You may be wondering, has Meg lost her sense of time? Has she lost her head?
Yes- to the latter part, but no I am aware it is 2018 *shudders*.
And the reason why this post is so extremely delayed is that I figured even though this was 3 years ago, it was still one of the best weekends that I will remember for a long time.
Leeds Festival, the biggie of British festivals. Or Reading, if you're a southern folk.
But on my terms, Leeds was the main one that everyone was talking about.
To start off this extremely eventful weekend, I naively prejudged getting into the festival would be completely stress-free.
Oh, how very catastrophically wrong I was.
And the reason why this post is so extremely delayed is that I figured even though this was 3 years ago, it was still one of the best weekends that I will remember for a long time.
Leeds Festival, the biggie of British festivals. Or Reading, if you're a southern folk.
But on my terms, Leeds was the main one that everyone was talking about.
To start off this extremely eventful weekend, I naively prejudged getting into the festival would be completely stress-free.
Oh, how very catastrophically wrong I was.
For starters, I managed to bag myself a VIP access ticket as a friend of mine was a promoter so I got my ticket at a reduced price.
No complaining of course at this, but it did cause some confusing circumstances.
So, I may point out that I chose to travel with a different friendship group, silly error Meg.
Anyways, after the 4-hour skin scraping queue outside the main entrance, I was told I had to go to a separate entrance.
Fair enough, you may be thinking. However, this entrance was a 50-minute walk.
The bottom circle is where I was. The top circle is where I needed to be...
So, as I stood gormlessly looking at the poor volunteer in disbelief, I was beginning to become aware of the foreboding struggle that I was about to endure.
Now, I'm not a Christian, but in the next few minutes, I became to believe that there was a special power looking down on me.
As I turned around, a concerned festival-goer with nerves paralysing my face, I noticed another struggled female in the same position as I was.
There she was, standing by herself, profusely prodding her phone shouting "Why won't GPS work? How am I supposed to walk to the other entrance - which is 50 minutes away, according to Google?."
"Get a taxi."
"But I can't afford that!"
Aha! There was my entry.
Needless to say, we got a taxi and entered the festival with success. Horray!
Okay, as most festival-goers do, I had the early access pass.
To some this may be useless, however, it gave us chance to have a look around and just put up our tents before the good spots were taken.
And to avoid our tent being in a spot like this:
(Not my picture)
Anyways, there were a few tasters acts knocking about so it wasn't as if there was no-one good to see.
Let's skip to Friday,
This was the taster of the awful rain that was to arrive.
I managed to see a multitude of acts including The Vaccines, The Wombats, Spring King, Biffy Clyro, 1975 and Rat Boy. There was probably more, but like I said it was 3 years ago.
To sum up, all acts were brilliant. However, I'm going to be honest, I wasn't particularly keen on Rat Boy or The 1975. But, I didn't want to ruin it for the others so I watched them.
Day 3: Where it became messy.
I awoke to sunshine, brilliant.
Until later, when it absolutely BELTED it down. We were all soaking wet. Not to mention, at this point I was unaware that our tent was being flooded along with my clothes for the next couple of days.
But hey ho, that's festivals for you!
I do remember at the time saying to myself, 'You won't look back on this and remember the rain, you will remember the acts'. I was wrong, I do remember the rain and the great acts, but I guess I look back and laugh at our sheer bad luck with the weather.
On Saturday the key act that stood out to me was Disclosure.
Despite the torrential rainfall, they were amazing. And I'm glad I endured their set (at the barrier - not to boast) with a battle against the rain.
If I remember rightly, I'm pretty sure they brought out Sam Smith too.
But, the most amazing act of all, Foals.
Yannis was once again astonishing. Fifteen-year-old me had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Well, I had actually seen Foals back in Early 2016 in Leeds, but the chance of seeing them at a festival was a different experience.
You don't exactly get the same atmosphere of 50,000 people singing along at Leeds First Direct Arena.
Other acts which I can remember were Mura Masa and BBK.
Even though BBK played at exactly the same ability as they did when I saw them at the festival in 2015, they just weren't as good on the main stage in broad daylight as they were in one of the smaller tents on a night time.
I'm rubbish I know, but I can't remember what day the Silent Disco was on. I'm sure it was Saturday night.
Anyways, the silent disco was DEFINITELY worth it. I think we danced for about 4 hours straight.
If you're planning on going to Leeds this year, I'd advise you to go to the silent disco. What can be more enjoyable than singing along to the same song through a pair of headphones with a tent full of strangers?
Also, please go to the stages in the actual camp such as Relentless and Picaddili!
These are open until the early hours of the morning after all the acts have finished.
Relentless Stage (not my own picture).
Now, onto Sunday.
Day 4:
By this point, my legs were hardened with mud and I had to do the obligatory routine of picking off the mud and wiping myself down with baby wipes every morning and night. And probably mid-day too.
Unfortunately (well, it depends on how you look at it), my family booked a holiday on Monday so I had to leave the festival at about 3pm.
It pains me to say that I missed Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but I managed to see Sundara Karma and Slaves.
I didn't see Two Door Cinema Club. But, I did see them the following year at TRNSMT, so I guess it isn't all bad.
All I can say of the journey home was that the pleasure of sitting down on an actual seat was indescribable. After sitting on a broken chair all weekend and laying on a hard floor as a bed, it felt like everything normal was luxury. I can't even begin to explain to you what the shower was like.
I'd like to think that Leeds Festival 2016 was probably timed against Britains worst weather possible, but that was what made it so hilarious. We all looked completely different by Sunday.
Whilst you're here- don't be that weirdo that leaves their makny festival band on for too long! Store it somewhere safe and don't ever lose it.
Miss u Leeds, forever in my heart xxx
No complaining of course at this, but it did cause some confusing circumstances.
So, I may point out that I chose to travel with a different friendship group, silly error Meg.
Anyways, after the 4-hour skin scraping queue outside the main entrance, I was told I had to go to a separate entrance.
Fair enough, you may be thinking. However, this entrance was a 50-minute walk.
The bottom circle is where I was. The top circle is where I needed to be...
So, as I stood gormlessly looking at the poor volunteer in disbelief, I was beginning to become aware of the foreboding struggle that I was about to endure.
Now, I'm not a Christian, but in the next few minutes, I became to believe that there was a special power looking down on me.
As I turned around, a concerned festival-goer with nerves paralysing my face, I noticed another struggled female in the same position as I was.
There she was, standing by herself, profusely prodding her phone shouting "Why won't GPS work? How am I supposed to walk to the other entrance - which is 50 minutes away, according to Google?."
"Get a taxi."
"But I can't afford that!"
Aha! There was my entry.
Needless to say, we got a taxi and entered the festival with success. Horray!
Okay, as most festival-goers do, I had the early access pass.
To some this may be useless, however, it gave us chance to have a look around and just put up our tents before the good spots were taken.
And to avoid our tent being in a spot like this:
(Not my picture)
Anyways, there were a few tasters acts knocking about so it wasn't as if there was no-one good to see.
Let's skip to Friday,
This was the taster of the awful rain that was to arrive.
I managed to see a multitude of acts including The Vaccines, The Wombats, Spring King, Biffy Clyro, 1975 and Rat Boy. There was probably more, but like I said it was 3 years ago.
To sum up, all acts were brilliant. However, I'm going to be honest, I wasn't particularly keen on Rat Boy or The 1975. But, I didn't want to ruin it for the others so I watched them.
Day 3: Where it became messy.
I awoke to sunshine, brilliant.
Until later, when it absolutely BELTED it down. We were all soaking wet. Not to mention, at this point I was unaware that our tent was being flooded along with my clothes for the next couple of days.
But hey ho, that's festivals for you!
I do remember at the time saying to myself, 'You won't look back on this and remember the rain, you will remember the acts'. I was wrong, I do remember the rain and the great acts, but I guess I look back and laugh at our sheer bad luck with the weather.
On Saturday the key act that stood out to me was Disclosure.
Despite the torrential rainfall, they were amazing. And I'm glad I endured their set (at the barrier - not to boast) with a battle against the rain.
If I remember rightly, I'm pretty sure they brought out Sam Smith too.
But, the most amazing act of all, Foals.
Yannis was once again astonishing. Fifteen-year-old me had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Well, I had actually seen Foals back in Early 2016 in Leeds, but the chance of seeing them at a festival was a different experience.
You don't exactly get the same atmosphere of 50,000 people singing along at Leeds First Direct Arena.
Other acts which I can remember were Mura Masa and BBK.
Even though BBK played at exactly the same ability as they did when I saw them at the festival in 2015, they just weren't as good on the main stage in broad daylight as they were in one of the smaller tents on a night time.
I'm rubbish I know, but I can't remember what day the Silent Disco was on. I'm sure it was Saturday night.
Anyways, the silent disco was DEFINITELY worth it. I think we danced for about 4 hours straight.
If you're planning on going to Leeds this year, I'd advise you to go to the silent disco. What can be more enjoyable than singing along to the same song through a pair of headphones with a tent full of strangers?
Also, please go to the stages in the actual camp such as Relentless and Picaddili!
These are open until the early hours of the morning after all the acts have finished.
Relentless Stage (not my own picture).
Now, onto Sunday.
Day 4:
By this point, my legs were hardened with mud and I had to do the obligatory routine of picking off the mud and wiping myself down with baby wipes every morning and night. And probably mid-day too.
Unfortunately (well, it depends on how you look at it), my family booked a holiday on Monday so I had to leave the festival at about 3pm.
It pains me to say that I missed Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but I managed to see Sundara Karma and Slaves.
I didn't see Two Door Cinema Club. But, I did see them the following year at TRNSMT, so I guess it isn't all bad.
All I can say of the journey home was that the pleasure of sitting down on an actual seat was indescribable. After sitting on a broken chair all weekend and laying on a hard floor as a bed, it felt like everything normal was luxury. I can't even begin to explain to you what the shower was like.
I'd like to think that Leeds Festival 2016 was probably timed against Britains worst weather possible, but that was what made it so hilarious. We all looked completely different by Sunday.
Whilst you're here- don't be that weirdo that leaves their makny festival band on for too long! Store it somewhere safe and don't ever lose it.
Miss u Leeds, forever in my heart xxx
Comments
Post a Comment