I turned 16 in May and as my birthday present my parents bought two tickets to Saturday at Hard Rock Calling at Queen Elizabeth Park (The Olympic Village). This was my first big festival and included bands such as Kodaline, Tribes and Kasabian. I'm very tired because we didn't get back until about 3:30 this morning but I loved every minute!
- 14th May - My 16th birthday, I knew that my Mum had bought me tickets to something and she didn't disappoint me. As soon as I saw Kasabian I was instantly excited. There were two tickets so I just had to find someone to take.
- The rest of May - I lost track of time a bit because of exams but eventually asked my friend Jack to come with me because I know he would appreciate the music there. He is an Air Cadet and so got a lot of hassle for not going to Armed Forces Day which was also yesterday (June 29th) so initially had to turn me down. I was starting to panic because all my other friends had things to do elsewhere and couldn't change the plan because of the short notice. He eventually said that Cadets could get stuffed and asked if he could cme again. My Mum did have to buy a ticket too because Jack isn't 16 until August and we didn't want to risk not getting in but game on!
- 29th June - Early start - Jack's parents drove us all to the bus station in Leicester and we got on the coach no problem, just sit back and enjoy the ride we thought...
- 29th June - The Journey - We stopped at Tottington Services and a jobsworth decided to inspect the bus where he discovered our drivers were a few hours over the driving limit and so could not drive us any further. WE WERE THERE FOR THREE HOURS waiting for two new coaches to complete the journey and just our luck it was the day the weather had to perk up so you where either sitting in a very bright, fag smoke filled car park or a sauna of a bus (and I didn't have sunglasses). A bus eventually came and it was great because the bus was very old and when we got on they were playing ABBA on the radio which cheered most people up!
- 29th June - Kodaline - We got there and it was fine, we fond our spot just as Kodaline were coming on and sunbathed for a while. Kodaline were very good, I'm only just getting into them but I was very excited about seeing them, they were good with the crowd being lazy and not responding much because it was the start of the festival and very hot and seemed to enjoy themselves a lot!
- 29th June - Twin Atlantic - Next came Twin Atlantic. Twin Atlantic are a band I don't like anyway but I went away from the day hating them. I have always felt they are Biffy Clyro wannabes who just make noise not actual music but they are also a bunch of arseholes. The lead singer was getting to wound p at the crowd because they weren't clapping that much: 1. It is 3ish in the afternoon, 2. It's boiling, 3. You're just a warm up, not the headliner, 4. These people were probably just as shattered as I was, they have all just travelled here from all over, sorry that an hour in all they want to do is sleep!
- 29th June - Tribes - We gave up on them halfway through the set and went of to the Pepsi Max Stage to wait for Tribes. Tribes were awesome! Johnny Lloyd doesn't take himself too seriously which I thought was really nice to see. They band have just released their second studio album "Wish To Scream" and have been non-stop since. Tribes are a band who I'd recommend to see live and will definitely be buying some tickets to see them as soon as possible.
- 29th June - Paul Weller - My Dad is a massive Weller fan and was gutted that he couldn't come and see him. He would probably be gutted if he knew that during Paul's set we decided to get dinner instead of watching that much. I'll be honest, I haven't listened to as much of the Jam as my Dad would like and I haven't listened to any of Weller's solo stuff either so we were sat there like lemons but I did enjoy the music. Like Johnny Marr, Paul Weller hasn't lost anything as he has aged. We did have a dance to "That's Entertainment" though.
- 29th June - KASABIAN - Ok then, this is the bit my parents bought the tickets for because in my house Kasabian are Gods. I saw them at Brixton last year and they were great but it was really good to see them at a festival because the amount of people was INSANE! The whole thing was like one big party, nobody cared about who anyone was - everyone was just a Kasabian fan and everybody loved everyone for that. There were a few people who were past it when it came to the drinking at that point but nobody minded that much. There was a couple who decided to run through the crowd and tripped over our bags sending them flying, the girl got a bit winded but they were fine I think...
