Part 3: Festivals, Present day and Conclusion

Shortly after my first Bangface, I was already looking forward to attending my first Glastonbury festival. Having already opened my eyes to excessive drug use, new music and social interaction over the past couple of months I was understandably very, very excited. For those of you who went to Glastonbury in 2007 you’ll know that from early Friday afternoon (when I arrived) all the way to Monday, it rained constantly turning the whole site into a quagmire. I didn’t so much mind this, I thought that it wouldn’t be a proper first Glastonbury if there wasn’t a bit of mud and treated the whole scenario as a baptism of fire. I remember the lineup that year being what mainly drew me in. One of the main memories I have of the weekend include waiting for ages for Arcade fire to start and strategically buying 2 pints of lagar to save having to leave the crowd to get another one ofcourse. However after slugging back the 2 pints and the band were just coming on, nature called and since I had just stood through one set of an act that was awful and had secured myself I really sweet spot, I decided that in the spirit of things I should just piss myself, and in doing so filled my boots and warmed my feet up quite nicely. After an absolutely awesome Arcade Fire set I decided to go on a Friday night stroll having a look at all the headliners since I couldn’t decide which one to choose from, I don’t think there will be many opportunities to see the Arctic Monkeys, Damian Marley and Bjork all in the space of a couple of hours of each other. Later on that night at a mates campsite I emptied my piss filled boots over his spot and said it was water… The following evening was qually as eye opening. I stood at the G-stage just to watch Bong-ra and ended up staying for Shitmat, Scotch Egg and Noisia all of which I hadn’t heard of before but was blown away by them all, I then ducked out to go see the Killers who I quite liked at the time. This was also the night however that I was to experiment with LSD for the first time, leaving me curious to venture further down the rabbit hole of the human consciousness. The following day I remember seeing Shirley Bassey, The Manic Street Preachers and The Who. The whole weekend was an eye opener, I’d fallen in love but didn’t realize how strong the love would be, and from that weekend on I was officially addicted to festivals.

Looking back on that first ever festival, I would of done it again completely differently. I focused too much on the music and getting wasted that I nearly missed the true sense of festivals. Over the next couple of years I was to learn the true description of a great festival. The following year I went to Glastonbury on my own, a strange experience which I’m glad I’ve done, I had some great memories and saw some amazing sets (Kings of Leon on the Friday, Elbow, Hot Chip and a truly memorable Massive Attack set on the Saturday) But the whole time whilst walking around and talking to people I couldn’t help thinking that although I was having a good time I really wanted my mates to be there with me to. But this was the weekend I discovered Beans On Toast, who is now one of my favorite artists.

Now its going to be a bit tricky to give all my festival highligts because I will literally be here all day, I suppose if I could give a brief run down I shall say that Glastonbury, although not without its flaws (size, price, dwindling music policy) is the best festival to go to in this country. It embodies everything festivals are to deliver. It transports you to another world for a week, a whole years worth of organization for just 5 days, the effort, the art, the unlimited options of things to do, the diversity of the music and sheer epicness of it all. Glastonbury has also been the setting for some of the best live sets I’ve ever seen; Blur, Bon Iver, Massive Attack, Christy Moore, The Who. And even for people who I wouldn’t usually go see play at all Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Rolf Harris, Bjork, Ray Davies.

To get anywhere close to something of the standard of Glastonbury you have to go to small or medium sized festivals for a similar vibe and organization. Secret Garden Party is nice, like the all the little parts of Glastonbury you spend most of your time seeing condensed into one site. A beautiful location, a truly friendly and divers crowd, and the music policy is quite quaint as well (a lot of gypsy-step, folk and traditional festival favorites to keep me entertained). Also despite the whole festival being a Bedales and Italia Conte student’s wet dream, it fails to be pretentious at all, I also had another highlight from Beans On Toast there, who performed 3 times one of which being one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen from someone. Then there’s Glade, which is always a lovely intimate affair. A pure mix of brilliant tunes, fun times with the chosen family and hefty hedonism, An offshoot from Glastonbury’s Glade stage, I’d consider it the Electronic equivalent to the mother of festivals itself. It’s had a few issues these recent years, but will be back this year just as good as ever I should imagine. Then of course there is a new lovely little festival discovered last year called Boomtown fair. A tiny little 3,000-person community, filled with a top dollar Ska, Punk and Reggae lineup including Nevile Staple and Toots and the Maytals. A short affair that only really kicks off on the Saturday, but lovely and intimate and only 60 quid! Then of course there is the ‘commercial’ festivals… I went to Reading to see Radiohead one year, I have always resented Reading, mainly from school days were it seemed that all the wankers in my year would all seem to go, and any other twat at a party or a night out seemed to be going. I always had this image of it being filled with students away from mummy and daddy for a weekend, celebrating their exam results… I was right. As soon as I walked through the gates onto the campsite someone kicked a bottle at me then laughed, other items chucked in my direction over that day included toothpaste, food and cups of what was probably piss, at a friends campsite I listened in disgust as the congregation bragged about how he spat in a girls hair who walked passed, and how later on that night they was all going to deliberately anti-social. I dropped a tab of acid which luckily wasn’t that strong otherwise I would of spent my entire time there pissed off and incredibly aggy. However despite being surrounded by fools there was 2 moments of beauty. I dropped my wallet with EVERYTHING in it, and a couple chased me up the path to give it back to me, and then when I lost my phone the geezer ran through the phone book trying to contact people so he could give it back. I rung the phone and met up with the geezer who said “be careful in future man the next person might not be so nice” Unfortunatley I had no beer and no spliff to give him so just gave him a cuddle and ‘nice one mate’, all this whilst the whole campsite was setting fire to each others tents and acting like animals, it showed that there is still some sign of decency even at the shit festivals. Radiohead were amazing and I got to meet Frank Turner which was nice. However having an arena and campsite area split, booze restrictions, average sound, a location which is literally just a field next to Reading town centre, horrible people and mainly horrible NME style music, makes Reading easily the worst festival I’ve ever been to. No diversity, no atmosphere, no effort. Melvin Benn is the Alan Shugar of festivals.

When ask why I love festivals so much I sometimes fail to project all the emotion behind my reasoning. For one it’s the sheer Englishness of it all… Camping out in the unpredictable, British elements, getting leathered in a field, listening to music is something that even our ancestors in medieval times can relate to. America can’t do it properly, and Europe lack the amount that we hold. But a more in-depth reason behind my love for them is that in this cold, loveless and unfair world we live in I find comfort and sanctuary in escaping to the great British countryside for a weekend, to sleep with the elements and live in small sectioned off communities with genuinely lovely people from all different backgrounds and countries, listening to amazing music, testing my bodies limits to how much alcohol my my liver can filter and how many drugs my brain will allow me to play with, in an environment where there aren’t really any boundaries or laws. I often get humor from people getting caught at the gates at festivals with enough drugs to put them away for 12 years, and escape with confiscation and a slap on the wrist. I can forget entirely about the real world and truly be myself in this little bubble protected by a 12-foot fence. There’s always that poignant moment on the Monday’s when I arrive back in London, seeing people talking on mobiles, people rushing to work and reading newspapers reporting on all the fucked up stuff that nobody really wants to talk or think about, and I say to myself “It shouldn’t be like this”. I’ll bring my kids up at festivals when the time comes to it. Teach them how to use the Diablo’s and the devil sticks, and show them the importance of community, music, art and human decency in society which are all vital lessons to learn in this unforgiving world we live in.


I suppose now I shall have to touch on the present day… the whole reason I started to attempt this mammoth entry was that I was so inspired by the return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor that I thought I’d reflect. However its been the past 12-18 months where I have truly used live music to its full effects. My knowledge of genres which I first discovered when I started to go to gigs I have built on and seen my heroes. In folk I have gone one to see Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, , Frank Turner and Beans on Toast several times. I even consider Beans on Toast to be the most influential musicians of modern days. Acts which I assured myself I would see before I’d die of before they split up; The Pogues, Primal Scream, Leftfield, Alabama 3, Christy Moore, and of course Godspeed… All were exceptionally amazing gigs, also my regular attendance at such venues like the Jamm and the Hootenanny keep helping me discover amazing new bands such as The Correspondents, Molotov Jukebox, Ta mere and Lazy Habits. To the new rave nights which have gained more popularity since the demise of Bangface. Earblender giving us the Gabber, Breakcore and Happy Hardcore, Jungle Syndicate giving us the Jungle and ALAN giving us the atmosphere it once had. But also a special thanks to Heidie who shares my flair for live music, and gave me a new passion for searching for new bands… All cracking evenings spent in good company and without her I would still be that bloke standing in the corner on his own, because all of his mates were busy tonight and couldn’t come with him. Thanks for taking the time to hang out with me.


Now for the point… If there is actually a point, why do I spend most of my time and money on tickets to events of live music? Many of the reasons I think I’ve already explained, I suppose I should probably give a list of some of the best live acts I’ve seen… But it’s impossible, and doesn’t matter anyway, through all of the gigs I’ve been to and all the festivals I’ve attended even if the act playing has been awful I have still felt something. In real life I am a bit of an emotional cripple who doesn’t express his feelings to anyone, but there have been moments where I have cried in a huge group of people, felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, or totally forgotten everything I was worried about, or felt a love for the people, even strangers around me so strong I just couldn’t help but give them a hug. It’s the moments like that when I actually feel quite happy to exist that makes it all worthwhile.