Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs on the Pyramid Stage
This was shrewd billing by festival organizer Michael Eavis (who's farm this is). When you call the Kaiser Chiefs you know you are hiring sure-fire crowd-pleasers, a rock band that specializes in entertaining, and that's just what's required for the last night of any party in a storm. The Kaisers from Leeds in the north of England know how to work it. Front man Ricky Wilson, in tie and waistcoat, is like a ring master using every Simon Says-style call-and-response trick he can muster. At one point, the giant neon letters K and C at the back of the stage even flash in turn directing the crowd to chant in time.
Of course, none of this would work if the songs weren't up to the job, and the band bounded through the big-chord bouncy rock hits from their two albums, "Employment" and "Yours Truly, Angry Mob." "Everything Is Average Nowadays" and "Na Na Na Naa" had the crowd shouting back every word, or "na," while "I Predict a Riot" inspired wild welly dancing — with gumboots glued in the mud, wriggling and wild gesticulating has to suffice. At one point, the crowd even broke free from Wilson's direction, changing the chorus of "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy" to "muddy, muddy, muddy."