On Saturday 24th August, 2002, I had the best day of my life! I went to Reading Festival for the day, and below is my whole unedited version of the Day! (maybe not that suitable for kids!!):
Before we got there:
Sita, Kate and Elle, the friends I was going with, had stayed over the night before. Elle didn't know Kate and Sita, but she got on quite well with them and I was feeling quite optimistic as we woke up, called my aunt (who very kindly agreed to take us there- thank you!), got everything together and set off. A couple of hours later, we found ourselves walking down to the site. It was miles and miles from the train station, and we had to buy a map to find our way down! (then again, we may just be stupid!) There was another massive queue to get it and get our wristbands, then we settled down on the grass to watch the first band...
Sahara Hotnights
Well, I had never heard of Sahara Hotnights before. But they were okayish... I mean, they didn't have much rapport with the crowd but they played some good songs, and they actually managed to have a bit of a crowd despite the 'early' hour!! There was this old-looking man with a Sahara Hotnights T-shirt on, bopping his head up and down... he looked really out of place! Maybe he was their dad or something...
Vex Red
We decided to just hang about in front of the main stage... and I'm glad we did!! Vex Red were fuckin' amazing! They drew a massive crowd and I got my first moshpit experience... although I have to say I was more than a little scared of the 'circle pit' thing... what the hell??!! Basically, Kate and Elle didn't want to go in the moshpit, so me and Sita went in together. Then the 'circle pit' thing started, where basically a circle (hence the name!) of people start running around and around kicking out and stuff. Me and Sita kept finding ourselves in the middle of one!! It was truly terrifying! But the rest was quite good fun anyway.
Andrew WK
Uhhh... I think we got bored at this point... I don't remember Andrew WK. I think I went to get some orange juice. It cost �2 a glass which was really bad because I hate water, so my money ran out pretty quickly!! But we were back for the next Act... (that's me and Sita in the moshpit, Kate and Elle on the edges somewhere)...
Less Than Jake
Less Than Jake were really good as well! Unfortunately the damn circle pit thing had started again, and me and Sita got separated, so I just left and listened from afar. They played a really good set- I'm even listening to one of their songs now!
But unfortunately Sita got a bit mashed in the moshpit... it was quite funny actually, she emerged and walked over to where we were sitting, covered in mud stains, holding her glasses (which someone had kicked off her head while they were crowdsurfing), wearing this 'warrior-has-come-out-of-battle-only-just-alive' kind of look. It was soooo classic!! I wish one of us had remembered to bring the camera!!
A
A were quite good, from what I remember. Elle said we should watch them because her friend Ria liked them, so we did. Also me and Sita wanted to be near the front for Sum 41 (on after the Hives). I liked 'Starbucks'.
About this time I wanted to buy a poster to commemorate the day with. I wanted a T-shirt, but spent all my money on buying fuckin' ORANGE JUICES aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh! Curse my dislike for disgusting warm water!! Well, anyway, I bought one of those yellow posters with all the band names on it. I left it with my aunt (as she was sitting in one spot just reading her book!). Later on, she admitted to me that she'd looked away for a couple of minutes and when she looked back my poster had gone, so she'd bought a replacement, lol.
The Hives
Err... don't know why but my memory of the Hives isn't that clear. I think I was pretty tired after Less Than Jake and A, so I was resting. But I could still hear them and they sounded quite good. Then came Sum 41...
Sum 41
Wow!! I love Sum 41!! And they played a fucking fantastic set!! They really engaged with the crowd, especially Deryck, who taught us the Sum 41 salute (hold up four fingers on your left hand and your 'fuck-you' finger on the right hand). They played all their best songs. By this time my feet were hurting, so I kept falling over. It was really quite cool- everytime me or Sita collapsed the crowd went 'Ahhhh' and stopped and all these fit guys with no tops on hauled us onto our feet again. ahhh, dreamy... *tongue lolls out*... Err, yes, where was I??? Oh yeah, the next band...
Ash
Well, I bought Ash's third album a long long time ago... so to finally see them live was really amazing! I was standing a little way out and singing (I sing REALLY badly) so everyone was staring at me. Well, hello, how is it my fault if I know all the lyrics?? lol. Anyway...
Muse
Well, Kate Hiley really loved Muse... one of the reasons she came. And I have to say, when I saw them they blew me away. They were soooo good live, and also, hello, Matt Bellamy who would say no??!! They played 'Plug In Baby', which was the only song I'd heard before. It started to rain, which kind of added to the atmosphere in a way 'cos Muse's songs have all got this gloomy feel about them. Elle was standing next me and decided to comment loudly, "That front guy (Matt Bellamy) looks a lot like Gareth Gates!" You should have seen the evil glares we got! I was like, "Shut up Elle do you want us to be killed or something?!!?? Crazy chicken!!" but we survived anyway.
Going Home
Then, we had to go home because otherwise we'd miss the last train. So we missed the Foo Fighters. Sita was well upset, she moaned ALL THE WAY HOME. Then we slept for about 5 days!!!! And then I drew this picture on the pc... inspired by my moshpit experience!!
