Post by Nik on Jul 12, 2005 16:01:43 GMT -5
About 2 weeks before this i applied to get free tickets in exchange for handing out some flyers for UkUndercurrent. On the Monday night of the week before i got confirmation that this is what was happening. On Wednesday the stuff came and i noticed a subtle flaw, this being that the tickets quite clearly said 'weekend tikcet only...does not include camping.'
The next few days were spent searching the internet for solutions, regualrly chekcing e-bay and leaving desperate posts on numerous forums. The day came and we still hadn't has any luck, as the transport has already been booked and paid for we decided that we may as well go down there and try to blag out way in at the box office or even deal with a tout.
Friday
I hadn't been to sleep the previous night on the idea that this would make it much easier to sleep on the coach journey. This seemed to have worked because on the short journey to Milton keynes i passed strait out, pity it was only 30 minutes though! In Milton Keynes Kirk brought a crosswork book which we spent the hour doing...hardcore rock and roll excess in full swing!
Onto the next coach and the 8 hour mission up to Edinburgh. I can't fucking sleep. At all. I can close my eyes for, literlaly, hours on end but the sleeping just ain't happening...great... We had a brief service stop 2 hours into the journey but then went the last 6 hours strait. Siting in cramped conditons next to the kinda nasty smelling toliets was not the most fun ever....but never mind as we did eventually get to Edninburgh! Make it strait away onto the conecting coach to Balado (that where the festival is!) This took just under an hour but went quickly as spent it talking about all the fun alternatives we had if we couldn't get camping tickets...sleeping in random fields basically.
Went and had a word at the box office, they're sympatetic but ultimatly useless. Went to the touts. They don't have any tickets. They wern't so sympatetic. The situation is so unfunny that all that cna be done is laugh about it. We end up pitching out tents in the corner of the carpark. It isn't long till we're moved on. Shouldn't have camped on one of the patrol routes thinking back... We decide to move into the next field, it isn't festival property so theres nobody patroling it and high bushes mean its out of view. In geting to this field we actually lift our fully makup tents above our heads and throw them over barbwire fenses. As 'kin stupid as this sounds this actually worked well! Withing an hour we'd managed to reset our tents, and not soon after went to sleep.
Saturday
Up at about 9. Packed the tents away and then made our way to the main enterance. Really thirsty and also in need of food, having had only a small ammount of drink and no food since Thursday. At 12 they opened the arena gates, and not soon after we'd been ripped of by the nearest food stall. Found the left luggage stall and put all out camping stuff in there, carting it about was kinda geting annoying.
Now we went to the king tuts stage to hand out stuff before Do Me Bad Things. This we do for a while, and then watch the band play. As usual they were amazing, although the set was a bit stange, omiting both Move in Stereo (liv ullman on drums) and the song rides and including a sweatmaster (small,but good band, also on must destroy) cover. Did a bit more flyering after they finished and then noticed the enterance to the hospitality areas.
We don't have camping tikcets but we do have hopsitality wristbands... the hospitality area is basically a spacious area seperate from the main arena with a proper bar serving drinks in glasses, a nice food outlet and proper clean toilets. Its rather brilliant! We stay here for a good while before going back into the arena to see Audioslave. They were great but it wasn't their own songs that were the best but their runthroughs of black hole sun, sleep in the fire and killing in the name. Back to the Hospitaly area for a while (this is kinda taking the place of the camp site.)
Kirk wanted to go see the futureheads so i sorta daydream my way through their set, not my type of thing really. Saw the foo fighters close the main stage, i know alot more of their material than i thought i did and it turned out to be a great performance, and it means that at reading i no longer have the confilcit between seeing foos or bad religion.
Wandered around the main arena for abit before geting our camping stuff back and making our way outside. Sat by the side of the road for a time before once again sneaking into last nights field and pitching up the tents. Sat outside them talking bollocks till about 4AM then went to sleep.
Sunday
Same start as yesterday then went to hand out stuff for Louis XII, having not heard of them its hard to do this with much enfusiasm. Watched their set and thye were actually rather good! Bit more flyering for them afterwards before going to watch eagles of death metal, who continued the great band trend.
Spent a little time in the hospitality area before going to check out red organ serpent sound, who were 'kin awesome,. easily the find of the festival, and they're playing locally in a few weeks too! Back to the hospitality area again then to Queens of the stone age, who were alrite bit ultimatly not stuning. Unlike Echo and the Bunnymen who were then 'kin brilliant over in the king tuts stage, also means i'm not too pissed of that i can't see them are reading!
Over to another stage where i caught the very end of the dogs set, looked good but didn't see much. Its Hayseed Dixie next but theres a bit of a false start when the band take the stage and precede to spent 20 minutes seting up, obviously the stagecrew didn't know how to tune a banjo....once they started they were ...yet again...great! Only played to 30 minutes but maged to fit in alot, including a version of war pigs that i hadn't heard before, and was the higlight of the set! Back to the mainstage for Greenday. Even though i've seen the exact set twice already this year it still works and they pull off one of the next performances of the weekend. Stuff picked up from left luggage we then precede to sit by the side of the road and wait till out coach comes at 6AM.
Monday
At about 3AM we go and break into the campsite. This proves easy as alot of the doubled fencing had been pulled down and the guards in the towers don't seem to give a fuck. Wandered round for a while, brought a drink. Seemed to be really really mellow actually... not nearly as much happening as at reading, its the last night for gods sake! Caught the 6AM bus back to Edinburgh, 10AM leaving their to get to Northampton at 7ish, actually melted on the journey back, so arsing warm. Walked through my frontdoor at about 8. After showering and eating i checked the emails from the last few days. 2 of relevance. 1st, from the alternative camping pass i enquired about on ebay saying that i could have 2 and giving them their number so i could ring them at the fetsival and arrange transort. And the 2nd from a guy in Edinburgh wanted to exchange his two camping tikets for my 2 weekend tickets.
An eventful but throughly worthwhile weekend in all...bring on Reading!! A campsite....wow...imagine it....
The next few days were spent searching the internet for solutions, regualrly chekcing e-bay and leaving desperate posts on numerous forums. The day came and we still hadn't has any luck, as the transport has already been booked and paid for we decided that we may as well go down there and try to blag out way in at the box office or even deal with a tout.
Friday
I hadn't been to sleep the previous night on the idea that this would make it much easier to sleep on the coach journey. This seemed to have worked because on the short journey to Milton keynes i passed strait out, pity it was only 30 minutes though! In Milton Keynes Kirk brought a crosswork book which we spent the hour doing...hardcore rock and roll excess in full swing!
Onto the next coach and the 8 hour mission up to Edinburgh. I can't fucking sleep. At all. I can close my eyes for, literlaly, hours on end but the sleeping just ain't happening...great... We had a brief service stop 2 hours into the journey but then went the last 6 hours strait. Siting in cramped conditons next to the kinda nasty smelling toliets was not the most fun ever....but never mind as we did eventually get to Edninburgh! Make it strait away onto the conecting coach to Balado (that where the festival is!) This took just under an hour but went quickly as spent it talking about all the fun alternatives we had if we couldn't get camping tickets...sleeping in random fields basically.
Went and had a word at the box office, they're sympatetic but ultimatly useless. Went to the touts. They don't have any tickets. They wern't so sympatetic. The situation is so unfunny that all that cna be done is laugh about it. We end up pitching out tents in the corner of the carpark. It isn't long till we're moved on. Shouldn't have camped on one of the patrol routes thinking back... We decide to move into the next field, it isn't festival property so theres nobody patroling it and high bushes mean its out of view. In geting to this field we actually lift our fully makup tents above our heads and throw them over barbwire fenses. As 'kin stupid as this sounds this actually worked well! Withing an hour we'd managed to reset our tents, and not soon after went to sleep.
Saturday
Up at about 9. Packed the tents away and then made our way to the main enterance. Really thirsty and also in need of food, having had only a small ammount of drink and no food since Thursday. At 12 they opened the arena gates, and not soon after we'd been ripped of by the nearest food stall. Found the left luggage stall and put all out camping stuff in there, carting it about was kinda geting annoying.
Now we went to the king tuts stage to hand out stuff before Do Me Bad Things. This we do for a while, and then watch the band play. As usual they were amazing, although the set was a bit stange, omiting both Move in Stereo (liv ullman on drums) and the song rides and including a sweatmaster (small,but good band, also on must destroy) cover. Did a bit more flyering after they finished and then noticed the enterance to the hospitality areas.
We don't have camping tikcets but we do have hopsitality wristbands... the hospitality area is basically a spacious area seperate from the main arena with a proper bar serving drinks in glasses, a nice food outlet and proper clean toilets. Its rather brilliant! We stay here for a good while before going back into the arena to see Audioslave. They were great but it wasn't their own songs that were the best but their runthroughs of black hole sun, sleep in the fire and killing in the name. Back to the Hospitaly area for a while (this is kinda taking the place of the camp site.)
Kirk wanted to go see the futureheads so i sorta daydream my way through their set, not my type of thing really. Saw the foo fighters close the main stage, i know alot more of their material than i thought i did and it turned out to be a great performance, and it means that at reading i no longer have the confilcit between seeing foos or bad religion.
Wandered around the main arena for abit before geting our camping stuff back and making our way outside. Sat by the side of the road for a time before once again sneaking into last nights field and pitching up the tents. Sat outside them talking bollocks till about 4AM then went to sleep.
Sunday
Same start as yesterday then went to hand out stuff for Louis XII, having not heard of them its hard to do this with much enfusiasm. Watched their set and thye were actually rather good! Bit more flyering for them afterwards before going to watch eagles of death metal, who continued the great band trend.
Spent a little time in the hospitality area before going to check out red organ serpent sound, who were 'kin awesome,. easily the find of the festival, and they're playing locally in a few weeks too! Back to the hospitality area again then to Queens of the stone age, who were alrite bit ultimatly not stuning. Unlike Echo and the Bunnymen who were then 'kin brilliant over in the king tuts stage, also means i'm not too pissed of that i can't see them are reading!
Over to another stage where i caught the very end of the dogs set, looked good but didn't see much. Its Hayseed Dixie next but theres a bit of a false start when the band take the stage and precede to spent 20 minutes seting up, obviously the stagecrew didn't know how to tune a banjo....once they started they were ...yet again...great! Only played to 30 minutes but maged to fit in alot, including a version of war pigs that i hadn't heard before, and was the higlight of the set! Back to the mainstage for Greenday. Even though i've seen the exact set twice already this year it still works and they pull off one of the next performances of the weekend. Stuff picked up from left luggage we then precede to sit by the side of the road and wait till out coach comes at 6AM.
Monday
At about 3AM we go and break into the campsite. This proves easy as alot of the doubled fencing had been pulled down and the guards in the towers don't seem to give a fuck. Wandered round for a while, brought a drink. Seemed to be really really mellow actually... not nearly as much happening as at reading, its the last night for gods sake! Caught the 6AM bus back to Edinburgh, 10AM leaving their to get to Northampton at 7ish, actually melted on the journey back, so arsing warm. Walked through my frontdoor at about 8. After showering and eating i checked the emails from the last few days. 2 of relevance. 1st, from the alternative camping pass i enquired about on ebay saying that i could have 2 and giving them their number so i could ring them at the fetsival and arrange transort. And the 2nd from a guy in Edinburgh wanted to exchange his two camping tikets for my 2 weekend tickets.
An eventful but throughly worthwhile weekend in all...bring on Reading!! A campsite....wow...imagine it....