Festival Diary – Part 2

The last couple of weeks has seen us playing at Latitude Festival and Truck, playing two different ends of the spectrum in terms of stages, the first being the main stage at Latitude which was quite an experience. One of the few times where we have felt there was almost too much space on the stage! We arrived there later than we expected on Friday due to the storm that seemed to follow us all the way down the M1, but an advance party had set off the day before and when we got there at around nine in the evening they had already set up all the tents which saved a load of hassle, thanks guys! 

We had a good night, pottering about the site watching a few bands (Bat
For Lashes and the Pet Shop Boys…), then headed to the small stage in
the woods where the DJ’s were playing, and where I spent my time last
year up a tree (I was a little more restrained on this occasion as I
figured falling out a tree and breaking my arm would be a bit of a
bummer as we were playing the next day). We then found a nice group
camped near to us on the way home who invited us to sit by their fire,
drink wine and talk nonsense into the wee small hours.

The next morning we arose around half ten and made our way over to the
stage for about midday (again an advance party had already gone that
way looking for showers and clean toilets, well they had been there a
day longer than most of us). We unloaded all the bits and bobs, got our
risers set up, of which we had three, one for Dave and one for Arne as
well as the usual drum riser, then headed to the dressing room to drink
coffee, read papers and generally timewaste until stage time. Once we
had done our line check we were told to stay on the stage and just get
started as they were trying to run the stage a little ahead of time, so
we didn’t have our usual minute or two to get proper nervous/worked up
which was a bit weird. It took a few songs to get the sound sorted on
stage as it was just kind of “floating away”, but everything came
together alright and the crowd grew steadily throughout (I think – to
be honest I wasn’t looking out front much, despite being in the rare
position of actaully being able to see everyone). And it didn’t rain!

Afterwards we packed up and headed round for tea, which, having only
had liquids for breakfast, went down a treat. Although they didn’t have
the World’s Best Chocolate Cake they had last year (the award for Best
Cake 2009 loks to be going to Oxegen so far, but it could still be
beaten…), they at least partially made up for it with a
tooth-dissolving treacle tart. The advance party from Thursday were
also staying for Thom Yorke and Nick Cave on the Sunday, but the rest
of us who have less of a love of life under canvas made our way back
home that evening.

We had a bit of a week off last week, before meeting up at nine on
Saturday to drive down to Truck festival in Oxfordshire. This time we
had good weather for the drive and we were there on time despite the
van sporadically and mysteriously limiting itself to 45 miles an hour
for long periods. The festival is on a farm and it it a nice compact
site, plenty of local traders on so on, and normal food and beer prices
which is always good. We got parked up near the stage and went to see a
few bands, caught some of We Were Promised Jetpacks in the Barn Stage
(located, unsurprisingly, in a barn) which had signs around the walls
saying “Warning – These walls are made of asbestos, Do Not Touch”,
which was an interesting location for a loud, vibration-heavy rock
concert. The sun stayed with us until stage time, this time we were
playing on the Market Stage, a small “big top” style tent with an
easily-undulating stage which gave the impression of playing on a boat
when everyone started stomping away during Nearly Home (we even managed
to bounce the trumpet clean out of Dave’s mouth). It was a good set,
pretty fast and energetic, good crowd, and had a bit of a “held
together with sellotape” vibe. Afterwards we headed over The Field Of
Money (I hadn’t managed to walk past here once all day without finding
cash lying around) to the Didcot Rotary Club Food Tent, where acquired
a burger and some coffee before making the long drive back to
Edinburgh, arriving at around 05:30 on Sunday morning. Just in time to
fall asleep until mid-afternoon…

We don’t have anything on this weekend so it’s back to practicising
until we head off to Belladrum the week after that. I don’t really know
what to do with myself to be honest. I need to take up some kind of
(free) hobby, suggestions welcome. Anyways hope you all had good
weekends, remember Monday is just another day and it will be over soon.