Off to a Slow Start

After another late night of organising things with Shel (from Dundee), and planning how I’m getting there, what trains I’m catching, what to pack etc. I went to bed around 3am up for 6:30am, enough time to find and pack everything, then get into town with enough time to get some more credit on my phone and my rail tickets.

WRONG.

I woke up around 7:15am, and started running around the house like a madman since my train left at 8:32am. I still had to find and pack everything, which was no easy thing to do considering the things I had to do! I still had to draw maps of Leeds and the campsite so I could find my way around both places. After packing everything (and forgetting my toothbrush), I managed to get out of the house 15 minutes later than planned. 8:15am – I’m worrying how I’m going to miss my train, because they’re every hour, which meant I would miss meeting up with Shel (from Dundee), Bee (from Edinburgh?) an Tanisha (from London). I got off at what I thought would be the best place to run to the train station, and started to run as fast as I could. The bus passed me just as I got to the train station. D’oh. The train should have left, but I ran anyway. Running up the ramp, I saw the train was about to leave, but thankfully the train conductor (who wasn’t very fat, may I add), saw me and stopped the train. PHEW.

Jumped on the train and bought my ticket for the weekend. 1.5 hours later, I arrived in Leeds – yay.

Phone Phun

Before I could make my way to the bus station (thanks to my quickly drawn map of Leeds city centre I drew earlier in the morning), I had to top up my credit using my top up card. Why my top up card? I’ve never done anything different, and I’m not one to easily embrace change when it can be helped. The only places I could think of doing the top up service were supermarkets, so I began to wander Leeds centre looking for the little green and white logo. After 10 minutes of looking, I was no better off and decided to keep looking when I came across a little corner shop that had it proudly displayed in their window. “Great!” I thought.

WRONG.

After paying for £10’s worth, I checked my balance and nothing. Not a single penny. I thought it might just be slow in updating. Nothing again. Damn. I had no way of getting in touch with my friends, but I decided to wait a little while, see if it would turn up later. I made my way to the bus station and got in the queue. I paid my fare and was one of the last few on the bus. 50 minutes later I arrived at the site and made my way into the park.

Drinkdrinkdrinkdrink

I began looking for Shel, Bee and Tanisha immediately, and got to the gate of the site, and figured that they weren’t in the parking section, because that would just be a crazy place to set up. Anyway, I got in okay (after a few nervous moments of hoping my ticket was legitimate), and then began to slowly look at everyone that passed me. All of a sudden, I heard two Scots accents and looked up and I saw two girls what looked like Bee and Shel. They walked right past me, so I wasn’t 100% sure. I followed them anyway, and walked right behind them. I started shouting “Shellie” but to no avail. Finally, they went to the gate to pick up some of their luggage that they couldn’t carry (they brought a lot of stuff). I started waving and finally got their attention. Yay – it was them! I found them with minimal effort and they’d only arrived 30 minutes ago themselves. Off to a good start.

We made our way to our tent carrying the rest of their luggage, to find Tanisha there, ready for the tent to be set up. So we began to set the tent up, in fairly big winds, with little success. The tent wouldn’t stay up properly, and the wind didn’t help. Eventually, we rotated it so that it wasn’t in the wind as much, and set the main part of the tent up, leaving the guide ropes. We started putting them into the ground, but people kept walking into them, or they’d be put in the wrong place and it took us around 1.5 hours to get the tent finally up and ready. We got settled in the tent then went straight into the venue after dropping our luggage off at left luggage.

As we got on, The All American Rejects were finishing off “Swing Swing” to a pretty welcoming audience and then left the stage. After that, it was the turn of The Used, who weren’t that great live, and ended up trying too hard to get the crowd really going. Their “Taste of Ink” started to get people a little more with it, but it was one of their last songs, and so it was over before it started. After that, we all went to go see 80’s B-Line Matchbox Disaster who was surprisingly good. Few more drinks and by 3pm, we were drunk. I’m not sure where the rest of the afternoon went, although I’m guessing it was to browsing at all the shops. There was a lot of cool stuff I could have bought – should I have had the money. I still regret not buying something. I looked at the hats – but £8 for a hat put me off considering I have no money left whatsoever.

Oops.

Many People Many Faces Many Names Many Places

During the course of the day, I was introduced to yet some more LPU’ers, Leah and her brother (I don’t know where they’re from), Chester (who used to be known as Kev until he changed his name to Chester Bennington for a bet, tattoos, piercings, hair and everything) Jane (from near Shellie) and Becky. Leah was a little quite, but nonetheless friendly. Her brother didn’t say much at all (probably his age), nor did Jane. Chester was very cool and his tatts kicked ass and Becky, well, to be honest, was very attractive. The first time we met, we didn’t really speak, nor did I think much of it, but as I spent more time with her on Saturday, I realised that she was a very…fun (?) person to be with. Heh, I won’t go into the stuff we talked about, but if you know her, then you’ll know what she’s like.

To be honest, over the weekend, I flirted (or at least attempt to) with a lot of people, all of which were unsuccessful, which is a shame really, but I don’t really wanna start messing up the friendships I have with people and such. I was flirting from the girls from Darlington I met to the girl at the AFI show – oops. I’m just in need of some affection. The cuddles, the snuggling and stuff. I’m really missing it and that’s what’s needed to pretty much sort things out. I’ve got things to look forward to (New York / LP tour in November), I’ve got university, I’ve got friends and family so now all I need is some affection and I’m complete. Yay.

PsychoGroupieCocaineCrazy

So, after a few more drinks and bit more browsing at the stalls, we all sat down and listened to Sum 41. They weren’t so bad, say a 7 on 10. Much better than most bands that I’d seen on the day for sure. As they finished, we all decided to get up close for System of a Down. Good move, I can assure you. System of a Down simply kicked fucking ass. 10/10. They stole the show on the first day in my opinion, probably because I dislike Metallica (they 25-minutes guitar solos mid-verse seem a little out of place). Everyone was up for it and they were hilarious too, even when the show had to be stopped to sort out the barricades again. Metallica came on, and even after a bit of waiting, they still didn’t impress me. Yeah, they’re great on guitars, props to them, but their songs aren’t anything special. After a few songs, me, Bee and Nicky went onto the Ferris wheel to take some photo’s from up high, whilst Shel and Tanisha ended up in the pit at the front getting squashed! Took some good photos, then went to find Shellie and Tanisha bandaged up. We went back to our tent after saying goodbye to Nicky for the night and pretty much went straight to sleep.

Wakey Wakey

7:30am with very much little sleep in between we were asked to move our tent. At first I thought it was a joke – but sadly, no. We had to move our tent from its current location to elsewhere because health & safety weren’t happy with it. Well boohoo. It’s a field-turned-camp site. WTF did you expect to find? Little prancing garden gnomes in yellow PVC? Hardly.

After about 30 minutes of dragging ourselves out of the tent and packing up, we decided it was worth a try to move the tent, in it’s erect (hey you at the back! stop sniggering!) state, saving us to pull it down only to put it back up. We got a fair distance, but we couldn’t find any places. We were site-less! Anyway, we pulled it down and kept walking down, leaving Tanisha looking after the food, bags, drink etc. Eventually, we found a spot next to this huge tent surrounded by waste, but it looked big enough, so we settled there. Whilst Bee and Shel went to set the tent up, I went back to help Tanisha carry all our stuff to our new home. I don’t know what they brought, but zoinkies – some heavy stuff.

Anyhow – we soon got set back up and went back to watch some more acts. Since Linkin Park were playing Saturday night, a lot of my LPUK friends from the LPU came to stay for the day as well, including Val and Shel from Manchester, Dawn from Wrexham, plus lotsa other people I can’t really remember (sorry!). We met up with them, Becky and Nicky and all went to drink (lots to calm our nerves for the secret Linkin Park meet and greet), then went to enjoy Bowling For Soup, who were pretty good. Not amazing, but better than Sum 41, so a 7.5 / 10. Finch were up next – they weren’t so bad, but another 7. Whilst they played, I got thinking a little of the last few weeks and got a little funny with everyone, getting really quiet, not that anyone noticed much. Nicky asked if I was okay, so at least I wasn’t completely ignored! Becky was there too, and we talked a lot more, and got on very well considering I’m usually the quiet type. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was my attitude of “what the hell you only live once” for the weekend. I found out more about her which was nice, and reassured her regarding the meet and greet considering what she had to do. For a bet, she had to ask Mike Shinoda could she lick his nipples as a joke. Well, she was dreading it, so she was knocking back the JD and cokes.

Lick Lick

After watching a bit of Stain’d (7/10) and joking around more with the LPU’ers, The Darkness came on. They were surprisingly good, and they cheered me up some. Well, that or the alcohol. After a bit of The Darkness, we made our way to find the NME tent so that we could go meet Linkin Park in a secret signing because we’re just special. At first there was panic ‘cos the security guards said there was no such signing, and lotsa members began worrying. Bob to the rescue! I told some people to help me find Lorraine, and eventually, Lorraine found us. Whilst waiting I saw Bucket and Sags, half of the LPU choir. We caught up a little bit and had a bit of a chat. Was fun then we got queued up and waited for the guys to arrive. After a little while and a security scare, the guys arrived and we got ready to meet them. I brought my REANIMATION booklet to be signed by the guys, which means I’ve not got the EP, HT and REANIMATION signed. In November I’ll get METEORA signed then I’m got all four signed. W00t. So yeah, it was finally my turn, and I was insistent on taking photos this time. 8 LP shows, 2 M&Gs and no photos? Not again. First up Dave – we asked how each other were, and he signed my cover. I don’t think he recognised me – oh wells. Next up was Rob, he was pretty quiet with me, just signed the album, got thanked then moved on. Chester was next, and was his usual happy self, and he was happy to see me, which was cool. Brad and Joe sorta signed my album then didn’t say much, again they were quiet with me, although Becky’s gummy bears went down well with them both. Mike was the final member, and I was more interested in what he had to say to Becky’s question. She asked him could she lick his nipples – lmfao. He blushed in embarrassment and laughed. She said if she didn’t ask me and three people behind me would dump her head in the toilet. Lies! Lol, was still funny though. He just laughed, said no and said you don’t have to be dunked now. Mike signed my album and that was that! Another album signed – yay.

Blinkin’

Well, after the M&G, we made our way down to the far left front side of the main stage for Blink 182. They were pretty good, an 8. They had girls flashing them and they made a point of it, but she was hardly a model – erk. They played a few new songs that weren’t anything special but still, got everyone psyched up for Linkin Park. Soon as Blink left, me and the other LPU’ers made our way forward to the left of the stage, first few rows. LP came out and stole the day’s show IMHO. They played mainly METEORA songs, with a few from Hybrid Theory too. They also played the Pushing Me Away remix that usually features Stephen Richards from Taproot (good friend of Mike’s) , but Mike covering instead. It was a nice surprise and kicked ass. They played around with By Myself (my favourite song of the moment) and then to finish, Aaron Lewis from Stain’d (another good friend of LP’s) helped LP sing on One Step Closer.

Groovy.

Oh and Mike asked all the guys to take their shirts off, so of course I obliged and spent most of the night half-naked. Hmmm, chilly. I hung out with Becky a bit more, and was hoping she’d come back to the tent with me, Bee, Shellie and Tanisha, but no, she went back to her own instead. Nevermind, eh? I didn’t really even get to say goodbye, but I did manage to PM her a few days later thanking her for the weekend. Which was nice.

Final Stop - Sunday