– Belly – In Concert At Glastonbury June 23, 1995 – BBC Radio 1 – rebroadcast by BBC 6 Music –
Belly, Live at Glastonbury, 1995. The 90s, I am coming to discover, was a very busy and productive decade, with a lot of innovation and envelope pushing – and a decided reaction to what was becoming a sense of complacency in 80s music.
Aside from the Madchester scene in Britain during this time, and the wave of Brit-Pop, typified by bands like Oasis and Blur, there was a stateside component in the form of a group of bands, intertwined with each other, and taking Indie to new and exciting ground.
I can’t think of Belly without thinking of Throwing Muses or The Breeders – three bands which made an indelible impression on the 90s in the U.S. as far as I was concerned. At the core was Throwing Muses, fronted by Tanya Donelly, Kristin Hersh and Kim Deal. By 1990, Donelly and Deal left to form The Breeders and then Donelly left a year later to form Belly. Each of those bands were excellent, and together they made a huge contribution to the Indie movement.
Tonight it’s a concert from Belly who performed at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival. They had achieved a lot of success since their inception and had been opening for Radiohead and R.E.M. during 1995. Luckily, the BBC were on hand to catch this one, and it’s a reminder of just how exciting much of the 90s were musically and how some bands effortlessly lent a fiery spark to the proceedings.
This one practically demands you play it loud.
