A splendid affair indeed. There is certainly something awesome about being at a place for 4 days with 33,000 other people who, like you, have nowhere they would rather be in the world. You’re all on the same schedule and mission.
From the get go it was a surreal event. I arrived at the airport, having culled my belongings down to bare essentials I realised, just as I was checking into my already boarding flight, I had left my ID at home. PURE MAGIC & fudging great people resolved the seeming buzz threatening revelation.
The shuttle bus ride from Bris Vegas airport to woodford was yet another remarkable event. A coach filled with like minded music enthusiast on a trip that is meant to take 45mins hit traffic along the single road in to the event and lasted for an entertaining 4 hours. Our driver (the dad-like comedian) made the ride easy and offered us a more financially viable form of entertainment by playing his harmonic for us. People on the road ditched their vehicles and took to walking in a Woodstock-esk manner we were past by musicians carrying instruments on their heads, couples strolling as though they were the only two people on earth and a dog.
Half the Titanic later, we arrived.
It was on….Treking across two massive hills from tent to festival grounds, establishment of safe place (just in case we loose each other). Continuous drinking of mid strength beverages from midday till the wee hours. Dancing 2 inches deep in mud. The running between one incredible act to another. My favourite parts were one the 5 minute conversations with complete strangers, its funny how much people will divulge when they know you are not likely to ever meet again.
Musical highlights? Its fudging hard to tell. Loved Grizzly Bear, always carve up a storm to Cloud Control, Florence is incredible, Miike Snow, Hot Chip & Goldfrapp had the crowd unite in a dance frenzy. Jonsi- euphoric. Tame Impala – Intensely hallucinating. The Strokes- trip down memory lane. There is soooo much more, the worst part about this line up – it was so awesome that it broke your heart as you couldn’t physically be everywhere.
Another incredible part of festivals are the number stories that evolve at once. In this case 33,000 different outcomes from the same time, same location. Mine? In a nutshell?....... Epic journey. An encounter with an old belt and an elbow touch. Dance, dance & drinking in different arenas, with different people. A visit to first aid (for a friend). Blinking tree heads. Tent meetings. Monkey man. A massive sensory explosion..... Lets face it, I have no final words. All I know is that i returned to work more zen than a sloth being hand fed at the zoo & days later I am still recalling some fleeting moments.
