Post by Nik on Sept 4, 2005 12:55:59 GMT -5
Its a big bastard so allow some time!
Reading 2005
Tuesday and Wednesday
The plan is to all meet up at Kirks house Tuesday night, ready to catch a cab from there to the bus station come 5.30 in the morning. This we do. The night round Kirks is spent watching ‘classic’ films, think masters of the universe!, and making a reading cd, complete with 4 goldie looking’ chain tracks and ra ra rasputin. Quality listening. This cd gets listened to once before mysteriously never being played again… Anyhow in the very early hours we all make it to the bus station and those with any sense catch some sleep on the journey down to London.
We have an over two hour wait in London, we use this time productively by doing very very little. Some food is eaten and myself and Kirk get lost trying to find a shopping centre, We do eventually manage this, not really worth it though as all we end up buying are mint imperials. Still these are put to good use later on. Eventually the coach comes and we make it to the sainsburys on the outskirts of reading. From here it’s a local bus journey, last year we were lied by the bus driver and ended up walking for ages but thankfully this year the driver isn’t an arsehole and we are dropped about a street away from the site.
Its about 1PM now. Gates don’t open until 5. Isn’t too bad though as all we end up doing is sitting down in the queue, cracking open some alcohol, putting on music and talking bollocks. Almost as good as a campsite really. Not quite the real thing though. Got a little bit trying when it started to absolutely piss it down. Thankfully they opened the doors at about 4 so it wasn’t that long until we were all happily hiding from the rain under our gazebo, one of several genius additions to our luggage this year.
Go on a brief shopping spree, buying some ultra water proof clothes (which would be unnecessary by…oh tomorrow) and getting our wristbands, absolutely no queue for that. A while later out neighbours showed up, They are the same people as we were camped next to the year before, this saves for introductions and means we can get strait down to drinking. But in a move of utter stupidity this doesn’t happen and we all end up having an early night. I’m still worried about that.
Thursday
Due to the early night before we’re all up early this morning. After before justifiably mocked by our neighbours we redeem ourselves somewhat by unveiling the catapult. This is one impressive piece of equipment, it can launch water balloons almost beyond a fields distance. Precision is difficult, something we prove by having difficulty accurately hitting target gazebos, but never mind as wherever it lands its usually funny. One shot landed dead on some fellas’ arse who had bent over to pick up his stuff. Thankfully he saw the funny side, its only a little bit of water after all! Another one was launched at one of the staff in the towers around the toilet complex, strangely we missed and it hit a portaloo instead, can only imagine being inside that portaloo at the time!
In the end all the water balloons are used up and as such we decide to head into town to buy alcohol for the coming night and also to grab some food at the first pub that looks good. So the first pub we see then. We end up in a place not halfway between the entrance and the service station, before we go in we have to take our mud coated shoes off, this is actually a good thing as it feels really nice not to be wearing them. After making use of the clean toilets we order food. Its good, if not exactly great, stuff and defiantly worth the visit.
Over to the service station for alcohol, this doesn’t take long, several people need to use the cash machine, this does. I use this time to cover as many surfaces as I can find with Yes! Stickers. From the street team stuff I’ve done over the last year I had loads of stuff left over and Reading seemed the best place to offload them. Most people seemed happy enough with them, they were very colourful after all.
Back in the campsite and much drinking did begin. We make further use of the catapult and at some point Mark offends Kirk in some manner causing Mark to run away. A comic pursuit, involving hiding behind poles, doesn‘t lead to his capture. Then he vanishes. Don‘t see him again till after midnight. You‘d have to ask him for an accurate account of where the fuck he went, I think it involved free hugs and limbo! By about 6 I was very drunk, so I decided to lay off the drinking for a little bit. Come ten to 7 I remembered that there was suppose to be a fatreg meet up at reaper bridge at 7, so I grabbed Kirk and off we went.
Arriving at reaper bridge we shouted fatreg for a bit but nobody responded. Met some people from another forum…I think festivals or something like that, which was nice and all but not what we wanted. We wandered over to the bar to give it a go there but to no luck. Back to reaper bridge for one last attempt. This time it went much better as we met Trigger and TazzyK. Already this made it the most successful meet up I’ve been to.
Stood on the bridge drunkenly talking crap for a while, took some photos. Decided to go to the bar to see if anybody else was there. We don’t immediately spot anybody so it seemed the right thing to do to buy a drink. Well I made it about 2 hours without having one. Not bad considering where I am. After a while me run into Mar and family, more bollocks is talked and pictures taken. After a while Mar leaves. No sign of the man himself unfortunately. Those of us left spent some more time drinking and increasingly making little sense before we all go our separate ways.
Stumbling back into the campsite I stay for a little bit, drinking most of the time, before deciding to go for a wander. Not sure what order stuff happened in after this but I defiantly remember, going on at least one bongo led journey, handing out many a sticker/badge etc…, talking rubbish to many a campsite full of people and especially one site behind the toilet complex near brown who I spent 3 hours talking to. Teach ‘em to be wearing Maiden shirts really. Eventually heading back to my tent I stop off in our neighbours site for a shot of absinth. Not a good idea. A good half hour is spent sitting outside my tent because I’m worried that if I go in I’ll be sick over all my stuff and perhaps annoy a sleeping Mark. Might have been a good laugh actually. The sickness passes and I do get to sleep.
Friday
Feel a bit rough from last night for about half an hour then feel perfectly fine. A reading phenomenon that. Get to the main arena stupidly early. Myself and Mark are in the queue by 10.30. Means that I’m right at the very front of main stage for the opening of the festival. Do Me Bad Things open the festival in style by coming onstage and playing for 10 seconds before all the power goes dead. They try and ride it for a bit by clapping but it becomes clear it isn’t going to be a 20 second hitch and so they have to go offstage. “Welcome to the 1st all acoustic reading festival” A few minutes later they retake the stage and thankfully the power keeps long enough for them to deliver yet another brilliant set, pretty much the perfect band to start with from my point of view.
I stay put for Goldie looking’ chain up next. Seriously funny stuff, each song seems to repeat the chorus eight times but when they’re as funny as this that is not a bad thing. New songs ‘your misses is a nutter‘, ‘shop mobility’ and ‘I wanna fuck your sister’ boad well for the forthcoming album. Next I travel over to the Carling stage and see a bloody great band who I have no idea what were called. Any help would be appreciated, they were Australian. And that’s all I know. Oh well. Also saw another band on the Carling stage who were so good I wandered off after 2 songs.
Make use of the still very clean arena toilets behind the main stage before it suddenly clicks that I’m missing The Dropkick Murphy’s over on main stage. In my rush to main stage I briefly run into TazzyK but don’t stay long due to the prementioned rushing. Thankfully I manage to see most of DM set, as it was great pirate flag waving stuff.
Next its over to the comedy stage. Watch a number of funny fellas until ,the man I’ve been waiting for ,Marcus Brigstocke performs. While some of the set is the same as the previous year its still ‘kin funny stuff and is easily the best comic set I catch all weekend. Afterwards I went to see My chemical romance who were the disappointment of the weekend. Perhaps I would have liked them more if I could actually hear them playing above the screaming teenage fans. I left after the opening song. Instead I saw the whole of Queens of the stone age over on main stage. I’d seen them not a month ago at T in the park and hadn’t been too impressed then, so it wasn’t really surprising that I was less impressed now. Too long winded and experimental for a festival slot.
Its back to the comedy tent for some more laughs. Steve Gribin once again puts in a funny as hell performance. it’s the third year in a row I’ve seen him. Good to have some consistency. As there’s nothing I really can be asked seeing I go back to the campsite where I spent an hour and a bit drinking with Tom and Craig (who shall no longer be called naked Dave.) Back to the arena to see The Pixies close the day with one of the best sets of the weekend. I’m not overly familiar with their material but live it just worked so well. I left rather stunned actually. But what were they on about when they said that somebody had broken their neck? Back in the campsite and it’s the most quiet night that we didn’t get an early one. Still plenty of drinking and all but just not as wild as Thursday or the coming two days.
Saturday
Up as early as yesterday but decide against all that waiting in a queue crap from yesterday. Opening the lockup stage are No comply. They are ‘kin brilliant, the crowd is really up for it despite the early time and it’s a bloody good energetic way to start the day. But with a short ska set its difficult to go that wrong really. Back to the campsite and I make the weird decision to go and have a shower, there’s always a first time. So much shite (beer mainly) had ended up in my hair that it was really started to annoy me. But was not to be quite yet as the shower complex has closed until 2.
On the way back to the campsite I run into the people and join them in going to see a manga film in the comedy tent. Manga really is not to my taste so I can’t say how good the film was, it was ok to pass the 40 minutes it was on for. This means that the showers are now open and that is to where I go. Had to wait for a bit as was a tad late opening but was worth it as being clean felt so ‘kin good.
Back to seeing bands now. Million Dead are stupidly good as ever. The crowd is ever so slightly violent and I’m not drunk enough to truly enjoy that fact but the music is enough to have a bloody good time with. They seem to get better every time that I see them. Afterwards I briefly meet up with Tom, Terrie then Kirk but isn’t long until I leave to go see some comedy. After a while I needed to leave the tent for some musical action but this proves to be a pain in the arse as I’m at the front and the tent is packed, people are hardly helpful either, the people I fell on didn’t even see the funny side!
Was worth it though to see The Dwarves who after a bit of a slow start kick several shades of shit out of the tent. Its obvious that many teenage girls in the crowd have shown up just because the band features that fella from QOTSA who quit, but most of them ran off fairly sharpish. Some stayed and seemed to end up enjoying it. Good for them. Did plan on sticking round afterwards to see if the bands up next were any good but decided I’d much rather check out the campsite.
Approaching the campsite I spot Amanda sitting there by herself. She informs me that everybody else is asleep. She’s right, Mark, Kirk, Terrie and Tom are all lying in their tents asleep. Its late afternoon. After enlisting some help from out neighbours I endeavour to wake people the fuck up. Mark and Tom prove easy to wake up but it takes ages for Kirk and Terrie to bother gracing us with their presences. Once everybody’s up we have a bit of fun with the catapult before myself and Mark drink a nice amount of vodka.
I’m going to go see Anti-Flag and convince Mark to come with me, this wasn’t exactly hard. Having a bit to drink before hand proves to have been a good idea as Anti-Flag draws a rather energetic crowd. I spent the whole set in a circle pit running round the tower in the middle of the tent. It was ‘kin amazing, 2nd best set of the weekend only toped by the godlike Maiden. A good proportion of the set was taken from their most recent album ‘the terror state’ as well as old favourites like ‘underground network’, ‘a new kind of army’ and ‘fuck police brutality.’ A set closer of ‘die for your government’ is so good I decide that there is no way that Bad religion could possibly not be a disappointment so don’t even bother staying to see them.
Back in the campsite I ramble on about how good A-F were for a while before me, Kirk and Terrie go to buy a drink from the bar so we can keep the cup to pour stuff into. We had come down with many plastic cups but they had all mysteriously vanished… Drinks brought we then grab some food, we can hear the Foo Fighters quite clearly from here, saw them at T in the park and they were alrite but not really good enough to bother walking to the arena for.
After some time around our campsites myself and one of our new (1 year camped near us) neighbours called Frazer go for a wander round the site. First off we run into people launching themselves at each other in trolleys, this is funny shit but keeps getting interrupted as the trolleys have to be hidden from the SS cars. A brief walk from this we run into one of many mobile raves and begin to follow this around. At one point one of the lead ravers climbs onto the roof of a portaloo only to be dragged down by an irate SS guy. After a while I realise the rave is very close to my campsite and so detour back there.
I’m back in the campsite of a bit then this women shows up saying ‘hi I’m from Green (where the fuck is that!) and I’ve heard about your catapult, I have some apples here for you to launch.’ Were we sober we probably wouldn’t have done that but… Anyway soon people are gearing up (so standing up) to go on a bongo led mission. We make it as far as the road before some SS cunts come barging over and make a grab for the bongos, rapid shouts from Simon of ‘I’ll put them away’ are the only thing that stops them being taken. Suitably pissed off the bongos are put to bed and we set off again, this time with Simon having a tambourine instead. Was still good but not quite as good.
By this point the SS had seriously pissed me off. Chants off ‘fuck the SS’ were quite common. Our tambourine mission went well, many a people danced. We got somewhere in….yellow perhaps, when we spotted Trigger and TazzyK, myself and Kirk at this point detached from the mission to continue talking bollocks with them. This we did for quite some time. Random people would occasionally begin to talk to us, these people were usually rather funny and one decided that carrying Kirk away would be fun, made for a good photo. Eventually we have to go our separate ways however and so myself and Kirk set about finding our field. After only one confusing moment we manage this. After hearing tales of about people having clashes with the SS I collapse in my tent.
Sunday
Another early start as I go to see Bullet for my Valentine open the main stage. Heard a little bit of these guys before but didn’t expect them to be this good, nothing like some decent metal to start the day. Things only get better as Turbonegro immediately follow, despite some omissions - where was ‘I got erection!- it’s a brilliant set. The atmosphere where I am in the crowd is great, probably because I’m surrounded by members of the turbojugend, Turbonegro’s own private army! At one point during the set Turbonegro bank notes are launched from two giant cannons, one of them is probably the best souvenir of a show I’ve ever managed to get!
Darting over to the NME/radio one stage I get there in time to see all of Towers of London’s set. Its more great stuff and thankfully is not as incident prone as at Donington, they manage to finish their set this time around. Of course it wouldn’t do their hype any good to not try and look dangerous so there’s the usual climbing all over the stage set and jumping into the audience. Sure its incredibly contrived but thankfully the music is ‘kin good so this can be overlooked.
Meet up with people to go and see Hugh Lennon who, as last year, is bloody genius. Its exactly the same act as last year with one exception, this year the hypno dog is in attendance. In case you don’t know it’s a dog that hypnotises people, and its bloody brilliant. Very briefly checked out the Test icicles who sounded ‘kin cool until I realised that NOFX are on the main stage, cue a non too subtle charge to main stage. NOFX are pissing people off, not playing their big songs and being drunk shouldn’t make for a good set, but for some reason I really enjoyed it. I’m not too familiar with their stuff so I don’t miss the ‘hits’ and to be it’s a great light hearted set.
The Stooges are bloody awesome. As ever Iggy is a complete psycho onstage, that is when he’s onstage. It’s a shame they didn’t play anything from raw power as that’s the stuff I know best but you can’t really argue with the strength of songs such as ‘I wanna be your dog’ can you? I consider staying put through Incubus and Manson to get a good spot for Maiden but then I recall how utterly shite Incubus are and so head back to the campsite.
On the walk back in run into Kirk and Terrie who are going to buy drag for tonight, I tag along with them. For myself a buy a one pound man dress, some glasses and a colourful headband. We then head off site to buy alcohol. While we’re at the garage we queue to use the cash machine, this takes bloody ages but we get there in the end. Heading back onsite we are stopped by an SS guy who says that we are not allowed to take glass bottles into the campsite. The thing is the guy is slurring his words and stinks of alcohol, wonder why he wanted to take ours… What we end up doing is jumping through the bushes into the toilet complex and then trusting our alcohol to a random fella who we met up with down the road. He could have totally screwed us over and stolen our booze, but he didn’t.
Back in the campsite I try on tonight’s outfit, but over my own clothes at the moment. After pissing about there for a while I head back to the main arena to catch Maiden. I must have arrived in the arena just as Manson had finished as they was masses of people heading away from main stage, I worry about these people. I’m able to walk to a decent spot, I can see the stage clearly except for the drums, but I’ll live with that. After 45 minutes of good music being played on the PA UFOs ‘Doctor Doctor’ begin, signalling that stage time is close. After ‘the ides of march’ intro Iron Maiden take the stage with ‘murders in the rue morgue.’ From here on it’s a non-stop stunning performance. For me the highlight was an awe-inspiring run through of ‘phantom of the opera’ but really the set was almost flawless. Best band in the world. Felt like the set lasted 5 minutes. Should have just played all day!
In bleeding high spirits I head back to the campsite where celebratory drinking is in order. Eventually Mark, Kirk and Tom all too change into their drag outfits,. Each is truly disturbing in its own unique way. People all leave to so something, unfortunately I’m in my tent for some reason at the time meaning I was left without! I try to catch up but never make it, spending the rest of the night wandering around. Thankfully being a fella in a dress makes introductions even easier than usual. After a while I run into a group of people who I spent most of the night wandering around with. Can’t say I remember your names or even what you looked like but cheers, you were cool people! At some point I decide I should head back to my own campsite and so set off with this in mind. Somehow I grow a blanket. I may have been given it or I may have stolen it. After asking people the way to brownA every road I do get there. Almost immediately my blanket is stolen. Mark briefly mentions that something has happened to Kirks foot but I’m too drunk to take in details and it isn’t long before I go to sleep.
Monday
After peeling myself apart from my sleeping bad I’m told what has happened to Kirk. While I was on my night long wander for some reason Kirk had been with people rolling up one of the metal roads. After a while they rolled it back down but somebody left their shoe under the road. As such the road was picked up again but then an SS car came pelting down the road causing it to come crashing down onto Kirks leg, causing some nasty damage. Apparently the medical tent was confused as they were told that a man in a dress had been run down by a road. In the end Kirk was given some stitches and told that the swelling on this foot should go down in about a week but until then he would need to use crutches. They only had one spare to give him.
In packing stuff nobody can be bothered to take the gazebo with them so it is ritualistically destroyed. Once again I leave my chair behind. After saying goodbye to the neighbours (till next year!) we set off. As Kirk can’t carry his own bags and Terrie can’t carry hers as she has to support Kirk we all have extra carrying duties. By the time we get off site I feel like I’m able to keel over. After some hastily brought water I feel slightly better. After waiting for Kirk and Terrie for ages a police van pulls up, they’ve managed to blag a lift but had to make a few stops along the way.
Isn’t much of a wait for the coach to London, and I manage to get a little bit of sleep along the way. Spot the Hammersmith Apollo out the window, seeing Maiden there this very Friday, really hyped up about that now! It’s less of a wait in London this time and I manage to get lots of sleep on the journey back to Northampton. Get home at about 5.30PM, after having a bath and some decent food I spot highlights on the TV. Pity they were crap. Still they did show some Maiden on Tuesday.
This years festival was easily the best one yet, every year they seem to get better. Fucking roll on next year! Better start saving now though…
Reading 2005
Tuesday and Wednesday
The plan is to all meet up at Kirks house Tuesday night, ready to catch a cab from there to the bus station come 5.30 in the morning. This we do. The night round Kirks is spent watching ‘classic’ films, think masters of the universe!, and making a reading cd, complete with 4 goldie looking’ chain tracks and ra ra rasputin. Quality listening. This cd gets listened to once before mysteriously never being played again… Anyhow in the very early hours we all make it to the bus station and those with any sense catch some sleep on the journey down to London.
We have an over two hour wait in London, we use this time productively by doing very very little. Some food is eaten and myself and Kirk get lost trying to find a shopping centre, We do eventually manage this, not really worth it though as all we end up buying are mint imperials. Still these are put to good use later on. Eventually the coach comes and we make it to the sainsburys on the outskirts of reading. From here it’s a local bus journey, last year we were lied by the bus driver and ended up walking for ages but thankfully this year the driver isn’t an arsehole and we are dropped about a street away from the site.
Its about 1PM now. Gates don’t open until 5. Isn’t too bad though as all we end up doing is sitting down in the queue, cracking open some alcohol, putting on music and talking bollocks. Almost as good as a campsite really. Not quite the real thing though. Got a little bit trying when it started to absolutely piss it down. Thankfully they opened the doors at about 4 so it wasn’t that long until we were all happily hiding from the rain under our gazebo, one of several genius additions to our luggage this year.
Go on a brief shopping spree, buying some ultra water proof clothes (which would be unnecessary by…oh tomorrow) and getting our wristbands, absolutely no queue for that. A while later out neighbours showed up, They are the same people as we were camped next to the year before, this saves for introductions and means we can get strait down to drinking. But in a move of utter stupidity this doesn’t happen and we all end up having an early night. I’m still worried about that.
Thursday
Due to the early night before we’re all up early this morning. After before justifiably mocked by our neighbours we redeem ourselves somewhat by unveiling the catapult. This is one impressive piece of equipment, it can launch water balloons almost beyond a fields distance. Precision is difficult, something we prove by having difficulty accurately hitting target gazebos, but never mind as wherever it lands its usually funny. One shot landed dead on some fellas’ arse who had bent over to pick up his stuff. Thankfully he saw the funny side, its only a little bit of water after all! Another one was launched at one of the staff in the towers around the toilet complex, strangely we missed and it hit a portaloo instead, can only imagine being inside that portaloo at the time!
In the end all the water balloons are used up and as such we decide to head into town to buy alcohol for the coming night and also to grab some food at the first pub that looks good. So the first pub we see then. We end up in a place not halfway between the entrance and the service station, before we go in we have to take our mud coated shoes off, this is actually a good thing as it feels really nice not to be wearing them. After making use of the clean toilets we order food. Its good, if not exactly great, stuff and defiantly worth the visit.
Over to the service station for alcohol, this doesn’t take long, several people need to use the cash machine, this does. I use this time to cover as many surfaces as I can find with Yes! Stickers. From the street team stuff I’ve done over the last year I had loads of stuff left over and Reading seemed the best place to offload them. Most people seemed happy enough with them, they were very colourful after all.
Back in the campsite and much drinking did begin. We make further use of the catapult and at some point Mark offends Kirk in some manner causing Mark to run away. A comic pursuit, involving hiding behind poles, doesn‘t lead to his capture. Then he vanishes. Don‘t see him again till after midnight. You‘d have to ask him for an accurate account of where the fuck he went, I think it involved free hugs and limbo! By about 6 I was very drunk, so I decided to lay off the drinking for a little bit. Come ten to 7 I remembered that there was suppose to be a fatreg meet up at reaper bridge at 7, so I grabbed Kirk and off we went.
Arriving at reaper bridge we shouted fatreg for a bit but nobody responded. Met some people from another forum…I think festivals or something like that, which was nice and all but not what we wanted. We wandered over to the bar to give it a go there but to no luck. Back to reaper bridge for one last attempt. This time it went much better as we met Trigger and TazzyK. Already this made it the most successful meet up I’ve been to.
Stood on the bridge drunkenly talking crap for a while, took some photos. Decided to go to the bar to see if anybody else was there. We don’t immediately spot anybody so it seemed the right thing to do to buy a drink. Well I made it about 2 hours without having one. Not bad considering where I am. After a while me run into Mar and family, more bollocks is talked and pictures taken. After a while Mar leaves. No sign of the man himself unfortunately. Those of us left spent some more time drinking and increasingly making little sense before we all go our separate ways.
Stumbling back into the campsite I stay for a little bit, drinking most of the time, before deciding to go for a wander. Not sure what order stuff happened in after this but I defiantly remember, going on at least one bongo led journey, handing out many a sticker/badge etc…, talking rubbish to many a campsite full of people and especially one site behind the toilet complex near brown who I spent 3 hours talking to. Teach ‘em to be wearing Maiden shirts really. Eventually heading back to my tent I stop off in our neighbours site for a shot of absinth. Not a good idea. A good half hour is spent sitting outside my tent because I’m worried that if I go in I’ll be sick over all my stuff and perhaps annoy a sleeping Mark. Might have been a good laugh actually. The sickness passes and I do get to sleep.
Friday
Feel a bit rough from last night for about half an hour then feel perfectly fine. A reading phenomenon that. Get to the main arena stupidly early. Myself and Mark are in the queue by 10.30. Means that I’m right at the very front of main stage for the opening of the festival. Do Me Bad Things open the festival in style by coming onstage and playing for 10 seconds before all the power goes dead. They try and ride it for a bit by clapping but it becomes clear it isn’t going to be a 20 second hitch and so they have to go offstage. “Welcome to the 1st all acoustic reading festival” A few minutes later they retake the stage and thankfully the power keeps long enough for them to deliver yet another brilliant set, pretty much the perfect band to start with from my point of view.
I stay put for Goldie looking’ chain up next. Seriously funny stuff, each song seems to repeat the chorus eight times but when they’re as funny as this that is not a bad thing. New songs ‘your misses is a nutter‘, ‘shop mobility’ and ‘I wanna fuck your sister’ boad well for the forthcoming album. Next I travel over to the Carling stage and see a bloody great band who I have no idea what were called. Any help would be appreciated, they were Australian. And that’s all I know. Oh well. Also saw another band on the Carling stage who were so good I wandered off after 2 songs.
Make use of the still very clean arena toilets behind the main stage before it suddenly clicks that I’m missing The Dropkick Murphy’s over on main stage. In my rush to main stage I briefly run into TazzyK but don’t stay long due to the prementioned rushing. Thankfully I manage to see most of DM set, as it was great pirate flag waving stuff.
Next its over to the comedy stage. Watch a number of funny fellas until ,the man I’ve been waiting for ,Marcus Brigstocke performs. While some of the set is the same as the previous year its still ‘kin funny stuff and is easily the best comic set I catch all weekend. Afterwards I went to see My chemical romance who were the disappointment of the weekend. Perhaps I would have liked them more if I could actually hear them playing above the screaming teenage fans. I left after the opening song. Instead I saw the whole of Queens of the stone age over on main stage. I’d seen them not a month ago at T in the park and hadn’t been too impressed then, so it wasn’t really surprising that I was less impressed now. Too long winded and experimental for a festival slot.
Its back to the comedy tent for some more laughs. Steve Gribin once again puts in a funny as hell performance. it’s the third year in a row I’ve seen him. Good to have some consistency. As there’s nothing I really can be asked seeing I go back to the campsite where I spent an hour and a bit drinking with Tom and Craig (who shall no longer be called naked Dave.) Back to the arena to see The Pixies close the day with one of the best sets of the weekend. I’m not overly familiar with their material but live it just worked so well. I left rather stunned actually. But what were they on about when they said that somebody had broken their neck? Back in the campsite and it’s the most quiet night that we didn’t get an early one. Still plenty of drinking and all but just not as wild as Thursday or the coming two days.
Saturday
Up as early as yesterday but decide against all that waiting in a queue crap from yesterday. Opening the lockup stage are No comply. They are ‘kin brilliant, the crowd is really up for it despite the early time and it’s a bloody good energetic way to start the day. But with a short ska set its difficult to go that wrong really. Back to the campsite and I make the weird decision to go and have a shower, there’s always a first time. So much shite (beer mainly) had ended up in my hair that it was really started to annoy me. But was not to be quite yet as the shower complex has closed until 2.
On the way back to the campsite I run into the people and join them in going to see a manga film in the comedy tent. Manga really is not to my taste so I can’t say how good the film was, it was ok to pass the 40 minutes it was on for. This means that the showers are now open and that is to where I go. Had to wait for a bit as was a tad late opening but was worth it as being clean felt so ‘kin good.
Back to seeing bands now. Million Dead are stupidly good as ever. The crowd is ever so slightly violent and I’m not drunk enough to truly enjoy that fact but the music is enough to have a bloody good time with. They seem to get better every time that I see them. Afterwards I briefly meet up with Tom, Terrie then Kirk but isn’t long until I leave to go see some comedy. After a while I needed to leave the tent for some musical action but this proves to be a pain in the arse as I’m at the front and the tent is packed, people are hardly helpful either, the people I fell on didn’t even see the funny side!
Was worth it though to see The Dwarves who after a bit of a slow start kick several shades of shit out of the tent. Its obvious that many teenage girls in the crowd have shown up just because the band features that fella from QOTSA who quit, but most of them ran off fairly sharpish. Some stayed and seemed to end up enjoying it. Good for them. Did plan on sticking round afterwards to see if the bands up next were any good but decided I’d much rather check out the campsite.
Approaching the campsite I spot Amanda sitting there by herself. She informs me that everybody else is asleep. She’s right, Mark, Kirk, Terrie and Tom are all lying in their tents asleep. Its late afternoon. After enlisting some help from out neighbours I endeavour to wake people the fuck up. Mark and Tom prove easy to wake up but it takes ages for Kirk and Terrie to bother gracing us with their presences. Once everybody’s up we have a bit of fun with the catapult before myself and Mark drink a nice amount of vodka.
I’m going to go see Anti-Flag and convince Mark to come with me, this wasn’t exactly hard. Having a bit to drink before hand proves to have been a good idea as Anti-Flag draws a rather energetic crowd. I spent the whole set in a circle pit running round the tower in the middle of the tent. It was ‘kin amazing, 2nd best set of the weekend only toped by the godlike Maiden. A good proportion of the set was taken from their most recent album ‘the terror state’ as well as old favourites like ‘underground network’, ‘a new kind of army’ and ‘fuck police brutality.’ A set closer of ‘die for your government’ is so good I decide that there is no way that Bad religion could possibly not be a disappointment so don’t even bother staying to see them.
Back in the campsite I ramble on about how good A-F were for a while before me, Kirk and Terrie go to buy a drink from the bar so we can keep the cup to pour stuff into. We had come down with many plastic cups but they had all mysteriously vanished… Drinks brought we then grab some food, we can hear the Foo Fighters quite clearly from here, saw them at T in the park and they were alrite but not really good enough to bother walking to the arena for.
After some time around our campsites myself and one of our new (1 year camped near us) neighbours called Frazer go for a wander round the site. First off we run into people launching themselves at each other in trolleys, this is funny shit but keeps getting interrupted as the trolleys have to be hidden from the SS cars. A brief walk from this we run into one of many mobile raves and begin to follow this around. At one point one of the lead ravers climbs onto the roof of a portaloo only to be dragged down by an irate SS guy. After a while I realise the rave is very close to my campsite and so detour back there.
I’m back in the campsite of a bit then this women shows up saying ‘hi I’m from Green (where the fuck is that!) and I’ve heard about your catapult, I have some apples here for you to launch.’ Were we sober we probably wouldn’t have done that but… Anyway soon people are gearing up (so standing up) to go on a bongo led mission. We make it as far as the road before some SS cunts come barging over and make a grab for the bongos, rapid shouts from Simon of ‘I’ll put them away’ are the only thing that stops them being taken. Suitably pissed off the bongos are put to bed and we set off again, this time with Simon having a tambourine instead. Was still good but not quite as good.
By this point the SS had seriously pissed me off. Chants off ‘fuck the SS’ were quite common. Our tambourine mission went well, many a people danced. We got somewhere in….yellow perhaps, when we spotted Trigger and TazzyK, myself and Kirk at this point detached from the mission to continue talking bollocks with them. This we did for quite some time. Random people would occasionally begin to talk to us, these people were usually rather funny and one decided that carrying Kirk away would be fun, made for a good photo. Eventually we have to go our separate ways however and so myself and Kirk set about finding our field. After only one confusing moment we manage this. After hearing tales of about people having clashes with the SS I collapse in my tent.
Sunday
Another early start as I go to see Bullet for my Valentine open the main stage. Heard a little bit of these guys before but didn’t expect them to be this good, nothing like some decent metal to start the day. Things only get better as Turbonegro immediately follow, despite some omissions - where was ‘I got erection!- it’s a brilliant set. The atmosphere where I am in the crowd is great, probably because I’m surrounded by members of the turbojugend, Turbonegro’s own private army! At one point during the set Turbonegro bank notes are launched from two giant cannons, one of them is probably the best souvenir of a show I’ve ever managed to get!
Darting over to the NME/radio one stage I get there in time to see all of Towers of London’s set. Its more great stuff and thankfully is not as incident prone as at Donington, they manage to finish their set this time around. Of course it wouldn’t do their hype any good to not try and look dangerous so there’s the usual climbing all over the stage set and jumping into the audience. Sure its incredibly contrived but thankfully the music is ‘kin good so this can be overlooked.
Meet up with people to go and see Hugh Lennon who, as last year, is bloody genius. Its exactly the same act as last year with one exception, this year the hypno dog is in attendance. In case you don’t know it’s a dog that hypnotises people, and its bloody brilliant. Very briefly checked out the Test icicles who sounded ‘kin cool until I realised that NOFX are on the main stage, cue a non too subtle charge to main stage. NOFX are pissing people off, not playing their big songs and being drunk shouldn’t make for a good set, but for some reason I really enjoyed it. I’m not too familiar with their stuff so I don’t miss the ‘hits’ and to be it’s a great light hearted set.
The Stooges are bloody awesome. As ever Iggy is a complete psycho onstage, that is when he’s onstage. It’s a shame they didn’t play anything from raw power as that’s the stuff I know best but you can’t really argue with the strength of songs such as ‘I wanna be your dog’ can you? I consider staying put through Incubus and Manson to get a good spot for Maiden but then I recall how utterly shite Incubus are and so head back to the campsite.
On the walk back in run into Kirk and Terrie who are going to buy drag for tonight, I tag along with them. For myself a buy a one pound man dress, some glasses and a colourful headband. We then head off site to buy alcohol. While we’re at the garage we queue to use the cash machine, this takes bloody ages but we get there in the end. Heading back onsite we are stopped by an SS guy who says that we are not allowed to take glass bottles into the campsite. The thing is the guy is slurring his words and stinks of alcohol, wonder why he wanted to take ours… What we end up doing is jumping through the bushes into the toilet complex and then trusting our alcohol to a random fella who we met up with down the road. He could have totally screwed us over and stolen our booze, but he didn’t.
Back in the campsite I try on tonight’s outfit, but over my own clothes at the moment. After pissing about there for a while I head back to the main arena to catch Maiden. I must have arrived in the arena just as Manson had finished as they was masses of people heading away from main stage, I worry about these people. I’m able to walk to a decent spot, I can see the stage clearly except for the drums, but I’ll live with that. After 45 minutes of good music being played on the PA UFOs ‘Doctor Doctor’ begin, signalling that stage time is close. After ‘the ides of march’ intro Iron Maiden take the stage with ‘murders in the rue morgue.’ From here on it’s a non-stop stunning performance. For me the highlight was an awe-inspiring run through of ‘phantom of the opera’ but really the set was almost flawless. Best band in the world. Felt like the set lasted 5 minutes. Should have just played all day!
In bleeding high spirits I head back to the campsite where celebratory drinking is in order. Eventually Mark, Kirk and Tom all too change into their drag outfits,. Each is truly disturbing in its own unique way. People all leave to so something, unfortunately I’m in my tent for some reason at the time meaning I was left without! I try to catch up but never make it, spending the rest of the night wandering around. Thankfully being a fella in a dress makes introductions even easier than usual. After a while I run into a group of people who I spent most of the night wandering around with. Can’t say I remember your names or even what you looked like but cheers, you were cool people! At some point I decide I should head back to my own campsite and so set off with this in mind. Somehow I grow a blanket. I may have been given it or I may have stolen it. After asking people the way to brownA every road I do get there. Almost immediately my blanket is stolen. Mark briefly mentions that something has happened to Kirks foot but I’m too drunk to take in details and it isn’t long before I go to sleep.
Monday
After peeling myself apart from my sleeping bad I’m told what has happened to Kirk. While I was on my night long wander for some reason Kirk had been with people rolling up one of the metal roads. After a while they rolled it back down but somebody left their shoe under the road. As such the road was picked up again but then an SS car came pelting down the road causing it to come crashing down onto Kirks leg, causing some nasty damage. Apparently the medical tent was confused as they were told that a man in a dress had been run down by a road. In the end Kirk was given some stitches and told that the swelling on this foot should go down in about a week but until then he would need to use crutches. They only had one spare to give him.
In packing stuff nobody can be bothered to take the gazebo with them so it is ritualistically destroyed. Once again I leave my chair behind. After saying goodbye to the neighbours (till next year!) we set off. As Kirk can’t carry his own bags and Terrie can’t carry hers as she has to support Kirk we all have extra carrying duties. By the time we get off site I feel like I’m able to keel over. After some hastily brought water I feel slightly better. After waiting for Kirk and Terrie for ages a police van pulls up, they’ve managed to blag a lift but had to make a few stops along the way.
Isn’t much of a wait for the coach to London, and I manage to get a little bit of sleep along the way. Spot the Hammersmith Apollo out the window, seeing Maiden there this very Friday, really hyped up about that now! It’s less of a wait in London this time and I manage to get lots of sleep on the journey back to Northampton. Get home at about 5.30PM, after having a bath and some decent food I spot highlights on the TV. Pity they were crap. Still they did show some Maiden on Tuesday.
This years festival was easily the best one yet, every year they seem to get better. Fucking roll on next year! Better start saving now though…