[Ferret]

Anyone going to any festivals this year?

I know that Joe (hometownboy) is currently at Glastonbury, and I wish I was there as it's a great festival. Pretty glad U2 pulled out, they're past it and it's definitely Gorillaz' time.

I'm off tomorrow to see Hyde Park Calling. Only doing the first and third days though; Pearl Jam and Paul McCartney. So pumped for them both, especially as Macca is supported by none other than Crosby, Stills & Nash, a particular favourite of mine.

Festivals are pretty cool. Post your festival stuff here.

[Kathleen]

Going to a pile of shows this summer but no festivals. I did get my Bruce Live in Hyde Park Blu-Ray today though. Guess what I'm doing tonight?

**edit - I forgot to say that I envy you McCartney with CSN. I will actually be seeing Paul this summer in Philadelphia (thanks to Seb who bugged me about the tickets) but CSN have been favorites of mine sine 1968.

[Jim Bon Jovi]

I used to do T in the Park every year but it started shitting on people when it got too popular so I stopped going.

There's a festival in Ullapoollater on in the Summer that Idlewild, Turin Brakes and a couple of smaller bands are playing I might try and check out but I dunno if I'd fancy going alone. Gigs no problem but a whole festival... hmmm

[Captain Walrus]

Going to the Friday at Hard Rock Calling (tomorrow!!!) and Sonisphere at the end of July, tonnes of great bands there!

[Lady_Luck]

Yes! First one on July 3 and 4: Main Square Festival in Arras (North of France) Pearl Jam! July 9: Rock Zottegem in Belgium: Iggy Pop and The Stooges! Then I don't know, there's a lot of festivals here in Belgium. I don't have everything planned...I'll go with the flow

Have a nice summer everyone, and enjoy the music!!

[Crushgen24/88]

Festival wise, I'm hitting up Warped Tour this year.

[KeepTheFaith2211]

I'm doing no festivals. I'm missing out on Pearl Jam.

[Ferret]

Jack's All Mattering Review Of Hyde Park Calling: Day One

I am in severe pain. I feel as if I have been viciously beaten up by a heaving crowd of people. In fact, I was. I believe it's called "moshing" or something. And this all came about because I had procured a ticket to Pearl Jam's headlining night of the Hard Rock Calling festival, which takes place yearly in Hyde Park.

I set off with my friend Tim, £30 and three joints, and bought a day pass for all the trains and shit. However, we still had about 20 minutes to kill, so we headed off into a nearby field, with the intention of smoking some reefa. Unfortunately, it seems that I am incredibly bad at rolling, and the first J died on its arse. The wind kept blowing the flame of the lighter into my thumb and lo it was painful, and hurts to this day. However, the second spliff came off a bit better, and due to the blunt nature of it, myself and my friend were pretty high in that field. Unfortunately we were late for the train so we ran for it and only just got on.

(Starting to sound like Seb here, I'll get to the gig soon I promise)

My navigational skills are beyond wank, so after much tribulation we eventually happened upon our destination; Fopp. This ****ing brilliant music, dvd and book shop in Covent Garden is an absolute godsend and I bought the following albums for £5 each;

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Weld
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
David Crosby - If Only I Could Remember My Name

More on those later. Anyway, we lunched at Maccy D's which was utter shit as is to be expected, and then made our way towards Hyde Park. The security was rubbish there and the guy looked at the top of my bag rather than giving it a proper search. That didn't matter anyway, because my wallet was in my pocket and the marijuana was in there. We'd been worrying that as we're underage there might be some difficulties getting in, but nothing happened, and on the contrary, we were offered free wine as soon as we arrived in the enclosure. After this it was time to use the urinals they supplied.

This was the only time actual toilets were utilized at this gig.

We got pretty near to the stage, to the right and a few rows back, and saw a couple of guys we knew. Then they went off to get some beer and I lit up some ganj and felt pretty damn stoned. Met the guys again and settled slightly closer, shot the shit and waited for the gig begin. Then it did, and now it's the moment you've all been waiting for (drumroll) when I review each act!

Robert Francis: This guy was ok, nothing particularly special. He was a good singer and guitarist but not many of his songs were particularly memorable. Might check him out but I'm in no rush to do so. Spent a lot of his set sitting down.
The Gaslight Anthem: I just don't get what the big deal is with this band. Yes, they're energetic and yes, they've got a lot of conviction towards their music and yes, they sound a lot like Bruce, but their songs sound quite dull to me and they're overly derivative. At one point I thought they were covering The Passenger by Iggy Pop, but it was just one of their mediocre, catchy songs that they'd used the same chords to. The '59 Sound is a good song, I'll give them that, but they just sound to me like a watered down version of Bruce and I don't care for that.

After that supremely overrated band finished their set we got some beers (£4 each, what the ****ing ****?), as the shit was starting to wear off my now. Just as well, because the next band were ****ing awesome.

The Hives: Can't believe some of you listen to that Green Day shite and think it's punk rock! If I ever saw a band of pure punk energy it's The Hives. Their singer was a cross between Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop, and they totally blew us all away. Even my notoriously musically elitist friend Chris gasped "They're so ****ing good". Tim was the only one who'd actually heard them properly before, although my first ever (and worst ever) band tried to cover one of their songs (failed due to the drummer playing at coma speed). The Hives rocked and worked the crowd like nobody else minus the headliners.

Ben Harper & Relentless 7: Weird, I thought Ben Harper was the lead character from that epochally awful BBC shitcom My Family. Apparently he's also a guy who plays a mean lap slide, most of which was drowned out by the crappy mix. Song-wise I didn't think they were anything particularly special. It was during this set that the conundrum rose of how to piss. You see, as we were very near the front, we couldn't go all the way back to the toilets or we'd lose our place. And so I reached an all time low (possibly) and pissed in a bottle, as did the others at various points.

"What the **** should we do with the piss?" I panicked, not wanting to have to stand in front of several bottles of piss for the night as they gradually built up
"Throw it" Charlie said
"Dude, I ****ing hate it when people throw piss! I'm not throwing it"
But Charlie threw the piss (come to think of it, I don't think this particular pint of piss was mine). I felt like a right bastard even though I didn't do it.

So Ben Harper and his band were playing their perfectly serviceable rock music, and we danced a bit, and this fat, ugly bitch in front of us turned round and started squawking away at the other guys.

"OI, YOU WERE PUSHING ME" she said, even though we weren't and in fact, the other guys had been pushed. But because she was a bitch she didn't care, and so when Tim next pissed in a bottle, I picked up the bottle and poured it partially onto her leg. Chris also rolled up a cigarette with a tiny spec of weed in it left over from the first joint we attempted to smoke (the one that was rolled so crappily that it fell apart as soon as we lit it). Due to these various events I can't comment much on this act's musical merits.

OH – and Eddie Vedder sang a song with them. Under Pressure it was. Good fun. I also needed a piss again but had no bottles, so as Tim spoke to me as if nothing was happening, I pulled my penis out and started pissing on the ground. However, aforementioned fat bitch started going "ewww no no!". Yes, it was morally wrong, but I needed a wee damnit!

To be continued...

[Ferret]

…now.

I don’t remember much that happened inbetween Ben Harper and Pearl Jam. I think I had a little bit of vodka and I remember arranging that Charlie (who’s a mint guitarist) plays with me and Tim’s band at this gig in July. They definitely played Down By The River from Neil Young’s 2009 concert at this very festival on the big screens, and that was the best gig I’ve ever been to. It was insane and a few of us were singing along. Anyway, after virtual Neil had finished, the crowd went ****ing mad, and on walked…

Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam are a really great band. They play brilliantly and Mike McCready and Stone Gossard are fantastic guitarists. Eddie Vedder is yet more proof that you don’t need to jump around onstage to be a great and charismatic frontman. His voice reminds me a lot of Jim Morrison, very cool. I didn’t know most of their songs but musically they were impressive, and I’m pretty sure they played all the ones I did know.

They even paid a nice tribute to Joe Strummer, doing a song from one of his solo albums. Weirdly, Bruce Springsteen played a song by The Clash last year. Coincidence? I hear Joe was a big festivals guy.

However, during their set I was kinda hoping it would end, not that the music was bad – it was ****ing brilliant. I was getting absolutely murdered in the crowd and it was boiling hot, completely unbearable basically. Say what you want, Americans, about European crowds not being as insane as their reputation would have you think, European crowds can be a ravenous pack of wild animals. I had packed about 5 bottles of water and had two pints of beer so I needed another piss. At one point I pulled my penis out and everything, but I felt that I should avoid actually urinating on people.

Eddie played a fantastic acoustic number and everyone stopped beating the crap out of each other somewhat. However, people were still being loud so I shouted “Shut the **** up, it’s an acoustic song”. For some reason it was still very hard to hear the lead guitar as well, which is a great shame, as Pearl Jam’s guitarists are excellent. I nearly made it to the end but on their final number I had to get carried over the barrier – it was just too ****ing hot in there, my head was throbbing and I was about to collapse.

Hey, don’t judge me, two of my friends had to get lifted over multiple times.

Apparently my bag was open during the gig and it’s a wonder I didn’t lose anything (not during Pearl Jam’s set anyway). On the other hand, despite my best efforts, the cases of my brand new CDs were beyond ****ed and I had to replace them with those of magazine freebies when I got home. Tim lost his phone and Chris lost his glasses, and earlier on in the day I lost my hat – it was mental as shit and pretty dangerous.

It was still a great gig, despite the physical trauma, and I think I’ll reward it with a more than respectable 4/5.

[hometownboy]

Well i got back from Glastonbury yesterday! so here's a nice little review!

The festival officially opens on the wednesday but as i went down on the wednesday last year and got caught in a 20 hour traffic jam i made sure we left earlier (we being my brother and i) so we left on tuesday at 10pm, straight after my shift at work! Anyway we got there in about 4 hours which is amazing really, and then parked up in the car park and slept for the night! The next day it took us 6 hours to get on site, the queue was absolutely horrendous!

I'd managed to blag backstage passes this year by pretending to be press so then we had to go and pick them up and then pitch camp in the hospitality area, which was pretty cool! Stewards guarding entrances, hot showers, flushing toilets, room to sit and talk outside the tent. Wednesday and Thursday were filled with wondering the site, which is absolutely massive, the biggest festival site in the world! 2000 bands play over the weekend

So anyway Friday comes and we knew roughly what bands we see! :

The Magic Numbers they were alright, but no way near as good as last year!
The Stranglers They mimed! i mean apart from tht it was alright, but i cant over it! why mime at a festival!
The Courteeners this band were fantastic! i saw them support the babyshambles a few years ago and they were crap but they nailed it this time, fantastic!
Ellie Goulding she's really hot! and she has some fun festival songs, id check her out again!
Vampire Weekend these were brilliant, saw them mingling backstage aswell!
Dizzee Rascal he was quality, put on a really good show etc and florence welch joined him for you gor the dirty love! cracking
The Bootleg beatles so we'd originally planned to see u2 and after they pulled out we were really pissed off the big decision was gorillaz or bootlegs, so anyway we chose the bootlegs and they were absolutely brilliant, they were spot on with everything! and it was acoustic!

Saturday! (mainly my brothers taste in music, as you'll see)
Tynchy Stryder utter shite
Lightning Seeds these were pretty good, the singer has lost his voice but it was fun anyway!
Jackson Browne! he was ****ing brilliant, i loved every minute of that gig! i even shouted out for freebird after reading a post by cmonfeet where someone did it at one his gigs (apparently its quite common in the us to shout freebird?) anyway you should have seen the look he gave me! i was front row you see
Tiny Tempo Again he was shite!
Chipmunk he was actually quite decent, his hits blew the roof off the dance tent and it was a good laugh!
N-Dubz really not my scene but they put on one hell of a show and i managed to get backstage so my brother could meet them! (he's 21 by the way lol)

Sunday! (crap line up day)
Norah Jones her voice is beautiful but she lost the crowd! shame really
Ray Davies he was brilliant, really put on a show!
Stevie Wonder you know i was let down! he sang the majority of his hits, but the unknown songs were shit and he was lacking something! but a decent end to a cracking festival anyway!

roll on next year!