August 31, 2005

One last view of Reading Festival

I really enjoyed the music at Reading. I also enjoyed the people. It wasn’t too muddy and I didn’t get sunburnt; the food was moderate to shite; my feet hurt quite a lot by the end of the day; but dammit if it wasn’t a really, really good three days. My main observation is that lo! going to festivals can be really good fun.
Our pre-festival preparation consisted of obtaining music by many of the bands that we didn’t know well, because we felt that we would enjoy it more if we were familiar with lots of the music. This is how we knew we were going to love Maximo Park, but also how we found ourselves disappointed by British Sea Power. Here is a picture of BSP and their stupid tree-waving fans:

silly trees


The other thing I really wasn’t prepared for was the high incidence of underwear showage. Now I know that for ages, boys have been wearing their jeans low around the arse with a couple of inches of grubby designer label showing – quite a foolish look, I’m sure you will agree. But I didn’t know that this was now a common look for girls as well. Which is okay when your arse looks like this:

i heart ny

But not okay when your arse looks like this:

wide arse

or indeed this:

should've seen the one that got away

I was also mildly entertained by all the individuals present. You know the ones: rebellious, pierced, dressed all in black. Don’t give a shit about nothin’. Very unfairly treated by parents [even those for whom tickets were clearly purchased by mummy and daddy]. Favourite t-shirt slogan: demand the right to be unique.
The whole place was thoroughly branded by Carling, which the little darlings didn’t seem to mind at all; consumer ethics are only useful when they don’t apply to the things we all want to consume, such as music. Only the soft drinks and half pints were served in cups advertising Ethical Threads, which gives you some idea of the target market for those items. Real beer drinkers want t-shirts that weren’t just made in sweatshops, they’re printed using the blood and sweat of chinese children. Oh yeah.
Seriously, these kids couldn’t even pick up their own litter. After three days, they were happily sitting on the dusty grass in a sea of their own filth. None of the bins were full, not because they were regularly emptied, but because no-one put anything in them.

sea of litter

In summary, Reading was ace, not least because I could feel superior whenever I wasn’t enjoying the music. Also because of Pete’s beard.

beard
Karen

11 thoughts on “One last view of Reading Festival

  1. My lips look so pink. Is anybody else seeing that? Or is it just as a result of the crispness of my new 19″ LCD monitor?

    Pete on August 31, 2005
  2. Your contrast is borked. Either your personal contrast, or that of your monitor. You decide.

  3. Probably that of my monitor. I’m terrible at setting up monitors. If anyone can help me in any way, I’d be most appreciative.

    Pete on August 31, 2005
  4. Press buttons randomly until it looks right – always worked for me.
    By the way, I’ve always wanted to know why the cucumber in your design is pink.

  5. those leopard print undies just took that low-jeans look to a whole new level of wrong.
    by the way, nice beard, pete.

  6. The beard improves by the day. That photo above doesn’t show it in its best light at all.

  7. I’m happy to offer regular beard updates. Also there’s a nice one on flickr.

  8. Are we to guess which one is Karen? And which one is you? (I have you down as a New York kinda guy…)

  9. Gordon, the one with the beard is Pete. I was holding the camera, therefore none of them are me. I like to keep my knickers on the inside of my jeans.

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