This was my second time at the festival, and I had it in my head that it was going to be my last. After one of the best weekends of my life, i'll make sure that i'm scraping all my pennies together so that I can go again in 2013. There is nothing better than spending 5 joyous days with your friends getting sloshed in a field, while cozying around a camp-fire. The music, a nice little bonus, and sees you get your moneys worth. Regardless of the line-up, i'll always enjoy myself at festivals as some of the best stories come about when you're drunk, but this years line-up made it perfect with bands such as Kasabian, Vaccines, Black Keys and Courteeners appearing across the course of the weekend. Four out of five of my favorite bands across the space of three days, almost seemed too good to be true.
The mini-bus, taking 14 of us to Bramham park, arrived promptly and on time. Nobody was late either, meaning we were all gathered giddily by 9:45 discussing the bands that we were going to see across the weekend. A novelty group photo was taken, and before we knew it, we were belting down the M1 on course for one of the best weekends of our lives. We all purchased early birds meaning that we could enter the festival on the Wednesday and get set up, as opposed to scurrying in on the Thursday and struggling to find camping space. With around 25 people camping in our group, an early bird was essential in getting a good spot, and getting us all camped together.
No matter how carefully you plan, the walk to the festival is excruciatingly painful. Lugging all your stuff to the festival gates is painful and tiresome. It feels like you've been there for hours and no doubt the worst part of the weekend. Not helped by the volunteers who kept informing us that we had to keep moving, not realizing we were all dragging 5 days worth of alcohol, tents and various other essentials that make up for some very heavy luggage. Also, the walk was made worse this year by the moving of the entrance, meaning we had to zig-zag around to entrance that was further away. Not very well planned on behalf of Festival Republic. Annoyingly as well, we were told that to get free beer we had to go to the right hand side, once we got the beer, we were again forced right, even though it would have been so much easier to go left. After about an hour, we finally made into the festival and to the spot where we planned to camp. A gym bag full of alcohol meant that I ended up with a very severe bruise on my right knee, but nothing was going to spoil the weekend. Once everybody is in, the weekend begins. The worst part is out of the way and you can set about enjoying your weekend.
Wednesday night was a bit of a blur, we had a few walks to the village and a quick walk around the campsite, showing people around in our group who'd not been to the festival before. The set up was the exact same to the year before, so it didn't take us long to familiarize ourselves with the set-up. Due to the tiresome day that everybody had endured, we all retired to our tents pretty early in the morning, after having a few drinks and getting acquainted with the people who we didn't know who we were going to be spending the weekend with. I can't really remember getting into the tent that night, but I can remember what happened next.
Five of us were camped in our 6 man tent, meaning one person camped on themselves and two groups of two. I was in the right hand compartment along with a friend. I chose to sleep closest to the door, due to me being a light sleeper and often being the first one awake on a morning. In contrast, the guy in my compartment slept so much over the weekend that we had to check on him a couple of times just to see he was still breathing. At about 4 o'clock in the morning of Thursday, I was awoken to somebody unzipping my compartment, testifying how much of a light sleeper I am. In an awoken blur, I saw somebody reach over the top of me and start feeling around in the pockets in our tent, and having a feel around in the bags. The group of friends that I am camped with are well known for a laugh and a joke, so I thought it was a friend messing about, so playfully pushed him out of the compartment (if ever there was an advert for my masculinity, it was me playfully pushing away a would be thief/murderer). As it turned out, it was a complete stranger looking for stashed booty. He subsequently ran out of the tent, and I decided not to bother giving chase considering that he'd not taken anything (to my knowledge) and he'd most probably have beaten me up if had I caught up with him.
My thoughts finally settled after about 5 minutes of being awoken, and I realized what had just happened and how some scum of the earth was looking to steal from the unsuspected. I checked my valuables which were at the bottom of my sleeping bag, and noted that he'd got away empty handed. I woke up my friend and made sure he still had his valuables, and he did. I put my head back down, thinking about how some people can do such a thing and are willing to ruin some peoples weekends just for personal gain. I fell asleep that night with my hand clasped on both zips, and woke up with my hand still on the zip.
The Thursday was spent much in the same way as the Wednesday had. Although, this time, we'd all had a good nights sleep (me excluded) so we were more vibrant and willing to stay up later. Drinking started early and carried on throughout most of the day, a few of the group took the shuttle bus to Tesco to stock up on supplies, but having brought half the house with me, I stayed round the camp of general merriment. We seemed to be camped in quite a bad spot this year, in terms of people around us. We met a few lads from a few camps over who seemed a good laugh but barely talked to them over the course of the weekend. Of the 3 camps closest to us, one was full of 16 year old lads who were obviously drowning their sorrows at GCSE results (who we ended up having a stand off with on the Saturday night), a camp full of people around our age but seemed a little odd, one of the boys offered to sell us MDMA. Then the final camp from Scunthorpe, who seemed nice enough, who I occasionally talked to throughout the weekend and had a couple of drinks with. I suppose one out of three isn't bad.
The rest of Thursday is somewhat blurry, but I can assure it was filled with good times and drunken merriment. Singing football chants until early in the morning is a memory that sticks out, but apart from that, the alcohol had took over and it was soon Friday, accompanied with a steady hangover.
Friday
So here it is, the first day of music, a few friends who weren't able to afford weekend tickets joined us for the day, and we set about starting drinking again, trying to get as drunk as possible before the music started, to avoid the festival beer prices. I also tried to sneak a few cans in to the arena in the back of my wellies, but was caught out by the butch man who gave me a very thorough frisk. I must have looked shifty as every time I entered the arena over the weekend, I was given the full body search by whoever I went to. He found the cans in my wellies and told me to throw them away. It was worth a try.
The first band of the weekend I saw was Eagles of Death Metal, a band that I wasn't too familiar with but I ended up enjoying their performance and knew a couple of their songs which was a nice bonus. The Gaslight Anthem followed. Again, not too familiar with any of their music, but really enjoyed their performance, so much so that I bought their album when I got home, and now consider myself a fan. I'd gave them a quick listen before, and decided that they were average but after seeing them live, i'd happily go see them again.
Not being too bothered about any other bands until Kaiser Chiefs, a few of us returned to camp to continue the drinking. A couple of cans down the neck, and a couple of hours passed, we headed back to the arena. Due to bad time judgement and general idiocy, we ended up arriving late, and missed the start of Kaiser Chiefs, only by one or two songs. Having liked them for a long time, I was quietly confident about the Leeds formed band but I was slightly underwhelmed but that may be due to where I was stood and having arrived late, as other people I talked to said they were the surprise of the weekend. I can now say that I've seen them live, and having liked them since around age 13, I was glad i'd finally seen them live. After finishing Oh My God, the crowd milled around and we managed to locate a more central spot for the next band to take to the stage.
Having only been introduced to them recently, The Black Keys immediately jumped into my top 5 favorite bands and I could not wait to see them live. Dan Auerbach is a quiet man, and you can tell how shy he is when he's on stage. He barely talked to the crowd, but just belted out his music. However, being a massive fan and knowing every single song that they played, I enjoyed the performance thoroughly. The bluesy rock was a great way to set the crowd up for the final act of the day, Lonely Boy was a personal highlight as the entire field exploded into dance.
Here it was, the act of the day in most people's eyes. Foo Fighters are one of the biggest bands in the world right now, and day tickets were in high demand on the Friday, simply because of this band alone. Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl is a fantastic front man, and made the crowd laugh as well as singing all the crowd's favorites. Despite not being the biggest fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire set, and despite having incredibly tired feet, ending the Friday on Everlong as the whole crowd sang along was greatness personified. The fireworks were a great touch, and everyone trudged back to their tent nattering about what a great performance they had given. Slightly jealous of the fact that Reading, got Foo Fighters to close their festival.
Saturday
After the best nights sleep of the weekend, I awoke expecting the rain to have done a lot more damage than it had. Fortunately, the rain must have ceased not long after i'd gone to bed, and despite the ground being damp, it was nowhere near as bad as it had been the previous year. Thankfully. Again, drinking started early as we prepared for another day of music. Having no particular interest in the bands that were on earlier in the day, I set off to the arena at about 3 o'clock to watch The Hives.
Arriving a little earlier than expected, we popped in to see comedian Jason Byrne before setting off towards the NME stage to watch The Hives. Despite them being popular, I didn't expect the tent to be as rammed as it was. I was expecting to stroll into the tent and get a good view, however, arriving just as it started meant that getting into the tent was impossible, so we stood on the border and watched most of the performance on the screen. A lesson to me and to everyone else, if you're looking forward to seeing a band, get there early to get a good position. Despite being half in the rain and half in the tent, The Hives put on a good show and that was another band that I can cross off my list of bands that I wanted to see.
After filling our stomachs, we headed towards the main stage for the next two bands, You Me at Six and Bombay Bicycle Club. Personally, I have more of a liking towards the latter, but both bands put on pretty lackluster shows and I was positively bored throughout both performances. Maybe due to where I was stood, or maybe because I was apprehensive of the next band that I was going to see. Either way, I won't be seeing either band again.
I set off to the NME tent, learning from my mistake at The Hives, to get a good spot for my most anticipated band of the weekend. Doing so meant I was able to catch Blur guitarist Graham Coxon as he was finishing his set. I've always been a big fan of Blur, but Mr Coxon just didn't seem to do anything for me, and his music differed a lot from Blur's. Maybe I was in a bad mood from the two bands that I had seen previously. People then began to arrive at the NME tent for the next act of the day, The Courteeners. Looking back, when the line-up was announced, I remember looking at The Courteeners on the line-up and being quite surprised at how low down they were, and topped by artists such as Foster The People. However, The Courteeners subsequently gave the performance of the weekend. The crowd belted out their classics at the top of their voice, and the show whizzed past in a blur. A band of such talent should have been given longer, as it was clear that a lot of people had come just for The Courteeners as a lot of people filed out before Foster The People took to the stage.
My original plan was to be one of those people leaving, and catch the entirety of The Cure's set, but I was persuaded to stay for Foster The People. Due to only having one album, and arguably one good song (Pumped up kicks) the set was not a patch on The Courteeners. But, I enjoyed them nevertheless and would probably have had a higher opinion of them had they not just followed the best band of the weekend. Pumped up kicks is a brilliant festival song, and I enjoyed singing along with the rest of the crowd.
I left the tent, not too bothered about The Maccabees, and went to the main stage to catch some of The Cure. I can't argue that i'm their biggest fans, but I can happily listen to their greatest hits album all day long. Due to not being able to find anyone, I ended up watching for about an hour on myself, before deciding to leave and head back to camp where I knew quite a few of my friends were residing. It's quite clear The Cure love their music, but if you don't know their songs then the constant song after song can become extremely tiring. It is clear though that they are talented musicians, and I would have stayed till the end had I had someone to watch them with.
Arriving back at the tent, around 10 friends were sat there drinking. We stayed up most of the night drinking due to the mild weather conditions, as more and more friends filtered back from the arena. A slight stand off occurred with the young lads camped near us, as they thought it would be funny to jump on one of our tents. But, nothing came of it, and they soon backed off and kept to themselves for the rest of the weekend. At about 4 o'clock in the morning we resigned to our tents, and got in a couple of hours sleep to prepare for the final day of music.
Sunday
We arose early, and 3 of us set towards the arena to catch the first set on the main stage, Los Campesinos! Despite a relatively small crowd, and an overwhelming stench drifting from the toilets nearby, Los Campesinos! put on a good show and opened up the day nicely. They're a nice little band and i'm glad the sunshine came out to make their performance that little bit more enjoyable.
Again, we set off back to the tent, and got a couple of drinks in our system before heading back to the arena to catch Jake Bugg. I'd never heard of the man before, but was convinced to go see him by a few friends, and it was a nice surprise at how talented he was. Although, a lot of his songs sounded the same, so we subsequently left early to try and regroup with friends before heading to the main stage for the rest of the day.
Despite not being the biggest Enter Shikari fan, or a fan of that genre of music in general, I ended up seeing them before The Vaccines came on, a band more to my liking. I was never going to enjoy the set, and seeing this confirmed it. It's just not my sort of music at all, but talking to a few of my friends who do enjoy their music said that their set was poor and it wasn't as lively as they had hoped it would be. One good point about them being on though, was that it meant that the crowd wasn't as big for The Vaccines and we had more room to jump around and have a dance.
This was the fourth time that I had seen The Vaccines, as they hold the mantle of my favorite band. They never disappoint and I was able to have a really good singalong but lead singer Justin seemed quite out of breath, and a little short of energy. Maybe their constant touring up and down the country and across Europe is starting to take its toll on him. However, they still put on a good show, and played songs from their new album set to be released next week, as well as their classics which everyone was able to have a good dance to. Not their best performance that I have seen, but still a highlight of the weekend.Florence and the Machine followed The Vaccines. Florence Welch has unbelievable talent, and her some of the notes that she hit gave me shivers. Not being the biggest fan didn't stop me enjoying her set, and strangely enough, all of the group that we had camped with were together when we saw her. The only time of the weekend, apart from back at camp, when we had all been together, which was a nice little touch. I was slightly disappointed that Florence didn't play You got the love, but her show was more concentrated on her second album, however she got the crowd going ready for Kasabian. There is no doubting her ability to sing.
As one of my friends said 'the girls have had Florence, now us boys have Kasabian'. It was true as well, Florence is a very typical girls band, whereas Kasabian are a very typical lads band. Not to say that you can't enjoy both, but it was quite good organization on behalf of Festival Republic. They'd got two very good acts that both genders can enjoy, but one more for the girls and one for the boys.
Having already seen Kasabian live last year, I knew that the Leeds crowd were in for a treat. On both occasions that i've seen them, they've put on a really good show and I would tell anyone to go see them live, as you will not be disappointed. They got the crowd pumping and jumping, and finished on one of the best encores ever in existence. Switchblades Smiles into Vlad The Impaler into Fire, is absolute perfection. Kasabian also have this extraordinary ability to make everybody jump at a concert, and weirdly enough, everyone seems to jump at the same time. Lead singer Tom Meighan rounded off the weekend with an acapella rendition of All You Need is Love by The Beatles, which showed the confidence of the Kasabian frontman.
We made our way back to the camp for the very last time, as we experienced slight crushing walking out from Kasabian. Back at camp, all our chairs had been stolen, except from one, and our gazebo had been transformed into a climbing frame. So, we set about sitting on bin bags, huddling around the camp fire and drinking the last remaining drops of beer. As the group dwindled, the last remaining few of us, perched in our tent and talked for a while before drifting off to sleep for the very last time at the festival.
The monday morning was spent tidying our last few bits, and packing our tent away before making the trip back to the mini-bus awaiting for us at the same point where we were dropped off. A little bit of traffic leaving the festival slowed us down, but apart from that it was smooth sailing all the way back to Barnsley.
I was leaving behind one of the best weekends of my life, spent with some of the best people. I'd made friends and become a lot closer to the friends that I went with. There were a few arguments along the way, but it's to be expected with any festival experience and it brings you closer. A festival isn't just about music, it's also about spending quality time with people who are going to be friends for life.
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