‘Dirty, dirty feet from the concert in the grass. I wanted to believe freedom there could last.’ Ah…wise words, Mr Willy Mason.

Thursday
I travelled up from Nottingham with my mate Kevin and my brother, Jake, in high spirits. After arriving, we noticed three women setting up camp. They were struggling…we had to help! Seconds from doing so, two lads from the adjacent tents got there first! Bastards. However, there were no hard feelings, because one of the guys came over to us (Robbie) and we joked about it; what a nice guy!
Later, from our tent, I overheard the words ‘Notts’, ‘County’ and ‘Forest’. I ran out and over to Robbie’s tent. “Who’s the Notts County fan?” I asked. Sitting in the middle of several others, was a big guy with masking tape on his face, who subsequently jumped to his feet; on confirming we were both Notts fans, he gave me a hug, telling me he was surrounded by Forest fans; he then took his t-shirt off and gave all the Forest fans a lapdance. What a festival! There aren’t many places you’d see a man fishing for humans, using a Carling can as bait.

Friday
At the NME stage, we saw our first band of the weekend, The Rakes. They were very good and the appearance of Russell and Kele (Bloc Party) was a bonus. Sons and Daughters afterwards were also really good. Despite how good Maximo Park were, I had to leave after several songs to see Iggy and the Stooges on the main stage; it was a bit tragic that such legends were four bands down the playing order, but Iggy showed them who was boss with passion; a lot of passion. Incubus were disappointing, but Marilyn Manson made up for it after, with a great performance.
I bought a cup of tea (so rock and roll) and strolled into the NME tent. I stood next to an attractive girl (purely by coincidence) and failed to build up the courage to talk to her, before Bloc Party came on and played absolutely amazing; the girl seemed to like them too, so I set myself up for the conversation starter of “Weren’t they amazing?!” I took a deep breath and said it…
She looked at me (in disgust or fear, perhaps), but we got talking. She seemed nice (Emily from Blackburn), but we had to part at the ferris wheel, where Kevin and Jake were. Better to have loved and lost…

Saturday
Before seeing the impressive Dead 60s, we noticed Jesse (Death From Above bassist pictured below) in the crowd! Kevin and I walked over and shook his hand; he was a nice man and let us take photos with him! We enjoyed their set loads, as we did The Subways, who played after.

There was a good line up on the main stage to see out the night; The Coral and QOTSA were quality, The Killers weren’t bad and Pixies were bloody awesome!
Saturday night (well, Sunday morning) was very enjoyable. We gave out free hugs and hi-fives to passers by (mainly attractive ladies, admittedly) and joined in the random shouts of “Get your rat out!” There was even a group hug between me, Jake and the two other Notts fans opposite, because we had gone top of the table that day. It was a beautiful thing.

Sunday
We saw The Longcut, who I enjoyed, and stood through The Cribs, not understanding why they were so popular. Nine Black Alps were a lot better. I even saw Emily again! She told me that her mate had got backstage with Bloc Party!
Later, we saw a sexually charged performance from The Kills and then one of the best live sets I’ve seen in my life, from Arcade Fire. They were mental. I went on to see Kings of Leon, who are brilliant, and then The Raveonettes. The weekend’s music ended with a quality performance from Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl even got on the drums, while the actual drummer (Taylor Hawkins) sang and played guitar. “A drummer who can sing and play guitar?” Grohl quipped. “Who’d have thought it?”
On the way home, after been kept up by the explosions and general rioting, we wanted to shout random comments out the car; was it not appropriate in the real world? “Get your rat out!” just seems so…right when you’re there. Would people really be offended if we randomly hugged them on the street? Who wouldn’t want a hug? A hi-five, at least, surely!
A quote from the late Hunter.S.Thompson would sum it up nicely; ‘There was a madness in every direction at any hour. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.’
Well, Hunter rocked and so did Leeds Festival.



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