Monday 3 September 2012

Reading Festival!

If I said this was my first festival experience, I would be lying. I’ve done V Festival and LeeFest (see my post on volunteering). But I’ve done nothing like Reading Festival.
So first off I spent way too much on essentials, tent and clothes – obviously. I’m a girl.
I finally learnt how to pitch my tent like two days before from my mother who came to get me beyond excited as I was sulking that I couldn’t figure out how to pitch a tent, to see said tent standing upright and looking how it actually should look. I haven’t been that surprised in a LONG time.
Deaf Havana
Packed, excited, said all my goodbyes at work, I sat at Clapham Junction for an hour waiting for my little cousin. I love that girl with all my heart – she makes me laugh and she’s bloody great but OMG. I wanted to throttle her. I people watched for a while though (sorry to say all the fit blokes were taken).


We couldn’t really agree on food. I think that’s one of the worst things about festivals. Food. What the hell do you eat – if you even eat (we all know most of the time you’re drinking). I personally think we had a good idea going (apart from the doughnuts and maybe the cereal choice… And of course the sausage and tuna pasta, that wasn’t the best idea).
Alt-J
Getting there was fine. It all went downhill from the moment we started walking from the cab to the festival. Because as girls going to a festival we bought too much. We stopped all the time – no, my cousin stopped all of the time. In my head once I stopped it became clear that I was in serious pain. I had four heavy bags plus two bags filled with food, before I offered to hold more because my cousin was trailing behind. It took near enough and hour and fifteen until we reached the White camp from Red. Now if any of my readers know Reading Festival, they’ll know that that’s a long ass walk. And that was made thrice as long because there were drunks and other people walking just as slow. So you can imagine I was not happy. I got the tent up only to find the vodka had spilled. THE VODKA HAD SPILLED. My night was ruined. My poor cousin having to put up with me and I’m trying to be as nice as possible without being rude but I’d already had a long day and it was like nearly 10pm and now the vodka had spilt all the way down my back and on my clothes.
Our Food
Another little thing… why are tents so small? Why can we not stand up in tents and I am so glad ours was waterproof. If I do another festival with tents I am making sure I can stand up because getting changed and moving around is an absolute chore. Plus, the bigger ones are so much cooler. Yes, heavier but cooler.

FRIDAY
Friday was different. I had to get used to the coldness of being in a tent, the feel of the festival, what we’d do for the day etc. Also, using the disgusting toilets. I walked into a shack like cubicle and for unknown reason looked back (I can vomit just thinking about it. That image will never ever leave my mind). I have a question for all festival-goers and festival organisers… how? And more importantly, WHY??? There must be another way surely!? If you have ever seen the scene in Slumdog Millionaire with the toilets… it was EXACTLY like that.
We saw about 13 different bands from Hadouken!, Friends, Palma Violets, Random Hand (they were the biggest surprise of the festival – so good), Deaf Havana, some Coheed and Cambria, Angels and Airwaves, You Me At Six, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Courteeners, Foster The People (had a mini panic attack no biggie) Paramore and The Maccabees (who were better than expected).
I was involved in a crowd Avalanche where you feel a whole load of force push you to the ground and when you finally realise you’re not watching Paramore anymore but on the floor crushing some girl’s legs. It’s pretty weird instantly helping others around you to get up before you can actually get up yourself. When it happens again though, you do freak out a little especially when everyone else is getting up apart from you. You’re still on the floor as you see others help each other up bar you. Yeah, peed my pants a little at that.

SATURDAY
Saturday I was more in the swing of things. I was used to just casually walking around – I felt that you had to know who were going to see so you didn’t miss anything but that feeling went pretty quickly. I could relax, drink even. But whoever gets used to those horrific toilets? I swear I watched a man walk to the toilet shack, take a deep breath looked at me and crossed his fingers. I laughed for about ten minutes waiting for my cousin to come out of the toilets who herself was trying not to be sick from the stench. God awful things.
At Lower Than Atlantis!
We walked around everywhere. We even sat and watched Green Day make an appearance through sheer luck! We didn’t exactly make it inside the tent but we heard them from outside and watched them on the big screens!
So that day we watched some Modestep, Doc Brown (he’s amazing), Max Raptor (new band, quite good), Jaguar Skills (so so good), OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), Lower Than Atlantis (love!), The Vaccines, At The Drive In, Florence and The Machine (accidently got a guy on my shoulders – don’t ask), Katy B, Metronomy (also better than expected).
During Flo & The Machine
We were meant to watch The Hunger Games and then Chronicle the film when they turned one of the tents into a small film tent but the amount of energy that is taken out of you - when we got into the tent I was out like a light!! I hadn’t even had a proper drink!


SUNDAY
We made it our business to do everything on Sunday. Ate loads, drank more (but not lots because the toilets just ain’t worth that), even made it to the Silent Disco tent which was a hell of a lot better and emptier than anticipated.
We experienced Holly Walsh, Stephen K Amos (in tears crying he was so funny), some of Gaslight Anthem, Bullet for my Valentine, Good Riddance, Kaiser Chiefs, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters.
Another thing I’m not too keen on is being in the middle of a crowd. I’m not technically claustrophobic because I can be in tight spaces but when everyone is pushing everyone for no god damn reason it gets tiring and you get so agitated. Another crowd avalanche happened during Black Keys which meant even though I was near the front of the crowd and I could see Patrick and Dan (so cool!!) it also meant I wasn’t really paying attention because I had idiots around me pushing. And a silly Welsh girl who talked too much and who also liked to fists pump to The Black Keys, nearly punching me in the face. Little bit gutted I couldn’t really enjoy The Black Keys as much as I wanted, but that just means I have to see them again. Also I had a go at some 18year old that was pushing his butt into my side and I meant, really? It’s never that.
But then again, we did push ourselves to the front-ish on purpose so we could see the Foo Fighters up close. Unfortunately only one of us really got to see the Foo Fighters up close because I decided that being in the middle of the crowd being pushed in every direction was just not worth it. So I pushed my way out – to everyone’s dismay. Until finally I found a good enough spot by the huge screen and speakers that I could sing loudly and dance around a bit.
Damm Foo Fighters were amazing.


I’d just like to say an apology to Daniel also for being kind off-ish but you caught my attention as I was coming out of the toilets. I was in such a shock from the toilets (I will never forget the sound *shudders*) and from seeing you at 11am in the morning when I have make up all the way down my face that I didn’t even consider getting my hand sanitiser out of my bag. Which is wrong. So wrong. So yeah… Next time I might actually hug you back and not tell you not to touch me…
I had a drunken cousin Sunday night which was funny and I completely rinsed out my phone battery life through playing music shuffle, which I’m delighted I won, then using the Flashlight on my phone to have a rave in the tent. Good idea at the time…
No idea who he is..
Silent disco dancing
We talked to some of the others around us but we mostly kept to ourselves. My cousin is so much better at talking to strangers than me as I sort of go into defence mode and can be rude (because you know, they’re strangers… Stranger Danger and all that… it’s what they teach you in Primary School) so I left talking to people to her but we did have small talk with everyone and of course smiled at funny little things that happened around us. And there was always funny things happening from the costumes to people shouting to “FENTON!! JESUS CHRIST FENTONNNN!!” or the usual favourites, “ALAN?? STEVEE??!! ALAAAANNNN”

So just to say I had an amazing time. I saw bands that surprised me, that I loved and that I didn’t ever think I would ever see live.
However, if I do that again, bigger tent or V.I.P (not kidding), prepare for the coldness at night and I always forget a pillow. Plus, I will invent something feasible as a toilet situation other than a she-pee and human cat litter called the Travel John Disposable Toilet so it’s got to be better than that (honestly have a research, it’s a brilliant idea).








3 comments:

  1. I did not expect this. This is a excellent story. Thanks! You completed a few nice points there.

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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Randomly stumbled across this , I was at reading for the first time last summer too with my bestie.
    I'm considering going back this year, but reading this and remembering the toilets makes me want to to rethink that ;D

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