Summer Snippets

Wowzer! Another rather large crater-sized hole has appeared in my apparent blogathon – turns out I’m really busy/ever-so-slightly lazy at times.

Rate then…let me think…

June started incredibly well and brought one of my university-defining weekends in the form of a road trip down to Zoe’s beautiful home in deepest rural Oxfordshire. Lounging by the (chlorine-free) pool by day and partying in the Moroccan-themed marquee-bo by night, we had an incredible feel-good weekend which allowed us to relax and laugh amongst friends new and old.

Amongst the the new variety, I’d like to proclaim Luke Sutton and Tim Smith to be absolute dudes and that it was an honour partying with them. Luke and Tim form a DJ double act under the alias of ‘Pardon My French’ who delve into disco, radio, house and putting on parties, amongst other great stuff. Rumour has it that they are going to turn their beds into bunk beds to give them so much extra space in their room to do activities.

After an awesome summer incorporating multiple Glastonbury sets, Glade, Wireless and Big Chill Festivals, it’d be real swell to get them up Leeds come the Autumn.

http://www.pardonmyfrenchradio.co.uk

Armagudden proved to be another great send off for everyone. The Faversham bash (followed by a HiFi riot) raised about £150 for the Sue Crawford Memorial Fund and provided some pant-wetting fun for all.

I’d like to thank everyone who showed up, danced and donated, particularly those who performed on the night; Liam Klimek provided a great Silver Hips set who was followed by Adam Watts, Lauren Young, Tom Speed and a very special guest appearance from Hannah Reid who played a classic set against the odds. Following Ollie Hyde-Mobbs, Speed and Phil Doig closed the first phase of the night with a crowd-pleasing debauched set before everyone stumbled into HiFi and beyond.

For those of you harassed by Simon Lawrenson throughout the night – good news! Everyone looks awesome in the video and whilst there are no definite plans for the video’s release, there will be semi-regular showings at 10 Royal Park Grove from September.

To add to the money raised at Armagudden, Simon Lawrenson, Dan Pittaway and I ran the mammoth 10 kilometre running race around Leeds with great aplomb. Si ran a great time in his St. Helens shirt whilst Dan and I both finished well under an hour and would have run faster if it weren’t for the pesky crowds.

Next time…next time we start at the front.

Luckily, none of us pulled, caught or tripped over anything, which left us green-lit all the way to Glastonbury with a full bill of health on the following Wednesday.

If ever there was a plan that came together, it was Project: Glasto’11. A special mention to Andy Fairbro and especially Dan for creating a logistical master plan meaning that our base in South Park was home to nearly 30 friendly faces which was the basis for an incredible 5 days. My highlights included:

•The sheer high of The Chemical Brothers
•The wow-ness of being on Si’s shoulders during a euphoric White Lies performance
•Camping out by the Other Stage with The Kills, Jimmy Eat World and Friendly Fires
•Biffy Clyro’s triumphant assault on the Pyramid Stage
•Our time with Erol and Skream in the Beat Hotel
•Thursday night at Stone Circle.

As nice as it was to be with everyone for Beyonce’s closing performance (which despite its mid-set lull was brilliant), I do kinda regret not seeing Queens of the Stone Age.

It would have taken a lot to better Glasto ’10 but I think that maybe (just maybe), it just about did.

The dreaded Hogwarts vacation came around very quickly having returned from Glastonbury. We left ourselves just a few days to pack up another year of Leeds life, clean and get out of there. Hogwarts will hold some hella-good memories for me and many others and ending an era was brought about with heavy hearts.

But it was back to Hyde Park via a jolly good outing to Milton Keynes to see Jimmy Eat World and Biffy Clyro (for the second time in a few days) along with Foo Fighters. It was a pretty special day. Although the ridiculous ‘golden circle’ prevented us being close to the action, me, Michael, Wags, brother Gary, Matthew, Ben and Chris enjoyed the Wembley-defeating set from the hillside.

My over-sensitive post-Glastonbury emotions got the better of me during ‘Everlong’ and ‘Best of You’, where there was some fully blown child-like blubbering for the latter. Bit embarrassing, like, but nobody seemed to notice. Manhood: saved. Ish.

Not booking the following day off work, however, was the biggest mistake since slavery. It took 3 hours to get out of the car park once the Foos had left stage right to a mass of fireworks, which preceded a drive to Northampton to drop off Gary’s old university chum Chris before finally getting onto the M1.

At 5am, I finally got my head down for an hour’s blissful sleep before getting the hell up and getting a bus back to work in Leeds. It wasn’t very nice but it was so worth it. Thanks to Gary Wood for his late night driving tekkers.

Alas, moving back to Hyde Park has been ruddy, bloody great so far. Adam, Si and myself have slotted very nicely into our Royal Park Grove gaff and with Andy due whenever he has stopped gallivanting around the British festival circuit, we’re in for a great year.

Alan and Mary came to visit this weekend (joy) and have added their names to an already impressive Royal Park Grove guestbook. The weekend involved a rekindled love for ‘Ring of Fire’, Hyde Park Unity Day, The Music, Hifi, Wire and my friend Rachel Huneker who was visiting from The Netherlands. Having met at Pukkelpop in 2008, it’s been a good 2 years since I’ve seen her and it’s fair to say we had a blast.

This weekend, me, Alice, Nick and Brooke are going to see Vintage Trouble at the Bolton Brow Working Mens Club in Sowerby Bridge which I’m well looking forward to. They gave the most enjoyable performance of the series on Later with Jools Holland and should be great in a tiny venue.

Vintage Trouble - Hand Me Down Blues - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsw4ipHcMvY

Speaking of Alice, the lushly Alice Phelps introduced me to Dinosaur Pile Up’s Harry Johns before their gig at The Brudenell a couple of weeks back. I told Harry of what happened to Alice Marns during their set at Live at Leeds where a moment of over-excitement during ‘Birds and Planes’ left Marns with a broken ankle (my bad).

Harry and the boys thought it was a great story (it is, after all, pretty darn rock and roll) and very kindly Facebooked Alice to offer her guest list to see Cage the Elephant/Dinosaur Pile Up in October. Every cloud and all that…

In a further twist to this whole story, as I sit here in the O2 Academy Box Office listening to a very loud Japanese Voyeurs, one Harry Johns rocks up on the guestlist and I’m able to thank him first hand for his awesomeness.

I’m waiting for the signal to close the doors and get in to meet Si and watch that hairy Anglo-American called Slash.

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