the stage, requiring no props or people, but a thousand lights. I’m afraid that was where the fun stopped and my fears were realised, he wouldn’t silence the naysayers and emerge triumphantly from Glastonbury 2015; he was unable to mirror Jay-Z’s response to similar pre-show criticism in 2008. It was clear the ego really has landed and overtaken, it wasn’t a patch on the show I’d last seen him perform during his Touch the Sky tour in Dublin way back in 2006. What a disappointment and really not worth saying much more about.

Happily there was a bonus to exiting stage Kayne earlier, we managed to catch a few seconds of Suede’s ‘Beautiful Ones’ as they finished up their set at John Peel, we were left thinking that would have been a much preferable venue for the evening’s entertainment.

A hop, skip and a jump took us to Sonic and Leftfield, about 20 mins into their headline set when we arrived; it wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. The crowd were mostly in their late 30s and 40s. The staging was fantastic, what basically looked like 8 or 10 stainless steel surgical screens which at different points moved about to veil or unveil the act. They were also used to amplify projections and create amazing lighting effects. By the end of the set I was disappointed to realise I had missed their recent single, a current favourite of mine, ‘Universal Everything’, from their new album ‘Alternative Light Source’, but having thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the gig I could not complain. Sadly, not was true for all of our number, some of whom, having been bigger Leftfield fans in the 90s, were disappointed that Leftism did not make a significant appearance in the set. Others, be warned, if you plan on seeing them on their current tour, you may, if you’re lucky, get a single track from Leftism.

If felt almost compulsory to make a trek to pay homage to Fatboy Slim to round off the night. I mean that with the best of intentions, he has, afterall, provided us with many happy times in the last 20(?) years. We edged our way into The Blues, what appears to be a ram-shackle, shanty town, where Mr Slim kept about two thousand revellers happy. The sound wasn’t the best where we were positioned, well, actually, crammed, but it was good fun. No music critique needed here. Day 2 down, “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat”.