Having been to one day of V in 1997 and one day of Leeds the previous year, I thought it was time to take the stabilisers off and go to an actual entire festival. Mike, Sug and I talked about it and decided to get weekend tickets for The Carling Weekend: Leeds (!) when they first came out. I've been to Leeds most years since it started in 1999, but I don't think I've ever been as excited about a line-up. Every week I'd check the NME to find that more of my favourite bands had been added. Oasis (who I still had a soft spot for), The Wannadies, Asian Dub Foundation, Gorkys, Ian Brown, Primal Scream and three acts I was obsessed with at the time: Idlewild, Elliott Smith and the Super Furry Animals were all playing, along with bands like Foo Fighters and Rage Against The Machine who I thought were decent. It was like the promoters had booked bands based on my CD collection. And then I got ill. Excellent.
Even when I was busy chucking up, losing ALL the weight and being scared to death by my doctor's frequent use of the word 'cancer', I followed news about Leeds as best I could. Quite apart from the fact that I didn't want to miss such a good bill, the weekend ticket cost £80 plus booking fee, which was a huge amount of money to me at the time. After a few weeks of bed ridden horribleness I was sure I wouldn't be able to go, but eventually I started to feel better... Although I still wasn't completely over my illness, I played my first show with Novacain for two months, the week before Leeds and decided that I was BALLY WELL going to the festival. Even though I'd decided not to camp and couldn't drink alcohol, I was determined to have a good time. Screw you stomach disease thing.
On the first day of the festival I got up at 8.30 and waited for everyone to arrive. As well as Mike and Suggy, my friend Chem and her then boyfriend Graham had decided to join us for the day. They didn't have tickets and Mike and Sug wanted to get a good spot to camp, so we planned to set off early. Instead we watched cartoons and drank coffee until 11. Good effs.
Sug was Battle Ready, in old clothes with a tent and sleeping bag strapped to his back with a piece of rope. When we stopped for a Greggs opposite the Town Hall, he asked a passer by if she wanted to buy a Big Issue. She did not.
We managed to jump the huge queue for the bus thanks to Chem's friend Jody, who'd saved us a space. Chem also bought a day ticket for £20 from a guy selling it on behalf of his son.
Traffic was horrendous when we got near Temple Newsam and the majority of passengers on our bus got off and started walking after five minutes without any movement. It was lots of fun passing them as our bus sailed straight to the entrance a few minutes later.
After Graham bought a ticket from one of several booths set up near the car park, we headed for the colour-coded campsites. We spent a couple of hours wandering round 'Yellow' before finally pitching the tent in 'Red'.
An hour later we finally got to see some music, in the shape of Daphne and Celeste. I'm a sucker for stupid bubblegum pop and I was STOKED that they were a late addition to the bill. This wasn't a view shared by most people at the site. Support bands can bring out the worst in music 'fans' and there was a slightly menacing air of knuckle-dragging misogyny around Temple Newsam as Daphne and Celeste bounded onto the stage. Boos rang out and a few bottles were thrown, but the duo looked unfazed and sang their slightly annoying little hearts out. When it became clear that they weren't going to make a pair of teenage girls cry, the more hostile members of the crowd drifted away and the rest of us were left to enjoy pop classics like "Ooh Stick You" and "Ugly". Which we did. Or at least I did.
Daphne and Celeste received a much harsher reception at Leeds' sister event Reading, the following day. Reading had been known as a 'rock' festival, so its patrons felt more threatened by two girls singing along to a backing
track.
track.
We watched Blink 182 next, who were decent enough despite the sound being crap. "What's My Age Again?" was still ace and the other songs were still not quite as good "What's My Age Again?"
Rage Against The Machine played a slightly lacklustre set afterwards (hardly surprising given that they split a month later). I was only 12 when their début album came out, but I remember watching the first play of "Bulls On Parade" on Mtv Europe when I was in the final year at school and being blown away, so it was great to see them live, even if they were going through the motions.
Rage Against The Machine played a slightly lacklustre set afterwards (hardly surprising given that they split a month later). I was only 12 when their début album came out, but I remember watching the first play of "Bulls On Parade" on Mtv Europe when I was in the final year at school and being blown away, so it was great to see them live, even if they were going through the motions.
After watching a bit of Ed Byrne's routine in the comedy tent I ended up having a coffee with Chem and Graham in an attempt to get out of the rain. They weren't bothered about seeing Elliott Smith so I went to watch him on my own. The Evening Session tent wasn't that full so I walked to the front and watched the show from a few rows back. Smith seemed pleased to be at the festival and chatted to the crowd between tracks. As the rain tapped on the canvas above and lightning cracked outside, he played a career spanning set. The songs sounded more intimate and less polished than they did on record. I only really knew the tracks from his most recent album, 'Figure 8', but it was still one of the most mesmerising performances I'd seen, and was certainly the highlight of the festival for me. I pretty much exclusively listened to Elliott Smith for two months afterwards, buying his earlier albums with my student loan. When he died in 2003 I felt a genuine sense of shock and sadness. It's hard to explain how much his music has meant to me over the years, I'm just extremely glad that I got to see him play.
By the time I'd met back up with Chem and Graham and we'd found Mike and Sug, The Stereophonics had started their headline set on the main stage. We watched a bit of their lumpen FM rock before heading to the Evening Session tent for Ian Brown. We were all massive Stone Roses fans and were excited about seeing him, even if he refused to play any Roses songs at this point in his solo career. The tent was so full I couldn't really see the stage, but I still enjoyed the show. He played all his solo singles (with the exception of "Can't See Me") and actually managed to sing in tune most of the time. Which was nice.
Chem, Graham and I said goodnight to Mike and Sug afterwards, then trekked through the mud and puddles to the bus. Unfortunately we managed to miss the queue and got lost. After walking for an hour and a half we found ourselves on the road back to town and managed to flag down a cab.
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