Leeds Festival 07

OK so I haven't blogged for a while. It's because I have been asleep, waiting for summer to start, which it finally did on Friday when I trooped off to Leeds Festival (or the Carling Weekend, not that anyone ever calls it that) to pick up the smell of chemical toilets in my nostrils for the foreseeable future. The bill didn't look tremendous but there is always enough to keep us amused for a weekend there and we were trialling 'festival-lite' i.e. cheating and coming home to use our own toilet and have a nice sleep each night. Yeah, well, I'm nearly 30 so it's fine.
The first thing that was different about this year was that it was actually hot when we arrived. Those of you who were there would have been treated to a glimpse of my milk-bottle-white calves. That hot it was. Anyway, Friday was generally a good day from the outset, or, more accurately, once we had largely ignored Gym Class Heroes and turned my nose up at Hellogoodbye (the lovechild of Cher and Daft Punk...).
The second thing that was different was it was much easier to find people this year thanks to The Duck. Honestly -take a bright yellow duck-shaped umbrella that's been stuck down the side of a wardrobe for 5 years to a festival and people can find you! It's the way forward.
Anyway, back to the music. Billy Talent were pretty good. Seeing as they have such a rubbish name, I wasn't expecting much but they were surprising. I missed 'that song I know about leaves' to skulk off to watch Ignite on my own, leaving my less-hardcore posse with The Duck. Ignite were shouty, though seem to have started singing, like all hardcore bands do eventually. Still, it was good to see them at last.
The Used... Bert McCracken does my head in, to use an eloquent turn of phrase. I like a couple of songs, but anyone that full of themselves and actually uses the word 'spa*tic' in a song does not get my vote. Next!
Funeral For A Friend are never bad, so that was good for a bit of a singalong and I felt a bit of an idiot for not even knowing they had a new album out or more to the point that it's been out for ages. Whoops.
I ran as fast as my milky legs would carry me to get away from seeing Fall Out Boy. It would only have resulted in me swearing at the Wentz, which would not have been ladylike would it? Anyway, the mighty From Autumn To Ashes were playing and they're just great. And they were. Great. Shouty and singy in that way only they can be. Plus I got a sit down on a relatively comfy chair. Rock'n'roll excess all the way! Next was Against Me! though I needed a wee and missed the song I know. Still, not to worry. They did sound like a weird cross between Queen and any number of west cost punk bands. Good though.
NIN were on at the same time as CSS and even though I was curious to see what Brazilians do when they come to festivals and aren't Sepultura, I couldn't not watch Nine Inch Nails. Plus, they had the worst rendering on the cheap t-shirts sold by the not-so-official types on the camp site that I have seen in a while. No longer NIN, they are 9INs. Trent must be so proud. To cut a long story short, they were amazing and possibly one of the most energetic performances I've seen them do. There was some laptop-rock, cool lights and proper guitar smashing and they didn't play 'Closer' - Yesssss! Still wish they had played 'Dead Souls' though like they did at Reading. We got Trent in his fetching gloves so I suppose it's only fair. They're definitely in contention for band of the weekend, despite there being surprisingly few people there (probably because of said Brazilians).
Smashing Pumpkins were one of the bands we were most looking forward to seeing. Dreamy scuzz mixed with angsty grungy wonderment. 12 years ago that was the case but now it's all shiny lights, massive drums and fast guitars. They weren't awful but I just don't get their new stuff at all and the older stuff lacked the weight and sincerity that it used to. I'm sure Billy had a cold or something too. We couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed so we left a bit early, watched a bit of New Found Glory and went home for a really nice cuppa and possibly the best night's sleep I have had in weeks.

Saturday started off with the Pipettes who were great fun! Not your typical rock festival band but lots of fun and I'm still humming the tunes. We went to the lock-up tent and saw Riverboat Gamblers who I'd not heard of but were really energetic and lots of fun again but in a very non-Pipettes way, then went to see Sparta whose newer stuff seems less angular and more rounded. I made a mental note to dig out the cds again and listen to them because they were spectacular. I tried to make that into a pun using the words 'spectacular' and 'Sparta' but it won't work. A bit like Gogol Bordello. Ukrainian gypsy punk is certainly different but it isn't my thing really so I wandered off to see The Draft, which is basically Hot Water Music with a different singer. I think I'll try to get hold of their album though, although I kept promising myself I would get lots of Hot Water Music stuff and I never did. We met up with Phil and her pirate friends to see Gossip, Jimmy Eat World and Maximo Park and enjoy sitting in a field with some friends in the sun. Gossip were pretty much how I expected except Beth Ditto has a really delicate voice when she speaks. One hell of a pair of lungs when she sings though. Jimmy Eat World played lots of the hits and reminded me why they are so good. They have exactly the right amount of energy, melodies and 'Woh's that befits a band. Plus we were getting to see them again later. Maximo Park were good but to be honest I was distracted by pirates.
We made the journey back over to the smaller stages and saw a bit of The Subways and were very surprised to see Enter Shikari pack out the Radio One tent then saw The Bronx, who I think are great. That might have been the other way round - I can't remember. The Bronx make me chuckle because they are from California but are also a proper shouty band and there don't seem to be that many with much character around these days. Their singer still reminds me of Wayne Rooney though.
Danny got very excited next when we went to see Brand New who were, I must admit, outstanding! They're a different band live than on record and have a knack for creating an atmosphere. Then we saw Jimmy Eat World for the second time in a day and Sara nearly burst with excitement (they were ace, but they always are!) then I went home smiling and singing along with 'Sweetness' all the way back to the car. Had another nice, hot beverage, some chips and a less restful night's sleep but still got to be better than getting no sleep!

Sunday there wasn't much on that we really wanted to see so we wandered about a fair bit. We saw Paramore on the main stage and they were much better than I expected from what I have seen on videos I've seen. Hayley might be young but doesn't come across so much like Avril Lavigne live. Kids in Glass Houses were good, if very similar to Lostprophets, then there were a couple of main stage bands on that I didn't take much notice of. Angels and Airwaves were the worst band of the weekend - they sounded messy and Tom Delonge is so full of himself it's scary. I may possibly have sworn. After the abysmal performance Blink 182 put on a few years ago, I shouldn't have been surprised. Panic! At the Disco were OK: I think they are becoming less offensive to me and the guitarist appeared to be free of ridiculous face paints. Which brings me on to the subject of festival fashion. I learnt something: Retro is good, so long as you don't remember it the first time round. I remember glow sticks and t-shirts with big letters on last time so I'm not joining in with the face-painted masses in ridiculously unsuitable footwear thank you. New rave? Hmph.
To counteract that, we went to see Dinosaur Jr who played 'Feel the Pain' which made my day :) J Mascis has officially turned into Gandalf the Grey and Danny saw him in the VIP area but was too polite to accost him. We squeezed into a packed Radio 1 tent to watch some of Biffy Clyro, who seemed to play most of their songs that you can listen to without thinking too hard. I was impressed that such an unusual sounding band can get that much attention, then they played 'Folding Stars' and I remembered why. That was apparently the last time they will play it though. We went for a final mooch round and a final go at trying not to see what people have been depositing in the portaloos and attempted to watch the Chili Peppers. We gave them about an hour before I was outvoted and we had to go home. They sounded OK but without some riotous anthems, they were failing to set the crowd alight and Anthony Kiedis has cut his hair again. Ah well.
So me, Danny, Sara and The Duck trooped off home and set about eating vegetables and fruit again and I bought next year's ticket.
Hope that makes up for the lack of posts. Next gig is Chris Cornell next Tuesday. Yesssss!