A great day with Foals smashing it…until someone smashed it (the barrier) and the evening ended abruptly
Having failed to obtain Glastonbury tickets, Ste and I decided we’d invest in seeing Foals at this local festival. We couldn’t both make the Saturday (which had a good line up), so we just did the Friday. We only really wanted to see Foals, although Anteros were a bonus. It seemed quite pricey, although the Foals headline show in Leeds wasn’t much less, so we just got on with it.
We both managed to get a couple of hours off work and Ste was putting me up for the night, so drinks were in order. We definitely had a few. When we arrived at around 5pm, The Pale White were on stage. After getting the beers in, we caught about 20 minutes of a decent set in the glorious sunshine. The beers were £5 for a pint of Moretti, but there was an offer of £18 if you got 4. It would have been rude not to. Sadly there was no ale, which seemed like a missed opportunity with the Wylam brewery located just behind the main stage.
We drank our pints and hung around for Nothing But Thieves to start. We weren’t particularly familiar with this outfit, but after about 30 seconds we knew they weren’t for us and set about getting some food.
A mixed chicken and donner schwartz warp with salad and chips (in the wrap) was has we rolled. Garlic and chilli sauce were piled in and we consumed a substantial & messy wrap knowing that it might not have been the best, but it was going to do some essential alcohol soaking. Cold Years were on the small stage next to the kebab van, so we stayed and watched. A decent Scottish rock band with a reasonable size audience. They had a selection of female groupies who were intent on getting the crowd moving. One of them decided to get a partied out man to dance. He staggered up and decided he would get his now back by picking her up. At this point I suspect she regretted involving him as this action revealed a curious lack of bra under her loose belly top. Moving on…
A couple more pints to buy (well…another 4). This time it was Carlsberg(?) as the bar we went to didn’t have Moretti. We then took to the slightly bigger stage and enjoyed some Kawala. I’d not heard this group before, but I really enjoyed them. Their delicate sounds struggled to compete with the sound smash emerging from Nothing But Thieves on the main stage, but it was still good.
Ste and I both had a slight drinking problem here, with Ste swilling beer down his front and me clapping with a beer underarm, finding it sloshing generously on my shirt and hoodie. With the sun going down, it would be fair to say I remained damp for much of the evening.
Anteros were up next. They were really good. Having just seen them last month, the set was very similar, but they milked the medium size audience very well. I said last time that the lead singer is a great stage presence and a superb front woman. She looked like she was enjoying herself (as did the rest of the band) and that made for a perfect early evening set.
There was another partied out bloke at this one, crashing into anyone and everyone and loosing his pint early in the set. His mates looked on with embarassment.
Another 4 pint (back to Moretti) purchase followed and an opportunity for some photos.
We caught the end of the You Me At Six set. Again, a band we weren’t familiar with. They actually sounded quite good, but I’m not convinced they are for me.
As the last rays of sun were peeping through, Foals took to the stage.
They were fantastic. Great tune after great tune. This band have pretty much improved with every album and the set is now filled with amazing tunes that are instantly recognisable. The set opened with the awesome On The Luna and flicked immediately into Mountain At My Gates. What a start.
We worked our way relatively close at one point, before another pint proved too tempting (this time just one each). More great numbers followed, including My Number and then things started to go wrong.
At the end of Providence, the band announced that they had to leave the stage for 10-15 minutes as the front safety barriers needed to be fixed. About 20 minutes later they returned to the stage and romped through Spanish Sahara and In Degrees.
Sadly, that was where it ended. A ten song set. Foals had to announce that for safety reasons they couldn’t go on. Seems a shame that it was the band who had to announce that, but it probably prevented much backlash. People just turned and started to leave. A disappointing end to what had been a great day.
We left with the goal of having another pint. Probably an error, but we had a nice pint of Wylam’s Hickey The Rake in The Trent pub. I think I realised I was pretty smashed at this point. I know I had to really focus when ordering. Ste was still outside at this point talking to a guy who blamed Foals for not carrying on quoting that “no one has ever died at a festival”. I had indicated he was a bit wrong, noting Roskilde as the first one that came to mind. He countered with “not in the UK”. Still wrong, but never mind.
The rest of the night is a little hazy. We tried to get a metro home before realising (after travelling on one) that all metros terminated before we needed it too. We possibly bought another unnecessary ticket before getting a taxi. I slept in the taxi. We got a cup of tea and some toast at Ste’s place. We managed to burn the toast and set off the smoke alarms, putting the shits up a sleeping Amy, but fortunately not disturbing the kids.
The following day required coffee and donuts.
A Gig A Month 2015-2022 