I realise that many of you have been waiting in anticiaption for this blog as it has been quite a while, I did write it a few weeks ago and then my laptop crashed and I lost it and I couldn't be bothered to write it all again (sorry) but I did post a sneak peak last week and then made you all wait until I got 2000 views before posting the rest (evil laugh) but you are in for a treat now as this my, as promised, Reading Festival 2011 special blog (don't worry it's not as long as the India special).
I could describe Reading festival 2011 in one word: absolute. However, I feel this won't satisfy most. I will try to put something that can't be put into words, into words.
As a Reading festival virgin I didn't know what to expect but it turns out that everything I witnessed was to be expected: a shambles of a tent, a falling down gazebo, Red Indian costumes, P10, stolen chairs and plenty of lost Alans. However, there were many things that made Reading 2011 more than standard and pretty much absolute (you'll notice I will use that word quite a lot)!
My friends went to Reading last year so had already decided that we were camping in site P10, it didn't take me long to fall in love with this patch of land either, or the gazebo and the people already perched underneath it.
We arrived at camp very prepared with shot glasses on strings, flower garlands and glow stick bracelets. What we didn't have were chairs or a tent with a working door. Although Ella and I loved our Harry Potter tent (much better inside than out) using only the, extremely small, back door (yes, our tent had a back door), proved to be quite inconvenient (especially as it slumped more and more every day), it was also quite a shame that we couldn't make good use of our front porch (yes, our tent had a front porch). Jealous yet?
The tent in question
Believe it or not there is more to Reading than camping.... the music. Muse were amazing (as to be expected) and were made even better when a group of guys threw me and my friends up in the air above the crowds. Such fun! Althought it did result in a lot of awkwad hip touching while waiting for the fast part of the song.
Over the weekend I did have some problems with crowd surfers including being kicked in the nose by a giant welly (attached to a leg) before being fully crushed by a man who the crowd could no longer hold up. Unideaaaal.
As a teenage girl I was obviously going to be very excited for Madness! Who doesn't love singing along to a bit of Our House and Baggy Trousers?! The highlight of Madness had to be right at the end when me and my friends started a conga line. Yes, you read correctly. The conga line was led by Rebecca Christie and I was second and this conga travelled from the left side of the main stage all the way to the right. If anyone else claims to have started the main conga...they are lying!
Another first at Reading was the famous Actionaid and I was not let down! However, even better than Actionaid was the Silent Disco (wish I was still there now). One highlight is taking your head phones off and hearing everyone else singing (I'd hate to be the person standing next to me). Other highlights of the silent disco include a group Macarena, lying on the floor during Chasing Cars and barn dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe. (This was all done while standing by the edge, very close to the entrance and cautiously avoiding the crowd)!
At the Alternative tent we were lucky enough to see legends such as Milton Jones and Sean Walsh as well as one of my new favourite bands: Dead Cat Bounce. Below is a link to a cracking song of theirs called Christians in Love:
Over the weekend I did have some problems with crowd surfers including being kicked in the nose by a giant welly (attached to a leg) before being fully crushed by a man who the crowd could no longer hold up. Unideaaaal.
As a teenage girl I was obviously going to be very excited for Madness! Who doesn't love singing along to a bit of Our House and Baggy Trousers?! The highlight of Madness had to be right at the end when me and my friends started a conga line. Yes, you read correctly. The conga line was led by Rebecca Christie and I was second and this conga travelled from the left side of the main stage all the way to the right. If anyone else claims to have started the main conga...they are lying!
Another first at Reading was the famous Actionaid and I was not let down! However, even better than Actionaid was the Silent Disco (wish I was still there now). One highlight is taking your head phones off and hearing everyone else singing (I'd hate to be the person standing next to me). Other highlights of the silent disco include a group Macarena, lying on the floor during Chasing Cars and barn dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe. (This was all done while standing by the edge, very close to the entrance and cautiously avoiding the crowd)!
At the Alternative tent we were lucky enough to see legends such as Milton Jones and Sean Walsh as well as one of my new favourite bands: Dead Cat Bounce. Below is a link to a cracking song of theirs called Christians in Love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2qNDSzF7k8 thoughts?
Another classic festival moment was when Ralf looked at me and point blank just said "you're disgusting" (this was after he described wellies as public jets and plimpsoles as private jets). Hhm. Can you really trust anything this guy says?
Ella's absolute festival moment: Seeing Panic at the Disco and going on Jack's shoulders.
Just before we saw Panic!
Hannah's absolute festival moment: Getting punched in the face by a randomer in a mosh during Rizzle Kicks.
Becca's absolute festival moment: Leading the ultimate conga.
Natalie's absolute festival moment: Being thrown up in the air during Muse.
My absolute festival moment: Ella learning the hard way why the dreaded Chinese noodles are called the dreaded Chinese noodles!
Below are some absolute festival pictures. ENJOY!
Me posing outside the toilets....as you do
Gaz-looking kinda scary
Hannah taking full adavantge of the tent
Chilling at the Silent Disco
The 2011 Reading crew in our Red Indian head dresses
Lying on the floor of the Silent Disco during Chasing Cars as per usual
On the train on the way there (sorry these aren't chronological)
Ella on my shoulders during....The Pigeon Detectives
Me and the tweed jacketed guy
Did Shannon Wild ever call her Mother?
The pose on tour
Ultimate excitment
A perfect rainbow to end our experience
So there you go, an end of an era (well the end of a pretty banging long weekend)!
If you would like to add your very own 'Absolute Festival Moment' or even 'Absolute Festival Picture' just let me know. Only the best will be selected (because clearly I am going to get thousands of requests)!
I've decided my fans (of which there are so many) need a cool nick name like Trey Songz has his Angels and JLS have their JLSters. Talking of which I would like to thank Anum and Rosa who regulary advertise my blog for me to their massive Twitter followings (much larger than mine). If you would like to add to my dismal Twitter following then add me @lucyedyer and tweet me your suggestions about my blog gang! To be fair I have now reached 2000 views and this blog was requested so me and my blog are practically famous anyway!
TTFN
Lucy xx
