Leeds Festival 2012 - Sunday
Today was mostly spent running around the fields trying to get some last minute street style in. My aim ? To avoid anyone covered with obscene words scrawled across their bodies in face paint, girls with bum cheeks hanging out, any guys walking around in what I can only hope were mud stained boxer shorts and finally anyone in a morph suit. I was lucky enough to find some pretty cool people & I will upload their pics to a facebook album asap.
The day started rather grey but then the sun shone through, I took this opportunity to flash a little flesh of my own in the form of my favourite backless Karmaloop dress. I headed to the Oxfam tent who were having a sale & I honestly couldnt believe some of the treasures to be had - real leather jackets all £5, gorgeous vintage denim jackets, arran sweaters and little tea dresses - again all £5! I took this opportunity to grab a dull silver leather jacket with western detailing and a few little silk headscaves at only £1 each.
Much to Andy's dismay I really wanted to catch Enter Shikari so we headed to the main stage to watch people's faces near the back of the crowd twist into confusion as the British hardcore group got the crowd moshing as the lead singer screamed into the microphone.
We then headed back to the tent to quickly pack up before the evenings entertainment - which included my 'one to watch this weekend' - Florence & the Machine. Luckily there is only a slight sin of mud on the ground and despite the erratic clouds and temperatures - we have been extremely lucky this weekend - especially as I have just found out that Creamfields was a wash-out. Pretty much the only time that the North has triumphed with the weather !
Florence was everything I knew she would be live, and more. Performing in a gorgeous sheer floor length dress with black bodice underneath and barefoot she blasted out hits such as Rabbit Heart, Shake It Out, Dog Days Are Over & Never Let Me Know - spending a lot of the time encouraging love in the crowd & jumping down to her fans ( much to the security's panic ). It was like the entire arena knew all of the words, all ages, from all cities, all walks of life - it was one of those moments where you cant help but smile because the words of the song take hold of you and become more than just words - simply it was amazing.
We than ran across to the Dance stage to catch some of Katy B's set, which had the loudest bass in the arena - everyone was jumping to the beat as she knocked out her redition of That Thing, before singing Hard to Get - unfortunatly we couldn't stay any longer as I knew Feeder were gearing up to go onstage over in the Festival Republic arena so once again we dashed across the fields in the fading sun, dodging people laying in what was left of the grass and soaking up the fading light.
Feeder remind me of being a teenager , show me one person who doesnt sing along when they hear the lyric "it's got a CD player" & i'll show you a flying pig. The arena was smaller than some others which made for a really intimate feeling and once they kicked off with Feeling A Moment, the crowd were going wild - myself included - I'm sorry but that song is incredible - followed by Renegades which once again got the audience bouncing. Again I had to leave halfway though a set to dash back to the mainstage when the Headliners - Kasabian were about to see the festival out in style.
I'll be honest - Kasabian seemed to come around the same time as many other Indie rock bands - The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs etc... and I had never taken the time to sit and really listen to their hits as a constant before. Until now. I had no idea how many of their songs were on my iPod, how many hits that have that I knew every word to, how amazing they could sound live. But they did ! Days Are Forgotten, Velociraptor, Underdog, Where Did The Love Go were all tunes that got the entire arena singing, jumping and hugging one another - looking around all you could see were floods of people, all smiling, all joining in and celebrating the music. The lads even stopped to ask all of the crowd to turn their backs to the stage and look at the moon, paying respects to Neil Armstrong before dedicating their next song Lets Roll Like We Used To to him. The crowd stood with hands outstretched to the black sky whilst singing along to the song, the lights dancing far off into the distance and creating patterns reaching up into the abiss.
As I write this from the Press tent, the main stage is shutting down its lights. The heavy pounding of music can still be heard coming from other tents and the festival go-oers continue to dash from stage to stage, but from me - live from Leeds Festival 2012 its time to say goodbye from my live report.
I know not all of you care for festivals, not all of you are here and not all of you have ever been to an English festival. But I do hope this has given you an insight, given you some feel of what Leeds festival brings and what you can expect from this amazing festival next year. My back is slightly stiff, my nose is cold and I cannot wait to have a proper cup of tea, but I have enjoyed this weekend so much - the elation of being a part of something so unified and harmonious - the coming together of people over a passion - the love of music - is amazing. I have been without straighteners, a bath, un-laddered tights & fresh clothing for four days now, but I have met some awesome people, seen some incredibly talented people perform and finally witnessed the talent that is Dave Grohl. This was Leeds Festival 2012 - Thankyou for reading my posts & Goodnight.