Finally, the last part...


Sunday morning we got up and were greeted with the fact that the weather looked crap and didn’t look like it would be getting better.
We wandered down to the main arena, Corinne bought more t-shirts and then we decided to go shelter from the rain at the Virgin Mobile Union stage since it was in a big tent. A band called Rebbeca took to the stage and we found ourselves rather liking them. In fact we decided if we could we would spend the whole day in this tent since it was all new music but there were lots of acts we wanted to see that, alas, involved standing outside in the rain. We left the tent and wandered back to main stage with spectacular timing just in time to see the end of Just Jack’s set and him singing Starz in their Eyes. We then stuck around for the Proclaimers. Everyone around us was dancing around and we were managing to avoid the Frisbee style thingys that were flying through the air. I love people watching at gigs too. There was a guy stood near us jumping up and down enthusiastically and then he got on his friends shoulders and danced around. Then he tried to lift his mate onto his shoulder. Corinne and I took a step back just in case it ended badly Alas he never managed to get his friends up onto his shoulders. Eventually the Proclaimers sang 500 Miles, the song everyone had been waiting for and everyone jumped around and forgot it was raining. When they finished, we soon remembered though and decided to join the long line for Cadbury’s hot chocolate with a flake [other hot chocolates are available…] Deciding once again to opt for shelter, we wandered into the Virgin Mobile Union stage in time to see Ghosts. I was very impressed with them. They were great live and their adlibbing between songs was brilliant.


After dragging me out of the tent since I desperately wanted to see the Wombats but they clashed with PYFB we went back to main stage. I stood there for a minute then turned to Corinne, “is he going to sing the song from the Jungle Book? I want him to sing the song from the Jungle Book. I’ve not heard him sing it. He sang it at Glastonbury. Is he going to sing it in his set today?” Corinne didn’t know. His set was amazing as always. It always amuses me, and amazes me, that each time I go see him, more people know the words to more of this songs. It is a far cry from Dundee when it seemed like only Corinne and I knew the words to Last Request. Now you can hear people singing along to most of his set. And you can see on stage that he can’t stop smiling and that he is completely loving all this. I stood there and tried to sent telepathy waves urging him to sing Rainbows as well as the song off of Jungle Book. Clearly the telepathy worked because he sang BOTH! And obviously he sang Last Request. That is the song that I always get lost in and forget it’s raining. I love seeing that he can command large crowds not just the medium sized ones that he performs to on tours.
We wandered back to our tent for a bit and on our way back saw two guys tied together at the waist with that cordoning off tape stuff. They were trying to get some bloke to limbo under it but he refused and walked off. So they pounced on us, Corinne and I walked under their tape and continued walking, rather amused by the whole incident. Later Corinne started laughing and pointed at the direction of the portaloos. I looked. "The limbo guys are still tied together and one of them is in the loo." Sure enough one of the guys was standing outside the portaloo with the tape running from his waist and through the door.
Next we saw Pink. We saw her at Dundee and she was amazing so I was rather excited about seeing her on a big stage again. We could only catch half her set because we had to run off and see the Holloways but she was brilliant in the half hour I saw. She knows how to perform to an audience and she does it so well.
Her being serious was singing Dear Mr President. I love this song anyway but there was something about standing in a muddy field with Pink singing this live whilst images and video from America and the war on terror flashed up on the screen. I was lost in the song and the images and this is one of the moments that I will remember and truly made standing in a muddy field, while rain fell from the sky, worth it.


I didn’t want to drag myself away but I had to. We had to go see the Holloways. Whilst we were waiting in the tent, a drunk girl made friends with us. I say made friends, she talked at us and we let her, occasionally agreeing or adding comments. Drunk people are fun.


The Holloways were amazing as usual. Corinne and I had our own little rock party going on jumping up and down and singing along to every single song. I highly recommend seeing them live if you haven’t already. You will fall in love with them.


Next we went back to main stage to get into a good position to see Corinne’s beloved and mighty Snow Patrol. The mighty snow people. Corinne sang along. People pushed past us. We got annoyed. Corinne threatened to not let people past, and therefore in front of her, unless they could tell her the name of the song the band were currently singing. Alas we never enforced this. Also, Gary called Martha Wainwright on stage for Set the Fire to the Third Bar. That was pretty cool. His banter with the audience was highly entertaining.
At one point he started talking about Dave Grohl and how amazing he is and what an inspiration and that he was going to dedicate the next song to him, but that he wasn’t in love with him or anything. He proceeded to sing Chasing Cars, a song that will always remain my favourite track to hear live. When he finished Dave Grohl ran onto the stage, gave him a hug and ran off!! There was a pause whilst Gary took this in before stepping up to the mic, “this doesn’t mean we’re gay.”
After the mighty snow people finished, we ran off to get some food before the Foo Fighters, a band I was ridiculously excited about seeing live. Sure enough they didn’t disappoint. Dave Grohl took to the stage and announced that he was touched that he’d had a song dedicated to him and proceeded to dedicate the following song to Gary. He then sang Everlong. Followed by Monkey Wrench. I’ll just say that again. He opened with Everlong and Monkey Wrench. I can’t describe how amazing it was to hear them live. He also BROUGHT HIS MUM on stage. He was talking to her and she looked really uncomfortable to be there, “you can go stand by Taylor if you want, no actually stay here.” He started singing and also swaying along with his mum. It was very sweet. Also he was saying something about his mum and some people were yelling so after telling them to shut up and them not listening he just yelled, “zip it motherf**ker!” He swore lots in his set. It was highly entertaining. Their set was absolutely awesome and I jumped up and down so much that my jeans, wellies and dress [yes I was wearing a dress!] got covered in mud. A perfect end to a completely amazing weekend, rain, mud an’ all.

Labels: ghosts, gigs, music, paolo nutini, v festival