So I went to the NME Awards

If your a follower of myself on either Twitter or Instagram you will have seen that last Wednesday, Valentines day, instead of spending the night with my lovely wife I went for a day out in London with my brother to the NME awards. This was not entirely my fault as the ticket was bought as a Christmas present for me by my brother and dad, neither of them realising the date of the awards. You’ll be glad to know that apart from a bit of harmless ribbing my wife wasn’t actually that bothered, we’ve been together 15 years this week so we don’t put that much emphasis on Valentines as we try our best to make the whole 12 months of the year as special as we can for each other and the kids.

I wanted to write this piece last week but after the highs of the awards and the next day in Camden I had some family matters to deal with, that being the funeral of a very beloved family member, and then seem to have spent the rest of the week arguing with crazy Americans on Twitter regarding gun reform in light of another crazy shooting in what, from an outsider looking in, seems to be a very crazy country, but anyway, back to the awards.

The awards represented a day of firsts. First time attending the awards, first time at Brixton Academy, first time in Brixton to be honest, and although it was my brothers sixth time attending the awards it was both our first time having pit tickets so would be front and centre. Have you ever had those sort of days that seem like an amazing dream, like its not actually you, or your life. Glastonbury has sometimes felt like that, I’m certainly hoping our family holiday to Disneyland Paris later this year will feel like that, the NME awards certainly felt like that.

My brother had me laughing all day with the stories of his crazy life, he goes to a lot of gigs and festivals, he’s in Barcelona today seeing Liam Gallagher again, so leading upto the awards I spent the full day laughing and always having something to talk about. That’s the handsome devil in the photo at the top. At times though I think he was trying to downplay the awards in case I was disappointed, telling me how the awards part can drag a bit and how its a bit disorganised, and by the decline in the quality of journalism on the NME website in previous years I hoped he wasn’t right. Turned out he couldnt have been further from the truth this year.This could have been due to him having balcony tickets on previous years or that NME have just got better at organising the awards over the years but with pit tickets they really went out of their way to make it a special evening for the paying public.

On arrival we joined the queue and the doors were opened at 6:40pm, 20 minutes before schedule, before we knew it we were in and on inspection of our tickets ushered up a flight of stairs which ran directly in front of the red carpet. We just stood and watched the stars flocking in, we saw the guys from Muse, Shirley Manson and got a wave from the one and only Michael Eavis. Once up the stairs we were greeted by a member of NME’s staff who told us to get a drink from the bar and that between 8 and 8:20 we would be taken down to the pit down the opposite staircase we came in. We saw the same guy numerous times during the night and each time he made a point of asking us how our night was going. We had a couple of drinks and we saw they had a photo booth set up where you could get your photo taken with an actual NME award. They then printed the photo off in the style of an NME cover as a keepsake and sent a copy to your email address, another nice touch.

We then saw the man of the evening arrive on the red carpet and after that joined the queue to go to the pit. Another member of staff gave us a bit of a cheeky talk on the rules for the evening, there was two…..”don’t get in the VIP area and don’t get on the stage, other than that its NME so go wild and have a great night”, we were escorted down the stairs behind the red carpet to a procession of NME staff lined up clapping, high fiving and wishing us well on the evening ahead, it was very surreal but absolutely amazing.

We were led into the main hall of Brixton Academy and into the pit and the set up was unbelievable. The depth of the pit was the size of a living room, one way was the stage and the other way was the front tables of the VIP area. The VIP was an a raised square platform in the middle of the room and the front tables were right on top of the pit. We had a few minutes to kill before the awards officially started so I did a bit of looking around and noticed we had Professor Green and Elle Eyre at the tables above us, and at the far end were the Haim sisters. Me and my brother are big fans so we trotted down to the other end and after a couple of shouts we were exchanging waves and blowing kisses to the Haim sisters, who duly responded by blowing back kisses of their own, again a surreal moment. Not as surreal though as my brother getting his photo taken with Baby Haim, Alana, while Liam Gallagher was on stage.

The setup of the stage and the VIP area meant that once the night was in full flow the stars and the fans started mingling. There was only one set of male and female toilets on the floor and the award winners had to be led back to their seats via a side door next to the pit, so had to come out and walk past the entrance/exit of it. Over the course of the next magic 2 hours along with Alana Haim I met Sketch from Tattoo Fixers, the keyboardist from Bastille, Rat Boy, and Serge and Tom from Kasabian who had just won the award for best live act. Its the second time I’ve met the lads from Kasabian, once very early in their careers, and both times they were a proper treat to meet, genuine, down to earth and Tom was all giddy with excitement and told me to have a great night.

Parts of the awards seemed like a blur. Being in such a small front section meant that sometimes you ended up chatting to people or you’d be squeezing out or back into the crowd after being to the toilet or bar, but the atmosphere all night was electric. Over the course of the night we saw performances from Skepta, Alt J and Pale Waves, who were the pick of those three, then it was onto the main event of the evening, Liam Gallagher getting his godlike genius award and his half hour set to close the show. It was the reason we went in the first place.

That wasn’t before we were told by a member of the NME staff that they’d set up a makeshift bar to the right of the pit and that we should go and grab ourselves a free pint, a free pint ! You don’t have to ask us Northerners twice, this was after grabbing some free pizza earlier in the night, again nice little touches that added a bit of sparkle to the night.

Liam’s set was unreal, one of the greatest singers of my generation and a true rock and roll star, he came out and for 30 minutes hit us with in your face rock and roll, no slow numbers, no ballads, and his voice sounded class. For 30 minutes he spat venom and magic at us, and ripped through “Rock and Roll Star”, “Morning Glory”, “Greedy Soul”, “Wall of Glass”, “Better Run” and ended with “Cigarettes and Alcohol”. Neither myself or my brother saw that set coming, we were convinced earlier that day that he’d end with “Wonderwall” and that “Paper Crown” might get a run through with it being his latest single. Liam though had really sized up what he thought the energy in the room would be that night and in my opinion the set was perfect. My friend Anna got one of the setlists as well.

 

After the awards we headed to see the David Bowie memorial and it moved me a lot more than I thought it would. For me David Bowie is the greatest musician of all time and I was lucky enough to be at his last ever concert in the UK at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2004, so it was a quiet and emotional moment to see the memorial.

If you’ve never been to the awards I would definitely recommend it if one of your favourite artists is ever given the godlike genius award, as that’s the big pay off at the end of the night. Liam Gallagher might be godlike, but the NME awards last week were absolutely biblical !

 

 

 

 

Here’s to 2018 !

Happy New Year to you all. By now the decorations are down and your all back to the grind of work which in reality isn’t as bad as you built it up to be in your heads. Christmas in the Gerken house was the best I can remember, it was just magical, especially Christmas Day. The most magical of moments was giving the kids their “big” present after Christmas dinner with the family gathered around, the looks on their faces as they opened the box to reveal we are going to Disneyland Paris for 4 nights over Halloween this year is what makes life so special. Disneyland put hell of a lot of effort into the holidays and pictures of last years Halloween festival looked unbelievable, we really cant wait.

I also got a surprise from my brother and dad with a ticket to the NME awards in February at Brixton Academy. Two firsts as I’ve never been to both the awards or the venue. My brother has guaranteed we’ll be owning the pit by the time Liam Gallagher walks on to perform after receiving his well deserved godlike genius award. I’ve also got a hometown gig at the end of January in the form of The Cribs, who are probably the most underrated band in this country but one of my favourites. The last time I saw them in Hull I got to meet them afterwards by chance, have a beer and get a few photos with the Jarman boys, it was an unbelievable night. We’ve also got a weeks family holiday in Primrose Valley booked for August so 2018 is already shaping up to be a good year.

I’m usually not one for new years resolutions but have made a couple this year. The first is to take up running and take part in the Hull 10k charity race in the middle of June. Both my kids will be going for their first and second degree black belts this year, Ellie going for her 2nd degree in March at just age 10, and Jacob his first degree in June at 9 years of age. Although I’ve been going to the gym on and off for a few years I thought it was time to set myself a goal alongside that of my children. I went out for a couple of runs this week, having not ran any considerable distance since my school days, and although I enjoyed it I didn’t warm up or down properly and have spent the latter part of this week hobbling around like an old man with buggered knees.

My second resolution is just to generally be a nicer, warmer and happier human being. Some of you reading this may think that sounds easy but just sit back and think about your daily interactions with people, are you always as nice as you could be, is it worth making that extra bit of effort. So this year I’m going to do my best not to get mad at people on the roads driving like idiots, try not to get annoyed at people who aren’t that polite, and try my best to be a bit more considerate to other peoples situations and the things that they are dealing with. In this busy world we live in sometimes its quite easy to be insular and think that we are the only person dealing with some kind of problems or stresses, but everyone has them and the way I interact and decide to behave could have a great effect, whether positive or negative on how another persons day goes, I want to be positive in my approach this year.

This kind of leads onto what I want to really talk about today. This time of year can be really hard for some people mentally as they readjust to day to day life and can see their mental health slip or decline. I know because its happened to me in recent years. I used to suffer terribly  in my early 20’s with anxiety and mild depression , and something about holidays ending, whether it be Christmas or Summer, would usually be a trigger for me. My day to day anxiety used to be terrible all the way up to my 30’s but with the arrival of my beautiful children I’ve found comfort and strength in getting older, its actually something I embrace. So leading from one of the best years of my life in 2013 to 2014 everything in my life was going great. Beautiful kids, amazing loving wife, great job, yet once I got back to work after the Christmas holidays anxiety and depression hit me like a tonne of bricks, id lost my smile !

Id find myself having panic attacks at work for no reason and constantly feeling low, it felt like I was drowning, this went on for months with no explanation, I couldn’t find reason for it.My mental health was clearly having an effect on my physical health and it all culminated in the March time when I felt like I was having a heart attack at work, went to a local walk in centre who immediately sent me at A&E. There I was diagnosed with pulmonary embolisms on my left lung. Luckily they were caught at an extremely early stage so I only needed a 3 month course of treatment but the aftershock both physically and mentally after the all clear went on for months. That was until my wife recommended that I try going to a gym, and although id never been a member of one in my life it was a eureka moment. There is a stigma, especially amongst men, that if we’re having a dip mentally that we should just man up, not talk about it, or not seek out help. So if you are feeling low or not quite right please seek out help. On the flipside if you notice a friend, family member or work colleague seems out of sorts just ask if they’re ok.

As I mentioned joining a gym was a turning point for me. I’m never going to be one of these neck less muscle bound guys who looks like I’m training for the apocalypse, and with me taking up running don’t need to be, but what training even a couple of times a week does it helps centre me and relieve stress and anxiety. That along with my writing, my love for music and my family are really the core of what keeps me grounded. Its taken years to find out these coping mechanisms in terms of my mood dips and anxiety.

I’ve been writing my blog for about 18 months now and I love it, and also was notified this week that my Twitter account to accompany the blog had its first birthday yesterday. Twitter is a funny old place, its a place were every different type of person seem to congregate, where people seem to have no censorship to what they say, things they would never say to people face to face. Its also a place, along with Instagram, where I’ve met some truly amazing people in the past year. So here’s a shout out to a few of those.

I’ll start with “Blanny”, a fellow Glastonbury festival regular who having never met him in person was very kind to hand out bucketful’s of great advice when I visited Somerset for my family camping holiday in June. His advice made our trip to Worthy Farm that much more enjoyable, including great tips on the best way into the site when the festival isn’t on. Another kindred spirit seems to “Jimbob Squarepants”, we just seem to have similar opinions on most things and have really enjoyed our twitter exchanges over the past year. Then there’s fellow blogger “She Talks Music”. She runs a blog dedicated to discovering new and exciting music, ready her blog has been a great experience over the past 12 months and I’d definitely recommend her blog.

Last but not least is Aiden Hatfield. Aiden runs an online clothing company called “In Music We Trust”, which also has its own twitter page. If you want clothing that’s screams to be people that your a music fan, but without pinning your colours to a particular band, Id recommend you check out Aiden’s company. I’ll be purchasing a few items later this year. His company donates 50% of all profits they make to “Mind Charity” which is a charity that helps support those battling depression. Aiden is very open about his own battles with depression, and his Twitter and Facebook pages are a beacon of positivity, so please check him and his clothing lines pages out. Its been a pleasure meeting these people online and hopefully one day we may meet face to face.

So here’s to 2018, and as the great Dr Seuss said “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose”, lets lead 2018 into a positive direction.

 

Sweet, sweet Somerset

2 months on and I’m wondering how everyone’s coping with the Glastonbury blues…….still having them ? Wondering how you’ll cope having to wait 665 days until the next festival ! Its going to be a long hard wait but there are ways to get a bit of Glastonbury magic before the festival in 2019. Apart from Glastobating at every opportunity, I’m public enemy number one when it comes to turning every conversation onto Glastonbury, watching videos of previous years, and looking over old photos there is another way to get a bit of the magic back, and that’s visiting Somerset. A week ago I was travelling back from a 4 night camping holiday in Somerset which was filled with magic and adventure.

My family and myself live in Hull, so in essence we were taking on a 540 mile round trip for a camping holiday, to on paper go walk around a farm, climb up a hill to see a tower and go look  around a small town. To someone who doesn’t understand Glastonbury or festivals it may seem crazy, but to me it seemed magical. I’ve been to the festival 8 times but have never had chance to visit the surrounding area. The trip finally gave me a chance to link all the places together, we camped in Somerton, and over the course of the 4 days had adventures in Pilton, Cheddar Gorge, and Glastonbury Town as well as visiting Shepton Mallet and Burnham on Sea.

We arrived at our camp site on the Friday, the Saturday looked like it was going to be a day for good weather so we decided that would be the day to visit Worthy Farm. Id emailed the festival office a few weeks before to let them know I was planning to visit with my family. The official response from the festival is to stick to the public walkways and that the main parts of the festival are out of bounds as its a working farm, but as long as your polite if you see people working and treat the site with respect your absolutely fine to wander around.

We packed up a picnic in the morning and set of from Somerton to Pilton and after researching online we parked up on a road near the public walkway to the Pilton Skate Park. Once we’d walked past the skate park we headed downhill and sure enough we were in front of the Glastonbury Festival head offices, we were on the farm !

It took me a while to get my bearings, my wife was much better at working out what each field was while the farm was empty, but once we hit The Woods and could see the frame of the pyramid in the distance things really started to click. The hardest part for me was that some of the fields seemed smaller with nothing in, and some, like Williams Green seemed much larger. We walked from The Woods, through to the John Peel field, the Other Stage Field, up onto the railway track, to the Spike up to The Park heading to The Stone Circles for a picnic. Its weird how walking around an empty festival site could make you so happy but the place does seem to hold a special energy even with no one in it, maybe its the memories it holds in our hearts or maybe the site is magic ! We bumped into other groups of people that day and they all seemed to have the same glow and enthusiasm we did, .Even though the kids haven’t  been to the festival since 2011, they were only 2 and 4 at the time, that magical enthusiasm was started to show in the kids by the time we got to the Stone Circles, and we still had a few surprises in store for them.

 

We sat at the stones eating our picnic looking out at the amazing views around us, it was heavenly. After the picnic we took the kids to see the Stone Dragon, one of the surprises,  but along the way stumbled upon the remains of the illusive Underground Piano Bar. Yes, it does exist, all I’ll say is once your facing the tree near the top of the meadow head left and happy hunting.

The dragon was the first little surprise we had in store for the kids, the second being the pirate ship in the Kids Green Fields and the third being the pink castle in the Kidz Fields. Both of these are permanent structures and there were lots of families and kids playing on the pirate ship and as we were leaving the Kidz Fields other families were heading towards it. Fair play to my two little ones, they had embraced how important going to the farm was to us, but you could really see their intrigue grow as the day went on and as mum and dad told them stories as we walked. By the time they had climbed the dragon, slid down the pirate ship and played hide and seek in the castle the spirit of Glastonbury had swept over them, like I said before you can feel it in the air as your walking around.

Before we’d even left the site it was decided there was no way we could do Glasto 2019 without the kiddies, they had such an amazing day and I don’t think they would forgive us. I’ve said going forward I want to make each Glastonbury Festival unique, I’ve had my stag weekend there, my honeymoon there, it was my kids first festival in 2011, so after a few years just myself and Niki I think 2019 will be a great year to take the kids back, plus its the last chance Ellie, my eldest, will have to go for free !As we walked up past the pyramid field and back the way we came it felt very bittersweet, it had been an amazing day but we knew that was it until 2019. Although as we were driving back into Pilton there was one surprise still in store.

Driving around the towns and villages in Somerset is crazy, there’s lots of winding, narrow country roads and lanes, some don’t even seem like roads at all, and some have crazy bends and climbs to them.  One such road was just as we were driving back into Pilton, it had a steep winding climb to it and as we pulled round the top we gave way to a Landrover. As we politely waved we realised it was Michael Eavis driving with Emily in the passenger seat. Suddenly myself and Niki turned into a couple of shrieking teenagers, waving frantically at the pair of them. Emily waved back laughing enthusiastically while Michael waved at us like The Queen, he really is the man ! Its not uncommon for people to meet Michael while visiting the farm either, a few people on Glasto Chat have posted pictures with him while visiting the site, saying he’s usually the one to make a bee line for them. So if you do take my advice and plan a visit to the farm don’t worry if the legend himself comes walking towards you.

On the Monday we visited Glastonbury Town. The town has a very laid back vibe to it and an amazing feel, it was like being in another world compared to the hustle and bustle I’m used to on a usual Monday. There were buskers playing, lots of alternative shops, lovely little cafes and there’s just something about that local accent as well that makes you relax. There was a lot of nods to the festival as well, Glastonbury Abbey has some large pictures of the festival up as you walk in and the café we ate at had a handmade sign up stating “YES, WE ARE ALWAYS CLOSED THE WEEK OF THE FESTIVAL !”, guess they are regulars.

Our first stop was the Chalice Wells Gardens, such beautifully calming place. We paddled through the ice cold healing pool and admired the Chalice Well. From there we headed for the Glastonbury Tor and made the climb all the way up to St Michaels Tower. The views on the accent and once at the top were unbelievable and the tower itself was absolutely stunning, it really felt like you were on top of the world. Getting to go up the Tor has been on my to do list for a while now but the reality of it exceeded all expectations. In years to come at the festival I’ll now be able to look at St Michaels Tower and the Tor in the distance and think “I’ve been up thereTh

The magic continued as we took a trip round the Glastonbury Abbey ruins, the ruins themselves are stunningly beautiful and there is also King Arthurs final resting within the grounds. The place is steeped in history and mythology and really topped off an unbelievable day. Glastonbury town was certainly a very unique place and well worth a visit. The Abbey in particular has strong ties to the festival, for the past 22 years the festival has held the “Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza” which helps raise money for the conservation and upkeep of the Abbey.

So there you have it. 3 magical days in Somerset ! Its a holiday id recommend to anyone who loves Glastonbury festival, there’s so much to do and see,  it really is a beautiful and magical part of the country and we could have easily filled another week there with more adventures.

 

 

 

Latitude with attitude !

 

Its taken me over a week to decide how to convey mine and my families Latitude Festival experience this year. Part of me wanted to sugar coat it and say everything was brilliant but a blogger should really be honest, so its fair to say Latitude this year was a bit of a mixed bag. For the most part it was a great experience but there were moments of what I like to call festival entitlement from other people in attendance, once instance in particular, that left a sour taste in my throat at times.

I noticed the sense of entitlement from the off. We arrived around 3pm on the Thursday and had to queue to get into the family camping, the first time in our three visits we’d had to do this. It took us about 30 minutes to get in and while my two kiddies were perfectly behaved I wish I could say the same for all the adults in the queue. Some quite blatantly cut down the side of the long queue with their trolleys to get near the front, queuing apparently beneath them. Then the guy in front of us complained about the queues and even before he’d stepped foot into the festival declared to his wife that “this is ridiculous, this is the last year we come here”, I was gobsmacked ! In light of recent events I expected a bit of queuing, all major events going forward will be tightening up on security till it just ends up being the norm. To complain to the extent that this gentleman did shows either a complete lack of understanding of recent events or just a sense of entitlement that is slowly creeping into large social events. This sense of entitlement reared its ugly head at the wristband exchange as well as due to the fact I had a large trolley a full family decided to push right past me even though a steward was instructing people where to go when the wristband volunteers were free, the steward did however apologise for the behaviour of said family.

Once we got in we set up our tent with military speed and precision with a bit of help from one of the charity concierge volunteers, did our second run to the car and before we knew it everything was set up inside the tent and we were on our way to explore. Ellie wanted a braid putting into her hair so we found a tent which provided the service in the village and they did an amazing job. The kids over the course of the weekend threw themselves into the festival spirit like never before, they have always enjoyed our adventures to Latitude but this year in particular they have really blossomed and seemed unbelievably comfortable within the festival environment, almost like its becoming a home away from home. Whether it be in the clothing they are now picking to wear, becoming glitter kids on the Friday, or actually wanting to see more music now and seeing in as a highlight and not something they have to do with Mummy and Daddy, they have really matured in the past 12 months.

 

 

A personal highlight for myself and Niki was seeing the kids, especially Jacob, throw themselves into the numerous amazing activities or workshops the festival offers in both the Enchanted Garden and the Kids Area. Friday saw hulla hooping, face painting, yarn spinning and dream catcher making, Saturday there was t-shirt screen printing, headband making, pom pom making, felt making, clay face sculpturing, spoon painting and rope tree climbing,  while Sunday was filled with tree netting, musical instrument and science workshops, it was jam packed !

Leading up to the festival I felt the line up was a little bit light of the wow factor it has had in previous years and on reflection after the fact I stand by that statement. While we all enjoyed The 1975 and Mumford and Sons there was a lot of the time that if we wanted to seek out some music to watch the line up was a bit light of star names, yes, a lot of the names were recognisable to a more mature generation like myself, but if you want to market yourself as a family festival like latitude does more effort needs to be made to have acts that will interest the younger crowd as well as the older clientele. The festival increased its capacity this year and if it looking to grow and expand then the quality of the line up needs to grow with it. I’m a firm believer that if a festival wants to be considered a major event in the summer festival calendar then the top 3 or 4 acts on the main stage each day should have the wow factor and Latitude didn’t achieve that this year. The Sunday especially this year was a weak day, after Mavis Staples, we were pretty much filling time with bumbling about the site until JackDaws Danger Show was the finale of our weekend in the kids area.

There were some amazing highlights musically but they were a bit few and far between this year. The 1975 were excellent and will move onto bigger slots at larger festivals once album No. 3 is out. Persuading the kids to leave The 1975 to go see the end of Placebos set was an amazing moment, for months we’ve tried to get the kids into Placebo with no luck but seeing a band live can be a very different experience and something seemed to click with the kids as they loved watching Placebo in the hot, sweaty 6 Music tent.  The Saturday we went to see a young up and coming female singer called Liv Dawson on the Lake Stage. She didn’t pull a massive crowd so the kids watched from the front of the barrier and were very interested in seeing Liv and her band perform in such close proximity. Having already worked with the likes of Disclosure I see big things for in the near future. The end of Mumford’s set was also a highlight as it was spent just with Jacob, as Niki and Ellie had gone off to get the eldest something to eat, he sat on my shoulders at the back of the field bellowing out hits like “Roll Away Your Stone” surrounded by other attending families, it was really special. I just wish the rest of the set could have been as special, but more on that later.

The musical highlight for me over the weekend was seeing Mavis Staples on the Sunday. Sometimes you know your in the presence of greatness and she was everything I hoped for and more, from the moment she walked on the stage she had the crowd in the palm of her hand and you just felt like you were watching a living, breathing piece of history singing right in front of you. Mavis had swagger like no one else on that main stage all weekend, she’s been there, seen it and done it and has been performing for 67 year ! Her voice was absolutely mind blowing live as was her stage presence, it was an absolute privilege to say I’ve seen her perform live.

The Saturday saw Mumford’s bring their “Gentlemen of the Road” Takeover to Latitude and while a lot was promised in advance online, with such boasts of a day full of surprises and that it’d be a day at Latitude like no other on the whole I was really disappointed with it. There were no big surprises throughout the day and apart from changing the look of the main stage area the rest of the festival felt just like Latitude. The fact that Mumford and Sons had instructed the festival that no one else should be playing on the other stages while they were on was a very short sighted decision by both band and festival, the main stage arena was just too full while they were on and festival entitlement reared its ugly head once again. My daughter needed the toilet half way through Mumford’s set and feeling increasingly confident with going through crowds had got herself in front of myself and Niki, everyone she politely asked to excuse and move by dually obliged, as you should at a festival if there’s a route out, no ones space is precious ! A couple with some chairs behind them,  space and a route out at one side then took great delight in stepping in my 10 year old daughters path and rudely telling her to find another way out, I couldn’t believe it, I was furious but didn’t want to kick off in front of my wife and kids. We found another way out but Ellie was absolutely gutted, she just couldn’t understand how those people could be so mean. Luckily there was a group of guys following our route out who were also confronted by said couple and they set them straight using a few choice words, one of them even walked over one of the couples chairs, karmas a bitch !

All in all Latitude this year still had moments of magic but the Latitude of 2017 is very different to the Latitude of two years ago, as the festival is trying to grow there’s more of a commercial edge to it than previous years that brings in a different type of clientele. Latitude 2015 really did feel like a family friendly boutique festival, that boutique element felt on the fringes of the festival this year as more corporate sponsorship was in place this year around the main stages. This weekend saw the last ever Secret Garden Party so I just hope boutique style festivals don’t die a death or, like Latitude seems to be, increase capacity and revenue streams but in turn chip away at what made it so special.  If they do continue to try to grow or hope that the quality of the line up improves with it, as smaller festivals like Kendal Calling have shown that you can organically grow a festival but offer stellar line ups year in year out. Its funny I mentioned Kendal as an example, as much as we’ve loved our 3 years at Latitude next year we’ve already booked for Kendal Calling 2018, we cant wait !

 

 

Sunday at Glasto 2017 !

They say better late than never ! A horrible chest infection stopped any plans of writing this piece until today dead in its tracks. I was hoping to have this one all finished over the weekend but staring at my computer screen was not on the list of priorities once my sinuses went haywire, so with Niki working most of the weekend , looking after the kids and getting myself fit and well for Latitude Festival became of only things in my mind. I’m just about over the nasty bug and ready to conclude the adventures of Glastonbury this year with the Sunday.

I don’t know if its just me but at most festivals as I lay my head down to sleep after the Saturday I’m always filled with a bit of sadness that when I wake up its the last day of the festival. However, especially at Glastonbury, when I do wake up the sadness has gone and I’m excited that I still have one more day left in the magical festival wonderland. Even though I woke up very giddy I had a bad hangover on the Sunday, too much Damson Gin and a lot of walking had finally caught up with me. We had a fry up, got ready and set out. Niki watched a bit of Jamie Cullum on the Pyramid while I went trekking to find a cash machine. It was another hot day and I’m not lying if I said I felt a little worse for wear. We had decided we were going to do a bit of gift shopping that afternoon before we headed to see Barry Gibb and it seemed like a daunting task.

We picked up Ellie, our daughter, an official festival bag then we stopped for some fresh lemonade and olives and while they took a bit of the edge off it was the most tired I’d felt all festival. Most of the stalls we wanted to check out were in and around the T&C fields and I have to say those fields were like a natural hangover cure, the energy and laughter in those fields just lifted you. We watched some amazing break-dancers on one of the smaller stages, got lots of pictures of some of the circus walkabouts and finally saw the the cricket commentators, a yearly fixture of the T&C fields, who do a 20 minute show commentating on the festival and the people passing by as if its a cricket match in progress, ad lib comedy at its finest. We picked up a poster from the official Glastonbury printing press, a handmade tye dye t-shirt for our son Jacob and a handmade garden ornament for my mother-in-law Carole, who without her hard work and her effort in having the kids we wouldn’t be able to go off on our much needed adventures, love you Carole x

It was time for some lunch and we found an Indian stall near the circus big top which for me was the best meal we had all weekend, Tandoori chicken with dressed carrot and cabbage, and masala fries. The food was to die for, we ate it in the big top watching some a couple of amazing circus acts. First up was Ockhams Razors performance of “Circumference”, which was an amazing display of agility and strength as the performers walked along a moving, and suspended metal apparatus. I don’t think I could do it justice by trying to describe it so its definitely worth You-tubing. The performance was that powerful that it actually brought tears to my eyes, surprisingly the first time that weekend I’d got overly emotional. The second act we saw was Head First Acrobats, three acrobats who had an amazing set of tricks in their arsenals, with twists and turns to the show along the way, again its worth checking out. By the time we left that tent I felt amazing, ready to head off to see the legend that is Barry Gibb.

Having being  a massive fan of The Kinks I always thought nothing would top Ray Davies in the legends slot in 2010, and about half way through Barry Gibbs set I said to Niki that he was pushing a close second to Ray, by the end of the set it was by and far the best legends slot I’ve ever seen, Barry put on an absolute master class in how this slot should be done. He started with a couple of his biggest hits in “Jive Talking” and “You Should Be Dancing”, when he greeted the crowd he was genuinely humbled by the response and the crowd size, even mentioning it had been a long time since he’d played to a crowd the size of the one he pulled at Glastonbury. He created at amazing atmosphere from start to finish, whether it was when he was taking us on a journey of his early back catalogue, creating a party atmosphere with his Saturday Night Fever back catalogue, or creating truly special moments on the pyramid by singing with his son Stephen or when bringing Beth Cohen for “Guilty” and “Islands in the Stream”, my third time seeing the later sung by t different legends, after Kenny Rogers in 2013, and Dolly Parton in 2014.

There were truly poignant moments as well. Barry kept choking up when speaking about his brothers. At one point he pointed to the balcony “that’s my family up there, I love them all” he said, he dedicated “Words” to his wife Linda, I was a unashamedly a blubbing mess by the time the song ended. “Stayin Alive” was accompanied by the front row security flash mob and once he donned the gold jacket for “Tragedy” he had taken the crown off Ray Davies, it was an amazing afternoon.

Next up we trotted over to the Other Stage for Haim. It was the third time myself and Niki have seen Haim at Glastonbury and we’ve had the privilege of watching them grow as performers and artists. We stumbled across them playing the Pyramid stage in 2013 without knowing much about them, a year later we saw them play a Friday afternoon slot on The Other Stage and having become fans and now knowing the album inside out we couldn’t believe the progression they’d made in a year, the songs had become fuller and they looked like stars. This year didn’t disappoint either as the progression as a band was even more evident. Amazing stage presence and styling, brilliant musicianship, the new songs fitting into the set brilliantly and the old songs sounding fresh and reworked to suit the bands confidence, “My Song 5” out of the 1st album batch especially sounding huge. The band love Glastonbury and it was evident in the excitement and energy they gave off, at one point challenging the crowd to a dance off. As well as having fun all three sisters are serious musicians, as shown by the duelling drums that all three played at the end of “Right Now”, if you haven’t seen it check it out on you-tube, the Haim sisters do not mess about.

After that it was back to the Pyramid to see some of Biffy Clryo, one of mine and Nikis favourite bands who we were shocked to see on the line up when it was announced as they’re a bona fide headliner at any other festival in the country. The last time we saw them at Glastonbury was at the not so secret Park gig in 2010 on our honeymoon and having seen them smash it at Leeds Festival last year we couldn’t wait to see them on the Pyramid. We entered at the top corner at I couldn’t believe my eyes at the size of the crowd, it was enormous, but not too full to the point of their been no space. So we found ourselves a spot and watched as Biffy tore the pyramid a new one and emphatically stated why they should headline the festival in the near future. I’ve heard the likes of “Wolves of Winter”, “Sounds Like Balloons” and “Biblical” live before but the sounded humongous being played on the Pyramid with that many people screaming them back, our view of that set was one of the most breath taking views I ever experienced when its been light.

wWe

We left Biffy mid set to grab some food and make it over to John Peel in time to see London Grammar for the first time ever. We watched from the edge of the John Peel tent as London Grammar had pulled a very worthy sized crowd and it turned out to be one of the most emotionally charged sets of the weekend. Hannah Reid’s voice  on record is absolutely stunning but it even more beautiful live in person, she has such range and emotes so much emotion, plus she doesn’t actually know how good she is so there is a vulnerability and shyness to what she does, in the same way that Beth Gibbons of Portishead has an amazing voice but a very shy nature. Daniel Rothman and Dot Major layer and build the music around her voice in such a beautiful way but live manage to extend the songs with dancier elements not found on the albums, it was a breathtaking set.  Their cover of Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” being a standout moment, as well as Hannahs acapella start to “Rooting for You” which showed the full range and beauty of her voice, which is an instrument in itself. Id say you could hear a pin drop during it but I’d be lying as my one complaint of the set was groups of people talking very loudly, over the amazing performance that was happening in front of them. I have no idea why, at a festival as big as Glastonbury with so many places to chill out, and some of the fields as big as the Pyramid field, why people would stand so close to a stage and use a performance as stunning as London Grammars as background noise for their own conversations. The set closed with an unbelievable extended version of “Metal and Dust”.

After that it was time for the last act of the weekend, Ed Sheeran on the Pyramid. Ed got a lot of stick online before and after the festival for his placing and performance at Glastonbury but whether you like him or not he’s a massive star and he nailed his set. The field was packed out by the time we got there midway during “Castle on the Hill”, and while it looked like the field was absolutely loving it the atmosphere near the Mandela Bar felt a bit flat to me. Ed was very nervous to start but definitely grew into the set as it went on. Mid way through the set we tried entering at the top right hand corner but it was evident that Ed had drew the biggest crowd of the weekend as security had to turn the top track into two one way systems in and out of the field by standing in-line down the centre and directing people, it was insanely busy. A bit too busy to be honest as on reflection of the line up it seemed like the headliners up against Ed had been placed to maximise his crowd. I like Kano and Metronomy but I wouldn’t have picked them for Park or John Peel headliners and on our walk back to the tent after Ed Metronomys crowd hadn’t even filled the John Peel tent. We made our way back to near the Mandela Bar to watch the remainder of the set but was glad to have caught a glimpse of the full field with Ed in action.

The backlash for Ed after the festival online was that he was singing to backing tracks but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Ed Sheeran’s use of loop pedals takes an unbelievable amount of skill and precision to pull of, especially at high pressure in front of a packed out Pyramid field and millions watching at home on T.V. On some tracks he would lay down a guitar part, loop it, and then lay down backing vocals and loop that to create the backing track live in front of our very eyes. If he’s a millisecond out on either of those loops the song he’s building doesn’t work, it just wont sound right, so his timing his impeccable. Songs like “Bloodstream” illustrated this and sounded amazing while on “Take it Back” he was stopping and starting the loops mid song to transition into his mashed up cover of “Superstition/Ain’t No Sunshine”. He also showed he can straight up play his guitar with finesse and beauty on “The A Team” and “Thinking Out Loud”, by the time he hit the final run of his set with “Sing”, “Shape of You” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” the crowd around us on the edges of the field had been transformed from somewhat subdued to rapturous, it was a great ending to an amazing weekend.

Roll on Glastonbury 2019, I’ve only being part of one fallow year and when everyone is in the same boat of having to take a year off it really reinvigorates not only the festival but the people who attend. I’m definitely not wishing my life away as there are many other adventures before them, starting with Latitude Festival this weekend !

 

1 Week till Latitude Festival !

My apologies if you were enjoying my blog updates regarding mine and Niki’s adventures at Glastonbury this year but this time next week myself, my lovely wife Niki and my two gorgeous kids, Ellie 10, and Jacob 8, will be at Latitude Festival !!

Latitude Festival is set in the beautiful surroundings of Henham Park, a nature reserve which has a lovely lake running through part of the arena, the main stages lie on one side of the arena while a climbing woodland area with hidden gems to discover lies on the other, its a bit like a mini Glastonbury in some ways so its easy to see why we as a family have fell in love with the place. This year will be our third year in a row and we cant wait.  That being said we’ve felt the line up this year isn’t as strong as previous years, we book tickets before the line up is announced, so this will be our final year for a while as next year we are taking on a new family festival adventure, Kendal Calling ! That’s not to say that the line up is poor this year but as our children’s musical tastes are growing and evolving we feel a change of scenery will be good for them next year.L

Like I’ve said Latitude has the feel of a mini Glastonbury, there is a lot to explore and stumble across within the arena if there’s no music to see, and the site is beautifully decorated. The festival attracts a lot of first time festival families and is, by its own admission, a more up market festival, it even has a Waitrose tent on site this year. It has an excellent family camping site with great facilities, excellent planning and an amazing kids area with a varied timetable of activities day and night. All this makes for a very relaxed, safe atmosphere, and with the arena being much, much smaller than Glastonbury its a lot easier on the legs.  You could easily walk from one end of the arena to the other in 20 minutes.

We’ve seen some great acts at Latitude over the last couple of years including Grimes, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, Chvrches, New Order, The Manic Street Preachers and Wolf Alice to name a few, and are really looking forward to seeing the likes of The 1975, Mumford and Sons, The Coral and Goldfrapp this year. We’ve also had some amazing laughs as the festival hosts the biggest comedy line up of any festival in the country. The past two visits have seen us enjoy the likes of Bill Bailey, Katherine Ryan, Russell Howard, and Jason Manford and I’m sure we’ll have a few giggles at the comedy tent this year. We’ve also discovered new music with the likes of The Big Moon, Clean Cut Kid and Aurora making a lasting impression on myself last year having known nothing about them before going.

Its always nice to have things to look forward to post Glastonbury, and with me already over the Glasto blues Latitude should be an amazing weekend, myself and my family cant wait !

Saturday at Glasto 2017 !

The Saturday started with our usual fry up, a great way to clear the cobwebs and start the day. I popped over to my brothers camp and a few of them were up and getting ready to go see The Bootleg Beatles open the Pyramid Stage. Unbelievably my wife is not a fan of The Beatles so the original plan was for me to go off by myself to see them, but with my brother and friends camping so close I would have company for my adventures to start the day.

My brother came stumbling out of his tent looking like he’d had a good, but heavy day the night before, he grabbed a coffee from the nearby breakfast tent and disappeared back into a friends tent. After waiting a good 10-15 minutes I decided I couldn’t bare missing The Bootleg Beatles while he was getting ready, a bit selfish I know but this was too good to miss. A few of my brothers group decided to join me, including my good friends Lee and Kassi, a lovely couple who are made for each other. What started out as a group of 8 ended up just being myself and Kassi by the time we got to the Pyramid, as people had stopped for food without telling us or had decided to go back to camp and wait on others. I am so glad myself and Kassi were selfish enough to go on as The Bootleg Beatles were unbelievable, at times you had to remind yourself you weren’t watching the real thing.

Decked out in full Sgt Peppers regale the band, along with a full symphony orchestra, ran through a greatest hits set, it was an amazing, mesmerising start to the day. The John Lennon was uncanny and I’m sure the band found someone who looked exactly like Ringo and then taught him to play the drums, and to be honest I bet he isn’t even the best drummer in the Bootleg Beatles. Kassi and myself had an amazing time dancing and singing along to such hits as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Penny Lane and I am The Walrus. Earlier at the camp Kassi’s boyfriend, Lee, pointed out that both myself and Kassi had unintentionally bought matching wellies, so dubbed us the wellie wankers ! So a couple of photos to document our amazing morning and wellie faux pas followed. As the band said their goodbye and launched into All You Need is Love the rest of the mornings group turned up, they’d missed the whole thing. I was so glad I hadn’t as it really set the great mood going for the day ahead. I set of back to camp to see Niki in an amazing mood.

After a chill at the tent watching the world go by for a bit we made our way out towards the Pyramid the surprise of the day, Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, who were excellent, and after grabbing an amazing Falafel, Hummus and Halloumi wrap it was time for Craig David . 10 years ago the thought of me seeing Craig David on a festival main stage would have been laughable, but as I’ve got older I don’t take things as seriously as I used to, plus he now has the nostalgia factor on his side. The field was just one big party from start to finish, and what a showman, he could sing, rap, DJ, and seemed genuinely humbled and moved to have pulled such a big crowd. I loved the mixing up of the live band and then his TS5 dj set, and Fill Me In and Rewind were absolute moments.

Then it was onto one of the most personally anticipated moments for me ad Niki, Jeremy Corbyn addressing the crowd on the Pyramid. We moved in between the two sound booths directly in front of the stage and the atmosphere around is was electric. Whether you like him or not personally I see a good man when I look at Jeremy Corbyn and he speaks a lot of sense to me, as he did that day on the Pyramid, we should strive to live in a fairer world for everyone. I do however find the online backlash to the festival having Corbyn appear to be laughable, with some comments suggesting the festival has no place for politics. The festival has always had a history of leaning to the left politically and has always given politicians they felt inline with a platform, Tony Benn being a champion of the festival way before it became as popular as it is today. There are political messages and statements all over the site, from the Leftfield stage and the amazing work the festival does for its chosen charities all the way to the art in places like Shangri-La. This is just the first time in the age of social media that a political leaders own values have mirrored that of not only festival but of the Eavis’, so maybe its felt forced onto people who in others years would be a bit oblivious. In respect to those who claim he’s trying to buy the youth vote, I’m 35, married and have two kids and believe the man genuinely offers hope.

 

After Corbyns inspiring speech it was off to the Other Stage for Liam Gallagher. Having being a lifelong Oasis fan I was so looking forward to this but the field was packed by the time we got there and there was sound issues at the back of the field throughout his performance. Some of the placing’s of acts this year were strange and Liam was definitely one of them as he would have easily pulled a crowd big enough for the Pyramid field, they also need to sort out the sound issues that some of the bands have on the Other Stage, as this isn’t the first year. We managed to find a decent spot before Liam ended the set with a beautiful rendition of “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, part of my thinks the song choice was also a little dig at Noel, as Liam will now and forever be the first solo Gallagher to have played that song at Glastonbury.

After Liam it was food time again, we definitely needed it to soak up the damson gin and the rum we’d been having throughout the day. Niki got a crab burger which was delicious and I went for Poutine.  It was the first time I’d ever tried it and it was great. Chips, gravy with little balls of cheese, which was then topped with pulled chicken, bacon, sour cream and chives. I usually go for healthier or fresher options at festivals but at that moment it was just what I needed.

We had a bit of time to kill after eating so had a wander up to West Holts for a pint of Brothers and to see my brothers group who were having a great time, and then after an hour or so with them we headed back to the Pyramid for the Foo Fighters. Weeks leading up to the festival we were planning to see The Jacksons on the Saturday night but the thing I love about Glastonbury is how best laid plans can change. After clocking up 35k in walking on the Thursday and Friday, and getting close to another 20k on the Saturday we decided watching Foo’s from the back of the Pyramid field with a bit of space if we wanted a sit and chill was the best option.

What a great decision it was. The Foo’s were by and far the best act we saw all weekend and the atmosphere in that field was one of the best I’ve ever experienced in my 8 visits to the farm, it was unreal. I didn’t even realise how loud both the Foo’s and the crowd actually were until I relived it on Iplayer once I got home, it was definitely the reason I had tinnitus for about a week after the festival. We watched the first part of the set from back in the field amongst a great crowd of people who like myself were bellowing every word and having the time of their life. We watched the latter part of the set side of stage after grabbing a cold cider, and during Skin and Bone got one of my favourite ever festival photos. The set started with a dedication to Florence with Times Like These, the song Florence had dedicated to Dave Grohl after the Foo’s had to pull out of their headline set in 2015, and Florence ended up headlining. The set ended with another dedication, to Laura Pane, she had sadly lost her battle with cancer before her and her husband had to chance to see Foo Fighters to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Everlong had been the song of their first dance at their wedding, and after her death Jon, Laura’s husband, had contacted Dave Grohl over Twitter to ask if he could dedicate playing Everlong at Glastonbury to her memory, he duly obliged proving he really is the nicest man in rock. What started as a heartfelt dedication soon turned into a rapturous celebration once Everlong kicked in and firewoks shot over the Pyramid stage. Afterwards the crowds wandered off into the night still singing the harmonies from the song, it was a beautiful ending to a simply stunning and unforgettable set.

 

Friday at Glasto 2017 !

 

I woke up full of excitement on the Friday, the first full day proper at any festival is always exciting, but the fact that our day was to start at 10:45am at the Pyramid Stage with Hacienda Classical had me up like a kid on Christmas morning. We had what would become our routine fry up in a café not 2 minutes walk from our tent, got our bags packed with a few ciders and our lovely gin,  and rum amaretto concoction and off we went with the sun already beating down on us, it already had the makings of an amazing day, I could just feel it.

Hacienda Classical was an unbelievable way to kick off proceedings. A well respected minutes silence was observed, conducted by Peter Hook and Rowetta. I have to say as much of a poor image that Hooky can portray or can seem to have he was nothing but pure class not only during the minutes silence but also when it was his turn to take the stage, he even replied and liked a couple of my tweets that morning. Graeme Park, Hooky and Mike Pickering need to take a bow for bringing such an amazing idea as Hacienda Classical to fruition, the music just lends itself to be played by an orchestra and before we knew it the field was bouncing. The legendary Bez made an appearance, that man has led some life dancing to the beat of his own drum, and Rowetta’s vocals on the set closer of “You Got The Love” was a fitting end to an amazing start to the day.

Next we nipped over to West Holts for a pint of Brothers and watched a bit of the Hot 8 Brass Band, who were excellent and met a lovely couple who were at their first ever Glastonbury with a 12 day old baby. They had managed to get tickets after 4 years of trying but found out they were pregnant 2 days after ticket day. They said they just played things out leading up to the birth of their beautiful baby boy and after he had made his way into the world it was the wife’s insistence that they should still do Glastonbury, as her husband said she was a trooper and I hope they had a fantastic weekend.

Next up was our first big decision of the day, go see Hobo Jones in the Avalon tent, which would have put us in proximity to go see Craig Charles Soul and Funk special in Shangri-La, or go see Dua Lipa in John Peel, pretty much the opposite corner of the festival to Shangri-La. Our heart ruled over our head and off we went to Dua Lipa. While she was undoubtedly brilliant, and will definitely grace some of the bigger stages at festivals in years to come, by the time we made it to Shangri-La after her we were ruing our decision to see her, that walk nearly broke us ! All was well though as soon as we found my brother and our friends at the Truth Stage as Craig Charles and the atmosphere was absolutely bouncing, it was amazing. My brother had certainly made the effort that day by stopping off at the face painting stall in West Holts on route to see Craig Charles, an effort that even got a photo of himself published in Glasto Feed !

It was my first experience of Craig Charles and he blew me away, some of the remixes were absolutely stunning. After watching for a bit I grabbed a gin cocktail and had an explore of the weird and wonderful world of Shangri-La before heading back to the Pyramid for Royal Blood.

I don’t think we saw a bad act all day on the Friday and Royal Blood didn’t disappoint, I think the run of seeing Royal Blood, The XX and then Lorde I was watching three future Pyramid headliner as all three certainly have what it takes. It blew me away how much power Royal Blood had considering there’s only two of them, both members also oozed charisma and packed the pyramid field out, a performance that had future headliners written all over it

Up next were The XX, the band I was looking forward to the most all weekend. We cut in at the front near the corner by the Mandela Bar and next to where I stood in the crowd there was a young girl slumped forward, unconscious. Her friend was knelt next to her screaming at her to get up, The XX were about to start and the crowd was about to swarm in. Talking to the girls friend it was clear they were very young, and that drink and drugs were not involved, my wife checked the unconscious girls arm and it was limp and cold, we decided to go get a steward. A couple of guys came over to check her as we were leaving so we told them we were off to get help. In hindsight I wish Id have just helped her out the crowd with the guys as by the time we got back with a steward we couldn’t find her, the crowds had swarmed as The XX kicked off their set with Intro. I was upset and shaken, it took my until near the end of The XX’s set to calm down worrying whether she’d made it out ok. I was also very, very angry, angry at the amount of people who had walked past her and sniggered, or pointed and laughed, even the people stood in front of us while we were assessing the situation were turning round and laughing. So please if you ever see someone in a bad situation, don’t just assume they are wasted or out of it, check to see if they need help, it might be the best thing you do all weekend. It took me until Fiction for me to pull myself together and the end run of The XX was superb, Loud Places with being out of this world.

Then it was off to the Other Stage to see Lorde and she didn’t disappoint, she was definitely the best act I saw all day. Amazing staging, voice, dance moves, charisma and likeability, she had it all. Her new album “Melodrama” is absolutely stunning and I was pleased when The Louvre and Supercut got an outing in the setlist, Supercut is an unbelievable track live, but it had nothing on set closer Green Light which had the crowd and Lorde united as one, the rush of euphoria during that song took my breath away, it was an amazing moment.

 

Then it was off to our first headliner of the weekend. Radiohead ! We had made a conscious decision to see all of Lorde and miss the start of Radiohead’s set and I’m so glad we did as we arrived 10 songs it during Let Down and up until Street Spirit I found it a very difficult set to get into. As much as I knew seeing Radiohead at Glastonbury was a moment not to be missed the main set was definitely for die hard fans only, I may have ended up leaving if Id have been there from the start, I actually know people who did.

That being said Street Spirit and then the encores were a triumph for casual fans like myself, hearing songs like No Suprises, Fake Plastic Trees and especially Creep were a joy to behold, absolutely mind blowing. I’m a fan of raw music and find the older, guitar driven Radiohead of old much more to my liking. As we walked off from the Pyramid during Karma Police I was very happy that id seen them.

We wandered over to Arcadia and made it in time for the Metamorphosis show. It was my first time seeing it in person and if you’ve never seen it I would recommend leaving a headliner early one year to go, it was a stunning spectacle in not only what that construction can do but also in performing arts. We ended the night after that with a cold cider by The Glade before the heavens opened and we decided to call it a night, ready to get up early for The Bootleg Beatles to open the Pyramid, what a day !

Thursday at Glasto 2017 !

I have to say surprisingly I haven’t got the Glasto blues as bad as other years, maybe that’s myself maturing as a person or just my mind set nowadays of looking forward and trying to appreciate and smile about the good things in my life, and boy Glastonbury this year was better than good, it was amazing ! Its hard to believe it was only a week ago I was sat in a little café near Gate A, having a fry up and a coffee absolutely giddy with excitement after seeing the Foo Fighters absolutely smash it on the pyramid the night before. It actually seems that long ago and it testament to the fact that even though we didn’t arrive until the Thursday afternoon this year that myself and Niki packed so much into our 3 and a half days on the farm.

Our adventure actually started day before on the Wednesday, we had to travel from Hull to Leeds as we were getting a 7am Seetickets coach on the Thursday morning, the stars had aligned after we’d got our tickets and The Stone Roses had announced a concert the same day we were travelling to Leeds so I thought what the hell and surprised Niki with tickets for Christmas, I thought it would be a suitable warm up gig for Glasto. We got to Leeds, checked into the hotel and then went out for some afternoon gin cocktails and some great food before the gig. The Roses didn’t disappoint, its the third time we’ve seen them since the reunion and if the rumours of a split are true then it was hell of a way to go out, they were fantastic.

We’d had a good drink so I thought the 5am get up on the Thursday might be a bit rough but surprisingly we were ok so there we where at 7am waiting for our pickup, a bit tired, a bit hungry, but ultimately very excited for what lay ahead of us. I loved going by coach, if you’ve never done it I’d recommend it, the travelling coming back made for a long day, taking us 9 hours in total, but the travelling there was great. Once on the coach we had 5 hours of the excitement building and once we’d hit the first service stop and people had had something to eat and drink then people started to relax and get to know each other. We soon found out that most of the people sat around us were Glasto virgins so they started to pick our brains about what to expect, I told them just to explore and enjoy it, plus expect a lot of walking, oh and that you’ve never been anywhere like Glastonbury ! , I didn’t want to spoil too much as the guys sat around us were very excited. The other great thing about arriving by coach was how close you get dropped off to Gate A, I’m talking a 10 minute walk to the gate, so we were onsite and had our tent set up in no time, then it was time to get out and explore.

Our first plan was to head to Williams Green for The Smyths but on arrival it was clear we had no chance, the place was packed out, so we decided to bimble our way around to the T&C fields. The Smyths have become something of a Glastonbury institution, they have definitely outgrown their usual slot in Williams Green. After the success of both Hacienda Classical and The Bootleg Beatles opening the Pyramid Stage this year I think its time to give The Smyths their moment opening the main stage, Id love it in 2019 starting my day one day to load of Smiths classics.  We had a lovely walk through the T&C, just letting the feeling of being back on the farm sweep over us, sat and watched a couple of covers bands  and then headed into the South East Corner. A lot of the South East Corner was still getting set up but as the sun beated down on us we had a look at one of the dance classes in Glasto Latino and had a look at Block 9, then we headed over to the Greenfields.

We headed to Avalon for something to eat, I had an amazingly fresh Halloumi Rap, and ordered a couple of fresh apple juices, it was time to crack open our damson gin. I’ve always loved the fact that Glasto lets you carry your own food and drinks around with you, especially the drink ! We certainly took advantage of buying cheap mixers this year as we’d come armed with a bottle of lovely damson gin and another with rum and amaretto. After a walk through the Green Fields we headed to one of my favourite spots at the festival, The Stone Circles. I love the views from the circles and its a great place to head during the day on the Wednesday or Thursday, have a drink, enjoy the amazing views and let it sink in that your actually back on the farm.

After that we cut through the Tipi Fields, hit The Park, had a quick look at what we could see of Carmageddon, and headed down into Arcadia as they were testing some of the flames for the spider rig. We decided we were close to seeing almost the full festival in one day so the trekking continued as we hit The Glade, The Other Stage and had a walk upto the pyramid. We’ve hit it hard on the Thursday in previous years, as we’ve always arrived on the Wednesday, but with the gig the night before, the 5am start and the coach ride starting to catch up with us we thought we’d take a leisurely stroll back to camp while having a drink or two, I had no problem with it as there was no way I was missing Haccienda Classical open the pyramid the next day.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the beauty of Glastonbury is stumbling across hidden gems or into things you didn’t expect. Last time we visited in 2015 The Wood was just a walkthrough with nothing in it, so we thought we’d check it out on our route back to camp. Myself and Niki fell in love with The Wood this year, such an beautiful looking spot with the lights and installations and very reminiscent of how Latitude Festival sets out its woodland, high rise areas. As we were cutting through the last part of The Wood which led out to The John Peel stage stewards were starting to build the wood up on a gigantic fire pit. They told us it was 15 minutes until go time so I went and got some more mixers, poured Niki and myself another gin, and waited for ignition. We sat round the fire happily drinking Gin cocktails, chatting to people and just enjoying the warmth of not only the fire but the spirit of Glastonbury, it felt good to be home !

I cant remember what time it was upon our return to camp but we were happy, tired and excited for what the next three days had in store, and they definitely didn’t disappoint.