DownInTheGround wrote:I can draw a few conclusions from this weekend. Firstly, I don't like camping. Secondly, this was in a nice part of the world. Thirdly, if the live DVD is anything like this show, it might be worth buying, or watching on YouTube or whatever.
Having never set up a tent before, I borrowed a deluxe "colour coded" monster that would take "twenty" minutes to put up. An hour and a half later we had a lop-sided mess of canvas and ropes, cleverly set up next to the loudest generator on Earth. Naturally we put up a sign that read "we will put up your tent for £500" we got no takers and even fewer laughs. Our hideous tent was filled with none of the necessities that everyone else seemed to have thought logical. After a Friday night of so-so tribute acts, Saturday arrived with that honey-glazed excitement that only a Pogues show can deliver.
As the monsoon forced water into our "porch" we passed an hour or so doing Danny Dyer impressions and trying to improve on the best football pun based band name (Jimmy Floyd HasselBaind) our best effort was Les Ferdiband. The Go! Team seemed cool, and pumped the growing crowd in the sun with endless instrument changes and dancing and skipping. We Are Lab Technicians did nothing for me. I then had my traditional pre-show chlamydia test, kindly provided by our lovely NHS. Then on came the band that based themselves on this very website.
The Pogues put on a great show, almost exactly a year since I last saw them. After seeing a few outdoor shows I haven't been convinced that this always suits them, but Stockton convinced me that it does indeed. The setlist was as above, I missed Chevo singing that one about boats. Spider updated us on the Olympics and it was good to see Andrew whacking the drums as I reckon I read that he had missed some shows. A quick look at the photos seems to show Shane with cuts and a messy shirt and jacket. He sang well, the band played well, I missed the horns, it was probably Amsterdam that I last saw them without the horns and I hadn't realised quite how much I enjoy the horns.
The whole weekend felt like daylight robbery on a Bernie Madoff scale. The cost was about £50 each including three nights, two of my favourite bands, camping, parking and booking fees. The whole town seemed to be involved in some part of the Weekender, fireworks, dancers and some fellow with a deck-chair. I was going to take some photos, but that is not really my scene, you all know what they look like.
Oh, and James were fucking brilliant.
Update, for those who are still worrying. I passed the test, the NHS sent me a lovely letter. Are these guys a regular at festivals? I've never seen one before.
