Wow,what a weekend,I cannot believe I survived it! I have to say,it is highly inadvisable,from a medical standpoint anyway,to spend a complete 72 hour perioud drunk off your ass,but,DAMN,if you don't have fun along the way!basically,heres a rough rundown of what went on;
-Filled a beachball with exhaled smoke,just to see if we could.
-"Acquired" an Italian flag,drew moustaches on our faces,and called ourselves Mario for the weekend...all 19 of us!
-Paraded a friend around the campsite on our shoulders in his underwear...he was just in the middle of getting intimate with a lady in his tent.
-Water baloon fight with everyone in a 50 metre radius...It was awesome,we must have had at least 150 people involved!
-Cautioned by the police and on-site stewards not onec,not twice,bit 3 times,for causing too much ruckus.
-Had vodka confiscated by John Q. Law
-Stolen a package of 30 rolls of toilet paper...then hurling them around the New Band stage...before being promptly thrown out and banned!
-Buried myself in wood-chips,and having people queue up to take a picture with me.
-Crowd surfed on no fewer than 9 occasions.
-Had a game of 100 man game of rugby back at the campsite,which went on for 2 hours....by which time the score was forgotten,and the game decided by a game of paper-scissors-rock.
-Exposed my ass roughly once every 2 hours.
-Bruised every square inch of my body.
As for the bands,they were all uniformly excellent this year,my highlights being;
-The Strokes;Wow,what a performance,I'd seen them here 2 years ago,but this time just blew that last performance out of the water...They pleyed a great mix of songs from all 3 albums,never letting the atmosphere slip below fever-pitch..."Then End Has No End" and "Juicebox" were my favourites here.
-The Who;There is absolutely nothing in my vocabulary which can describe how incredible these guys were...They opened with "Can't Explain",there very first single,which must be 40 years old at this point,but has never sounded better,then launched straight into "Baba O' Reilly" which made many people weep with joy..."My Generation","Won't Get Fooled Again","Behind Blue Eyes",all the classics were there in one of the most exhilirating 2 hours of my life...and then to play "Pinball Wizard" as an encore...pure bliss!
-Arctic Monkeys;To be honest,they sounded exactly like the album,note perfect...not that this was a bad thing,quite the contrart,it meant there were no quiet periods at all,just one,long,screaming,sweaty,jumping mess where there used to be a crowd! During "I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor",the sound was literally thunderous as 80,000 people jumped around like loons!
-Red Hot Chilli Peppers;Probably the best live performers I have ever seen,they simply never disappoint...To be honest,by thios stage I was completely exhausted,so I was taking it easy where the crowd thinned out a bit,but the show was still amazing from there...A little too many songs from the new album for my liking(It's still growing on me),but it is to be expected,although "Dani California" was great sounding live....Finished on "Under The Bridge","Parallel Universe" and "Californication"...what more do I have to say?...Dalf,you're going to have on hell of a good time when you go to see them,and hopefully you won't be as knackered as I was!:P
-Sigur Ros;"Hoppipolla" is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard,so this one was always going to be a bit weepy...Almost no songs from "()" at all,almost completely "Takk" songs,still a great show though...Very atmospheric and peaceful...
-Goldfrapp;Given that I am almost completely infatuated with this woman,there was alomst no way she could have disappointed me...So the announcement 5 mins before she was due to start that she had been advised by her doctor not to perform due to a throat infection was like a kick in the gut...However,she decided to perform for 35 minutes anyway,and hope for the best...Which streched to an almost complete set of one hour!Gotta love the girl,she gives the crowd what they want!:P...Shunning the hot-pants and horses-tail of previous year,she instead went with a simple black jumpsuit...Which was a hell of a lot more than her dancers,which were very...umm..."distracting",to say the least!:D...."Train","Strict Machine","Ohh La La" were all excellent,although I was most impressed with "Ride A White Horse",which is my favourite song from "Supernature"...Although her voice was noticeably weak,she gave it her all,and the result was as good a show as I could have hoped for.
-The Zutons;has anyone noticed how Abi Harding has been,how shall I say,sex-i-fied recently?...It's as if someone at the record label suddenly noticed,"Hang on a minute...that woman is hawt!Get her into some hot-pants and low cut tops,right this instant!"...Not that I was complaining,I've had a crush on her since I saw them 2 years ago:P....Good mix of old album with new,"Valerie" and "Why Won't You Give Me Your Love" obvious highlights from the new album,along with old anthems "Pressurepoint","You Will You Won't" and "Zuton Fever" ...
-The Kooks;Great performance from my favourite new band,actually drew the biggest crowd of the weekend,apart from The Who and the Chillis,of course...Definitely on to watch in future,they'll probably be headlining one of the stages in a few years.
-James Brown;....It's James Brown...nuff said!:D
-Primal Scream-Been waiting to see these boys for years,and the didn't disappoint...new album sounds even better live,and it was fantastic to hear "Rocks" sung by so many people...Definitely want to see them again.
-Franz Ferdinand;Even though I saw them only a few months ago,it was still a great performance...just one I'd already heard,if you know what I mean...Still worth seeing,just to see the crowds reaction!:P
Even though I saw more,I'm going to leave it there,this entry is getting too damned long as it is,I might pass out if I keep going!Oh,and congrats to Italy,my favourite team to watch of this World Cup,although the diving is really getting on my nerves at this stage...And,Zidane,what were you thinking!:P...Although another good thing about Italy's victory is the fact I was there to "comfort" a really rather attractive French girl near us in the campsite...she's in Galway for the next few months too,so who knows what may happen!:P
Peace out,peeps,until next time!:P
<Exit stage left>
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