Guns N' Roses' Glastonbury performance reminds me of childhood memories - Emma Newlands comment

Relishing the prospect of watching live music from the comfort of my own home, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of some of the Glastonbury sets on TV.

But it was one performance that particularly took a hold of me, that of rock’n’roll legends Guns N’ Roses, who headlined on the Saturday.

I set out intending to watch some of their set, but, and to paraphrase their Mr Brownstone track that I later discovered, I listened to a little, but a little wouldn’t do it, so the little got more and more – and, transfixed, I ended up watching the whole shebang.

Yes, Axl’s vocals did not sound perfect. However, his voice had always seemed to have a feral “here for a good time, not a long time” edge, while I’ve watched clips of subsequent performances, and he sounds pretty good, hitting and holding high notes. Slash’s virtuoso guitar playing was epic, followed by the mean feat of ending the show with a HANDSTAND.

In a bid to hear the songs in their original formats, I then rewatched classic videos of their most famous hits (I had forgotten what an utterly preposterous masterpiece the November Rain video is, everyone involved should have won an Oscar).

And I found myself rapidly plummeting headfirst down the rabbit hole, aided and abetted by a seemingly endless supply of old interviews and live performances online.

Axl Rose comes across as relentlessly energetic charm itself, albeit admittedly volatile at times, who even from early performances in tiny dive bars had the swagger of a global stadium-filling rock icon before the rest of the world got on in their act.

And that’s before I’ve even got to the infernally catchy melodies and often sharp lyrics – “you can taste the bright lights but you won’t get them for free” from Welcome to The Jungle being just one prime example.

'I listened to a little, but a little wouldn’t do it, so the little got more and more' - the band performing at Glastonbury. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images.

But, as I find myself still humming their songs now, including as I walk home when nobody is in earshot or in a moment of low mood at home, the key lesson seems to be the band’s timely reminder of the power of music to sprinkle magic dust onto mundane and/or miserable lulls in everyday life. Or, to quote the band itself, “It's not a problem you can stop, it's rock n' roll!”