| Reading Festival Tales And Back To The London Mindset |
[Aug. 29th, 2006|07:48 pm] |
Wow, that was such a wicked weekend, really really really fantastic. The most fun I've had in an absolute AGE to be honest with you.
I got there on the Wednesday as I paid a tenner extra and got an early entry pass (well worth it in my opinion). Rhiannon, Chrissy, Ket and Alice were going up early too as they were working, selling programmes, so we all camped together. I had a mega tent, tall enough to stand up in, the mansion of the tent world, so we all sat in there and had a drink til around 2am when we went to sleep.
The first night I had an awful nights sleep, only slept around 2 hrs, wasn't grumbling too much as that's what you expect from a festival, there were bonfires all around, people chatting, playing Art Brut til the early hours, screaming the chorus of Emily Kane at the top of their lungs every time their MP3 player repeated it, people shouting bollocks, same old.
Next day I sold programmes a bit with Chrissy and Alice, actually sold about 10 myself which I was very proud of. Then I went into Reading town centre to find myself some earplugs, so I could get a little better sleep the rest of the weekend, and a set of speakers for my MP3 player so we could have some tunes round the campfire. The walk into town was longer than I expect, I got lost in the town centre, but managed to find my way out again, found a Currys and a Boots in the shopping centre, and then came back again, in time to meet Peter White, and a little later traipse back out the site to meet a lad called Hector who was buying my spare ticket off me for £120. Then Peter White came and met us later, as he was staying in my tent.
The night rolled on, we spent the first half of it wandering round tents to find the Waheys, alice wagstaff, claire, and natalie, then spent the next half walking up to the muddiest field over the other side of the site on a promise of a barbeque, but then deciding when we were nearly there to give up as the target campsite was an absolute mudbath. Went to sleep again around 2.
The next day was the first day of the bands. I saw.... Duels, Fields, The Long Blondes, Panic! At The Disco, Gogol Bordello, Mystery Jets, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Primal Scream. Highlights being The Long Blondes as it was the first time I've ever seen them and I love them, P!ATD because I actually genuinely do think they're really good, plus the singer getting knocked out by having a can hit his head straight on was a bit of a moment, Mystery
Jets because they're so damn good, and Primal Scream as I was a little fucked by then and was dancing my little heart out.
Next day it was Giant Drag, Rumble Strips, The Cribs, The Automatic, The Spinto Band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys and The Raconteurs. Admittedly this was a bit of a nowhere day as I was very drunk through Arctic Monkeys and Raconteurs and chose to sit down during The Automatic, and left before their cover of Gold Digga featuring Goldie Lookin Chain, but still I caught an amazing Cribs set including a very drunken Ryan, and a blinding Spinto Band set, I only really knew one or two of their tracks before, but they still amazed me, I need to listen to their album more.
Sunday came about too quickly, but I was worn out by the time it came. I saw Forward, Russia, Good Shoes, The Research, Lady Sovereign, a bit of Hope Of The States, Klaxons, Larrikin Love, The Rakes and Maximo Park. Loved The Research as their album's great in my opinion, and they do it so well live, just Russell, his keyboard, and the 2 girls, so simple sweet tunes, Lady Sovereign was the nuts, was a bit sad to hear that it was Hope Of The States last ever gig, but I admit I never really paid much attention to them when they were together, but respect is due, KLAXONS WERE AMAZING!!! In the tent it was absolute chaos, when we got there we were stood on the outside as the tent was packed, but as soon as they started chaos just ensued and we were thrown into the middle of it all, people jumping about with glowsticks in the air, covered in luminous facepants, a big sweaty mass dancing to rave anthems played on guitar... fucking amazing! And followed up by the always brilliant Larrikin Love, joined onstage by a mass of randoms including a guitar playing priest, one of their mums, Lauren Doss joining them for the fantastic Well, Love Does Flourish A Life and throwing out plastic Larrikin Love whistles into the crowd, and then topped off by the mighty Rakes on the main stage, really something to behold considering the first time I ever saw them was Upstairs In The Garage in Islington to a tiny crowd of maybe a hundred people tops, and then there they were 2nd to top on the NME tent playing to a few thousand people at Reading Festival. They played so well too, all the songs you wanna hear, really something. Maximo Park were great as well, but by that time my feet were aching, I'd had a little too much to drink, had lost everyone, so decided to go back to the tent 10 minutes or so before they were finished.
When I got back to the tent I just collapsed and slept through the final night, til about 5.30 in the morning when Peter White, Natalie who'd also been staying in our tent, and Ket returned from their nights adventuring saying they were gonna pack up and get an early train home rather than try and sleep there. I joined them, we said our goodbyes to our neighbours for the weekend, and Rhiannon who was still half asleep, Chrissy and Alice were still fully asleep, and we went, got a taxi to the station, and got our early trains back to our respective hometowns. I was back in Appledore by 1.30pm, and tucked up in bed by 2pm.
Was an unbelievably ace weekend, met up with so many people I hadn't seen in an age! |
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