Tuesday 26th – Leeds festival 08

Very early last Thursday I got up with all bags and tent and extras packed and went to Sheffield train station. We’re talking about 4.30 in the morning here. The sky was obsidian black, with waxy orange faded on its surface. The city felt deserted in darkness and though I was in the car with my mum, the place felt very quiet indeed. It wasn’t plain sailing we got lost a couple of times on the way and there seemed increasing physical pressure on my body caused by time. Today, there could be no missed connections.

At the station I just caught the train to derby, by a margin of less than 20 seconds.

Then I relaxed for 30 minutes as englands countryside slipped quietly by; even trains seem quiet in the early hours. As the journey carried on, the sky grew in brightness a good deal, as the sun prepared to crawl around to wake us up. For some it was already too late.

At derby I caught a train to Birmingham and from there I got a coach to leeds festival.

There is one word that must be used in any description of the Leeds Festival 2008. That word is mud. By the time I arrived midday on Thursday, the floor in most areas of the site was a giant mud bath. I had to wait for friends to arrive too, so had a little sleepy in the field.

After meeting friends and getting all our tents set up, things started to improve, dark moods started to lighten as various drugs, from cigarettes to alcohol, and perhaps beyond (no doubt somewhere in those fields someone did something!). On my own part it was mostly alcohol, but the remnants of the night are scattered along a trail of darkness.

The next day things started quite positively, with drinking and eating and such. Using the time honoured method of festival behaviour (that’s get drunk, go see bands, sober up a bit, then come home after the bands and drink more), the festival went pretty damn well. I took with me the most cheap camera I could find on eBay and found it to be a solid performer!