I’m so glad we decided to go to One Big Weekend because it pretty much rocked!

As I mentioned in my previous entry I had this feeling it was all going to go a bit Pete Tong but actually, every thing went as smoothly as it could, hurrahz.

We got up ridiculously early (10am, and that is early when you keep the kind of hours Gav and I usually do!), got ready and set off at around 11.30am. I was expecting to get near the city centre and then be stuck in a load of traffic for ages, but it was straight through. We went into the free car park at the bus station expecting the spaces to be long since gone but miraculously we managed to get one. When we got to the station a shuttle bus was sat ready and waiting for us and about 1 minute after getting on it, it set off. It wasn’t far and again there was no queues of traffic. We arrived at Moore Park at around 1.15pm. Radio 1 had been making a big deal about all this security they were going to be having there, bring ID yada yada & the tickets had a big long list of items you were prohibited from bringing with you (food, drink, umbrellas). So I was expecting a bag search & having to prove it was me who won the tickets…but none of that happened, we were just straight in…brief glance at the tickets then in ya go. So I guess all of that was BS, just to try and stop people buying and selling the tickets on eBay!

Any way, when we first arrived we headed straight into the main tent where Calvin Harris was already on stage, we stood and listened briefly and then went for a wander to see what else was around. First thing we noted was the toilets - I’d had 3 wees before we left my house so that I’d hopefully never have to use them :whip: - There was a signing tent which I stupidly thought was a ‘lost persons’ type area, aka if you get lost go and ’sign in’ there. I then of course realised it was a ’signing tent’, aka where you go to meet the bands and DJs etc :blush:

Pictuuuurrrreeeeesssss

This was where we met the first idiot of the day…thankfully there was only a handful…most folks were lovely (the amount of people who apologised after standing in front of me and offer to move was sweet, though I told them all not to worry…I am so short it makes no difference, I can’t see much any way :laugh:). Now bare in mind we are in a packed park, you can hardly walk forward in a straight line without bumping into someone or doing the ‘ooops-i’ll move to the left-crap they moved to the left too-I’ll move to the right-CRAP they moved to the right too-OK now I won’t move, let them-CRAAAAAP they had the same idea’ dance with people, so this one chick is stood on a wheelie bin acting the fool and her friend wants to take a picture, so she gets out her camera, gets her friend in shot and then starts walking backwards, without even looking - so she crash banged straight into Gav, I continued walking in my straight line which means I walked directly in front of her and her camera and she tutting right in my ear, at me! I about turned around and slapped her in the damn face, but instead Gav and I just kept walking while calling her a stupid bitch, heh.

Then we had a look at the Dance stage briefly and then went to see what kind of food was available….there seemed to be plenty of choice but it was all very expensive (£6 for a jacket potato and cheese!!). Then we headed in to the In New Music We Trust tent where The Enemy were on stage. We had gone into the tent from the side somehow so we were actually pretty close to the stage, just…very to the left. I recognised one or two of the songs but I aren’t a great fan. When they finished we headed back to the main stage & watched Just Jack and the start of Mark Ronson. Then went back to the In New Music We Trust tent to see MIA…I didn’t even know who she was really, but it was…an interesting experience. So not my kind of music, if you can even call it that…but it was fun to watch, they were jumping about on stage like crazy people, throwing out loads of T Shirts and whistles (”blow your whistles, woot woot, make some noise, blow your whistles, woot woot” :jump: etc) and several large inflatable globes were out in the crowd getting hit around.

After that we went to the beer tent and then had a sit down for a while. It was actually a really nice day, sunny and warm but with a lovely cool breeze (nice to cool off after a hot stuffy tent!), which is awesome considering it had been raining almost none stop for about a week beforehand! It really is a good job it didn’t rain on the day (even though I had rain ponchos in my bag, me = well prepared) because the ground was already pretty muddy and like walking on a sponge, if it had rained we’d have both been covered in mud as neither of us really had sensible shoes on. This is the point when I was so incredibly jealous of all the girls wearing ‘fashion wellies‘ - if only I’d known they exist prior to going. I wanted some so bad, I still want some so bad, but I am going to resist the urge to buy any now…I really couldn’t justify the expense and I’d so only be buying them because they are ‘trendy’ - literally 70% of the girls there were wearing them, and about 50% of the girls there were wearing ‘slag pants‘ as Gav delightfully christened them. I’m not one to mindlessly follow what’s in fashion, but I also don’t cut off my nose to spite my face…if I like something I will buy it…but these are so not practical, they wouldn’t be comfy & I’d almost certainly never get the chance to wear them. So everyone help me out and tell me how ugly they are and how much I don’t want them, pleaaase?

In the time we had been chilling and having a beer Rhianna had been on the main stage, I didn’t have any interest in seeing her at the time but after seeing the video on the website I kinda wish we’d been there. Her latest single (which happens to be called ‘Umbrella’) just got to number 1 so there was a sort of celebration for that where they gave out 100s of umbrellas to the crowd and everyone put them up and waved em about! - Looked like a lot of fun on the video.

Next up we went to see Mika on the main stage and it was great, Mika was my highlight of the day and he’s actually really kinda hot up close and personal. The set was full of energy and the crowd got really into it, plus we somehow managed to get pretty close to the front. I say pretty close, not so much really…we were probably about half way back, but it’s the second closest we managed to get to any act all day! After Mika, The View came on, and I don’t know if it was them, where we were stood or if there was some kind of technical issue…but they sounded baaaaaaad, it was just a load of…noise. So after a few songs we headed outside again. This was when I took my first (and only) venture to the toilets, figured it was a good idea to use them while the queues weren’t too big (because a band was on in both tents at the time). Still was a few minutes queuing though. As soon as I was stood right by them I could smell them :irked: - I almost legged it there and then but decided to brave it. They weren’t actually that bad, not pleasant…not at all…but not as bad as I had imagined.

Then we went to get some food, we made a real ‘human sheep’ mistake…earlier on we had seen lots and lots of people going to this one particular stall, so we assumed it was good and went for it. What a mistake, it was a carvery that was selling pork and beef baguettes. When we got up close we saw it was just like these pits of slop that was being scooped up into these rolls, but we had already ordered at that time and were starving so we went for it. Almost fell over when the guy wanted £10 for them (£5 each) - I was so hungry that I ate it any way, but Gav only had a few bites of his and then threw the rest away. But I am stating that that was the worst.sandwhich.ever - I am still surprised it didn’t kill me, as I am sure that can’t have been hygienic!

When I next looked at the time it was 7.07pm and the Stereophonics were due to start at 7.10pm. The Stereophonics are the main people I had wanted to go and see, so we rushed inside…as much as we could, since every one else had started heading in at the same time. By the time we got in there is was about quarter past and they had already started and we were right at the very back on the tent :duh: We listened to about 2 songs and I was thoroughly enjoying myself, but then I wanted to get a little closer so we started trying to push forward, we only managed to move about 10 feet though because it was jammed & for some reason I couldn’t hear nearly as well as I could a little further back, it was all….echoey, I guess. So something would be said on stage and people would laugh, or cheer or whatever and I’d be like ‘huh’? A new song would start and the crowd would go mental and then about 30 seconds later I’d work out what the heck it was and get excited ‘oooooh it’s Local Boy!!’ :rotfl:.
In addition to this, where we were stood seemed to be just the worst possible place in the world because everyone seemed to want to come through right where I was stood, both people trying to move forward and people trying to move backwards. Now when you are at a gig and it’s packed, it’s expected that people are going to be bumping into you and whatnot, I am sure I bumped into my fair few of people on that day…but when it’s happening literally constantly, people are nearly knocking you off your feet and not even making any attempt to apologised (seriously, it’s like I wasn’t there…just barge barge barge!!) it can’t help but get damn annoying. I finally snapped when this one guy (idiot of the day #2) came and knocked me out of the way, my feet were hurting at the time so I was stood on one foot trying to give the other a rest, and I completely lost my balance and almost ended up on the floor, then I heard this booming voice right in my ear-hole “I’m just following you mate, coming through this lot like a battering ram hahahaha” - so when he then barged me out of the way, I punched the bastard, right between the shoulder blades Thankfully (in retrospect, at the time I was very much up for a scuffle with him!!) he didn’t even react, he either didn’t notice, didn’t care, or whatever :g:

OK so, the bad spot and the barging made it so I didn’t get to enjoy the Stereophonics much…I am still gutted about that because, as I said, they are the main people I wanted to see
After the Stereophonics we went out of the tent and back in on the total other side, in hopes of getting closer etc. By this point my feet were sooooooo killing me, so we sat down for a while (on the rain poncho, I was determined they’d come in handy for something). About 5 minutes before the Kaiser Chiefs were due on and when people started piling in we got up and started trying to find a good position. This was the closest we got to the stage, we were only about 20 ‘lines’ back and then off to the left and we were stood right in front of a ginormous plasma, so you’d think I had a good view, right? wrong! I suppose one of the advantages of being a little further back is that people aren’t quite so packed together as they are up front. I had too many people stood in front of me to be able to see the stage (short arse here, remember?) and believe it or not I couldn’t even see the damn plasma, despite it being right in front of me and being about 50 feet high! I had some girl stood in front of me who was jigging about like a mad woman, so whenever I did manage to find a wee gap to see it through she moved again and blocked me, so eventually I just gave up. So, while they were on I couldn’t see anything but could hear well and was enjoying the music a lot (although my feet really were hurting more than I thought it was humanly possible for feet to hurt without causing death!!) so at the same time as enjoying it, I was willing for it to be over. At one point Mr Kaiser Chief scaled the bloomin rigging stuff, he was hanging on right at the top singing away - this was the only time I could actually see him so I was glad he did it, but at the same time I felt really old because the main thing I was thinking was ‘oh get down you silly sausage, you might hurt yourself!!’ :glasses:

When it finally finished at 9,15pm we started heading out, I really wanted to sit down, just for a minute…but since like 18000 people were heading for the same exit that wasn’t going to be possible, I would have been trod on to death. So just had to suck it up and get out of there. I was expecting this to take ages, 18000 people leaving at once…but we were straight out. Then I expected to have to wait ages for a shuttle bus, but the whole road had been blocked off to all other traffic and there was literally a fleet of about 15 buses waiting. So we were straight on and back at the bus station, then I was expecting it to take about 1 hour to get out of the car park but again, no problem. Have to give them credit for how completely well organised the whole thing was. Within about 15 minutes of the Kaiser Chiefs saying ‘Thank you and good night’ we were on the road home!

On the way home we were listening to Radio 1, where they were talking about the day and playing some of the sets etc. It reminded me that we never got to saw Scott Mills, he’s my favourite Radio 1 DJ, I listen to him every day between 4pm - 7pm. We did get to see Chris Moyles, JK and Joel, Jo Wiley and Edith Bowman though :):)

We finally arrived home at about 11pm I think, we were both totally wiped out and were snoozing away on the couch within about 30 minutes.

So that’s it…my One Big Weekend 2007 review. Congratulations if you read all of that, I hope it was interesting lol

Oh and PS my feet still haven’t fully recovered, I can only be stood up for about 10 minutes before they are killing me again.

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