Not eaten since before Rolf, so was getting a bit peckish. Nothing in mind either. I could have quite gone for what Jo had (the Tacos). I wandered around one of the roads, taking in all the sights and sounds again. Mmmmmm, definitely Mexican. A quick assessment and decision made. A big tray of chilli beef on rice with cheese and sour cream. £6, thankyou very much. Very tasty it was too. Certainly filled me up.
Next up.... Vampire Weekend. Big fan, so wanted to see them play the Pyramid. I had tentatively arranged to meet Hannah & Vicky there, but they were working until 6pm with the band playing at 6.30. Didn’t leave much time for a shower etc
In the end I watched the band by myself – well, me and 30-40,000 others. Really good set and the crowd got into it. A good timeslot for them with the sun going down in the sky.
After this, I fancied seeing Delphic, another fave band of the moment. They were playing one of the dance tents, so a gentle stroll across the Pyramid area. Nowhere near as busy as earlier and lots of people moving about as it was the end of a set.
The main drag from the Pyramid area was quite interesting. It followed the rout of a power line. Camping field on the right although I’m not sure which one it was as I don’t have a map with me. On the left hand side, your usual stalls. One area called something like Cocktail Delight. This was like a mini club. I think they had karaoke there in the evenings, but I didn’t find time to pay a visit. Further along was a fully fitted salon. Hair dressing, make-up, nails the works! Quite busy too. Further still was a place that you could have pre-ordered camping stuff and picked it up at the time. Lots of people making use of the service.
Towards the end of this route and it split up leaving the John Peel tent to the right and the Dance Village to the left.
I was still quite early for Delphic, so had a good wander round. Loads of people having fun. I grabbed a quick cider. Surprised to see the bar really empty, but it was early.
Both East Dance and West Dance tents had things on. One was significantly busier than the other, but can’t remember who was playing. I had a wander into the quieter tent and had a listen.
I really like dance music, but my taste is more for trancy, house type stuff. This was quite hardcore, and fast.
Twenty minutes of wandering and I’d had enough really, so decided to have a wander away from here. The beauty of having non-rigid plans. Rather than spend another half hour or so waiting, go off and do something else.
I headed off to an area behind the other stage. Loads of folk wandering around and I had a sit down and just people watched.
9-ish now, so I set off again. Round to the cider bus area, stopping on the way to watch whoever was playing at the bandstand. It is what it says, a small bandstand!
Grabbed another cider from the bus and had a slow walk into the Pyramid area. The view I’d got earlier was quite good for Vampire Weekend, so I went for the same area.
Half an hour so to go, so I had a sit down. After a short while, I got a buzz from Andy asking where I was. He was towards the back of the field near a large tree, so quite a way to go.
Make it through he did though and we settled in for the Gorillaz set. I’m quite a fan and got their albums, including their latest. Andy not very familiar at all. Should have a balanced view then.
There was quite a few people leaving during the set, that’s fair to say. I think they expected sort of a “greatest hits” and that’s what it wasn’t. A lot of tracks were from their latest album, Plastic Beach, which is a cracker. Hence why all the big guests too – Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bobby Womack. They even dragged Shaun Ryder on. Then to finish with Snoop Dog really rounded it off nicely. I thought it was a great performance, although I can see why others didn’t like it. Andy enjoyed it a lot too.
“What shall we do?” Best have a beer and we made for one of the bars that was quite close. The crowd leaving a main stage at the end of the night is something to behold. I think the phrase “go with the flow” works well.
We dived to the side though and grabbed a beer. Various randoms stopped to have a natter, as seems to be par for the course. One guy in particular told us loads about why he was there and how last year he’d came with his ex-wife and his new wife hadn’t know about it. He must have noticed my raised eyebrow. “No, don’t get me wrong, I still can’t stand the bitch, but we just came here together”. Like I said before, you can’t make it up.
And that, ladies & gentlemen, brings us to the end of the first official day of the festival. Myself and Andy decided to turn in, relatively, early. Back at the tents for 12.30 and ready for the next day....
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