Download 2009

So the last festival i went to was the Vfest2008 where i got to see great bands like Muse, Kings of Leon, the Courteeners, Kooks, Travis and the not so good Amy Winehouse to be honest i think she was the only bad act i saw at Vfest. But and this is the big BUT, it rained every night and most of the second day we didn't get to experience the "festival spirit" after the headliners no one stayed out we all went to bed because it was raining, a few people went into other tents for drinks but we can't all sit in a 2 man tent and drink more than our body can take can we?

Download was different!

The sun shines on Rock 'n' Roll and it did with all its power. with in a few hours of getting to Donnington after the Rock 'n' Roll express train consisting of one carriage for hundred or so festival goers and some old folk who just wanted a day out in Uttoxeter and a one hour long walk from the gates into the village where all the campsite's sit around, we were burnt and i mean glowing red. With beer in our belly's and our skin audibly crackling we had to get some shade and by shade i mean silly hats.

From Download2009

with the hats and the beer we need food and of course this is a festival so getting food is a crime when you have to pay £10 for a burger and bottle of Pepsi.

i was expecting this and had about £200 to burn knowing how expensive it is once there only i wasn't getting paid until the next day and i only had £10 on me, at least i had food that night. going back to the tents and drinking more a huge unforgiving headache came over me so i hit the sack after being told i looked like i was going to kill many thousands of people.

Wakey Wakey or whooooooosssssshhhhhhhoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! as the toilet cleaners truck said at half 5 in the morning scaring the life and soul out of me. It was one of the coldest nights in a tent i have ever been in and noow it one one of the hottest, yes with the toilet cleaners, plains from the near by airport and the sound of people already up came the heat. The sun was out and there it stayed until 4am Monday morning when it showered for 20Min's or so.

I'm not going to talk about the music all that much in this blog but we got to see on the 1st day of music a rocking set from Limp Bizkit of all people a band no one expected to be any good but they got 5 K's from Kerrang! mag and everyone was in the party mood after them. I don't remember that night, not that i was too drunk but i just don't remember.

Day 2 started like the 1st with the second largest plane flying just feet above my head and the toilet cleaners fighting with there power washers with the heat too but i had an air bed and i slept like a a baby, yeah wee'd the bed twice and woke up crying 4 times. all i remember from the music today was the headliner's from the second stage, The Prodigy!!!!! this was no doubt the best live gig i have ever seen with the energy and beats just pumping through the crowd. i push a tall sweaty man away but when realising how sweaty he was Matt and i pushed Kim's face into his drenched back poor Kim lol.

On the way back to the tents 30 thousand people were singing outta space the final song from the headliners and when we looked back at the other 50 or so thousand people watching Slipknot it just made you hairs stand on end and make you willy tingle just a little, this sea of people all moving to the same beat of a drum is just one of the best feelings in the world and only when you have been to a festival do you think this is better than seeing a band at there own stage show this isn't just Prodigy fans or Korn fans this is a lucky bag full of all the different types of music on show at this epic venue. Of course a festival isn't all about the music its as much about the campsite and the people, friendly isn't the start you get people there with other gangs or even on there own because you are never to far away from people who will adopt you as there own. Just like our friendly Geordie Chris so smashed on pill's he sat crying for an hour because he couldn't get in his tent... it wasn't even his tent his tent was next to Matt's and after trying to find a zip that wasn't there and getting a smack him the head from Matt he sat crying on his on. he join us when friends of Jamie's had come to say hi but when they left Chris was still there he didn't know anyone but sat with us all night and for the next night too.

Last day of music and Def Leppard closed the show with an 23 years in the making rock orgy of there all time greatest hits, we spent the night playing more drinking games and hit the sack about half 4/5am after a long and brutal game of "I've never" the ride home was sombre to say the least i wanted to stay on, we all did! Phil just needed a few more days in bed i think, he is a little like the hulk when sleepy.

A subway and a half arsed nap before we hit the cinema to see Terminator and its all over, I still have the wrist band on due to festival rules of it stays on till it falls off.

Next year Tour bus for download and i would love to see glasto too