Fuel

‘Call it impulsive, call it compulsive, call it insane’ Barenaked Ladies – Brian Wilson

Leeds was fantastic, even though we wimped out of the last day, I enjoyed almost every moment of it. We arrived on Thursday evening. The three of us (me, Duncan and Mel) had the fun of putting two tents up in ground best be described as stony. I don’t think we can go camping again, because of the mess we made of the tent pegs. We had flat ground (more than some people. What a great idea, move the festival site to an area of rolling hills!) but we had an emptyish field, which, instead of attracting quiet campers, attracted noisy teenagers who were out alone for possibly the first time. A Thursday night punctured with shouts of “bo11ocks!” and “Timmy!” meant sleep wasn’t easy to come by. I woke up at 2 in the morning to hear people putting up tents up nearby.

Obviously we were up early on Friday. We breakfasted on crisps and biscuits rather than £3 burgers and then went to get our wristbands. It was a good 20 minute walk, up and down dusty tracks through the rest of the campsite. After, we decided there was no-one we wanted to see before 4 so we went back to the tent and more sleep – boy are we getting old! So, the first band we saw were Good Charlotte. It was funny. I’m sure there were some people who wanted to see them, we weren’t fussed so were stood a fair way back, surrounded by people who clearly didn’t want to see them. There were loads of sarky comments. The best bit though was when, presumably tired of having bottles thrown at them (it’s a whole bottle thing – I don’t get it, which means I’m getting old, so Mel says. You stand in the crowd and through bottles and cups at the front. Apparently it’s funnier if they still have beer in and it goes over everyone. Sounds like a waste of perfectly good beer to me, but what do I know, I’m 26!) Where was I? So they asked everyone to throw bottles at them. It’s quite a sight, hundreds of plastic bottles in the air, heading for the stage. I think they knew when they were beaten. I’d hate to offend their biggest fan, but it all sounded like ‘Lifestyles…’ We got some food and then found a good spot for the evening. Friday was the biggest day, cos of Metallica, so wherever we went there were taller people in front. I’m only a little over 5 feet tall and Mel is one of the few people who is shorter than me. We found somewhere with a partial view of the stage and a good view of the big TV. We saw Sum 41, who were very good, but resorted to saying ‘Metallica’ a lot to get the crowd excited. Then we saw System of a Down. I only knew 3 songs, but still enjoyed it, they were really good. They stopped after about 5 minutes as the crowd had gotten all excited, surged forward, knocked the barriers down and hurt some woman. This meant that the barriers had to be fixed before Metallica and we had to listen Mary Anne Hobbs trying to be cool and tell us how excited she was to see Metallica and how she’d waited all day, just like us. I doubt that she sat on the grass/hard ground and paid a ridiculous amount of money for crap food. Her attempts to get people to move back only worked when she threatened that metallica wouldn’t come out. Finally, they came out and were awesome. Despite not being as big a fan as Duncan is, I knew most of the songs played, as they did mostly old stuff that I’d loved when I was 15. Plus they did Nothing Else Matters, which was perfect, right up there with my perfect REM moment. When they’d finished, we went back to the tent and sleep peacefully – everyone was worn out and the campsite was almost quite.

Saturday, another beautiful sunny day, and we were up early as Bowling for Soup were playing at 12.50. I’m not a big fan, but I was looking forward to it. I’m sure they were great, but we never found out. We left with plenty of time and planned to get some money out first. We queued for over an hour only to get near the front and discover a second, smaller queue that had sprung up. What a waste of time! I was sunburnt and very unhappy. Finally got cash and headed into the arena, having totally missed Bowling for Soup. We grabbed lunch and wandered the many stalls. During the afternoon we caught a little of the Alien Ant Farm set (only two songs for me, it was packed, I was in agony and people seemed to keep bumping me where I was sore, so I left to lie on the grass and listen – I couldn’t see anything anyway, so it was really no different!) We watched Staind and a little bit of the Darkness before leaving Mel to go and see Electric 6. The tent was packed but we found a place at the back and Duncan helped me onto the barriers so I could see. They were really good and I enjoyed the set. It was marred by the mass exodus after they did ‘gay bar’. I ended up shouting at some teenager who pushed his mate into me. I pointed out that everyone in front of him was also trying to get out, whilst some of us were actually staying for the whole set. He apologised, I think he was a little bemused that someone smaller than him had put him in his place! Once over we got food, met Mel and saw the end of the Placebo set. They didn’t do ‘nancy boy’ which is my most favourite one, so that was disappointing. We moved closer to the stage, it was way emptier compared to Friday night, and got a good view for Blink 182 who were very good. The last band of the night were the ones I’d been waiting a whole year to see, Linkin Park. Because there were much less people there we got a really good view and a lot closer than we had been for Metallica. Despite bad abdominal pain all day, I didn’t let it hold me back from bouncing and singing along to every song they did. Despite the wind at the end of the night I was hot and sweaty!

We woke up on Sunday morning, looked over the list of bands and decided we’d had enough. The only band we’d really desperately wanted to see was the White Stripes and they’d pulled out due to Jack’s broken finger. Me and Mel had seen Blur years ago, in their Parklife days and didn’t think they’d top that performance and Duncan didn’t really want to see anyone. So, despite the fact that it cost an extra £16 each for me and Duncan, we packed up, called Jonni and left. My mum found this really funny, but there are only so many days I can go without a shower and using a hole in the ground for a toilet. I’m glad we came home early anyway, as we were both sick by Tuesday morning, some cold/flu thing that seems to be doing the rounds. I took the rest of the week off work and lay around the house feeling quite sorry for myself. Duncan went to work (cos if he doesn’t go he doesn’t get paid) and on Friday came home wheezing and unable to breathe. He got a doctors appointment for that afternoon and we discovered he has asthma. It was quite scaring seeing him like that, sat down, wheezing and just not able to get enough breathe. I will admit to freaking out somewhat.

So we’re back home and now back to work again, but only until next week. Our last break this year is a trip to see Helen and Adrian in London next Thursday. Despite the fact that I’m not even sure I can afford the train ticket, I am really looking forward to seeing Helen again and enjoying a few free/cheap days in London. Funny though, I can barely afford the train ticket and yet will be renewing my subscription here next week, even though I don’t write half as often as I used to. I guess some things are a necessity.

Until there is a next time.