Friday is the big day when all the main stages become active!
For the choice of opening act, my missus wanted to see hacienda classical on the pyramid whilst I quite fancied the pretenders and I’ve never seen them. She keeps telling me she’s always right, and on this occasion she was indeed!
I kind of imagined it as hacienda tunes played in the style of classical music, bit of a novelty but not my cup of tea.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong! The classics all sounded great and ride on time and blue Monday performed by Peter hook were particular highlights.
We thought we’d best get down the kidz field to keep the little one entertained, he nodded his head and smiled occasionally but you could tell he was thinking “dad, what is this old music?” Possibly!
Andy’s dinosaur raps with Andy day the CBeebies presenter seemed like a good idea, as he’s into dinosaurs at the moment and likes songs.
As soon as he saw him “mum, that bloke is off the telly!” with a mixture of excitement and confusion as to what he was doing there when he should be on the telly!
Initially a bit shy and bemused, he warned to it and danced for a bit, but on the way to the toilet he spotted the big castle so that was that!
There is loads for kids to do in the kidz field, giant sand pit, soft play area, roundabouts, a big pirate ship and the big top where they have shows featuring CBeebies and milkshake presenters.
In many ways he was easier as a 2 year old, he’s at a stubborn stage where if he’s not happy about something you can offer him all the things he likes but will refuse with a definitive NO!
He’s also got into a habit where he’ll ask for an orange lolly, you go to the ice cream van hoping they haven’t run out, handing over your £2.50 only to present it to him “I don’t want that. I wanted the lemonade one!”
You try and eat the orange one “that’s mine!” Do you want it? “NO!”
So you give in and get him the lemonade one.
Wouldn’t swap him for the world, but they can’t half try your patience! Worth it though when you see him running around with a big smile on his face!
My missus wanted to see ride at 6pm, I quite fancied jah wobble about the same time, so we decided I’d go and catch the correspondents at 3 while they were in the kidz field, then all go to see ride.
The correspondents play energetic tunes of a 1920s speakeasy style, and songs with contemporary subject matter such as the demise of soho (you had to go to make way for a new Tesco!) and a lead singer with energetic dance moves.
The word seems to have spread since the last time I saw them since the glade was absolutely rammed! I still managed to bump into a friend in the crowd though!
I wasn’t in the mood to push my way into the crowd and I needed a quick exit so I left before the end and caught a bit of billy Bragg and Zoe West on the leftfield stage on the way past, both were on fine form!
“Do you want to go and explore the John Peel stage now?” I asked him hoping that sounded interesting to him, of course he replied “nah, kidz field!”
Nevertheless, we managed to get there in good time, and with the new location being a bit out of the way it wasn’t too busy.
Ride put on a good show but to be honest tiredness and hay fever were getting the better of me by then. Taking chairs and rucksacks everywhere does get tiring!
The wee one didn’t seem too keen, but we had his trusty kindle for him to watch.
As we were about to leave he fell asleep and we thought it was his night time sleep. But it turned out to be a power nap. 15 mins later he was awake and full of beans!
On our own we’d have probably tried to squeeze in a couple more bands before the headliner but decided to take our time – 2 hours sounds a lot but on a massive site it can take a while to get around.
So the time had come – Radiohead or flaming lips?
In a straight choice between the two we would have gone for the latter, but even when the pyramid is busy there is usually room at the back, we weren’t so sure about the park stage.
Radiohead had a long set and started an hour before flaming lips so normally we’d have seen a bit of Radiohead then scooted up to the park if they weren’t grabbing us, but weighed down by stuff and a child we weren’t able to scoot anywhere!
The wee one loves pepperoni pizza at the moment and we spotted a food stall selling it between the john peel and pyramid.
Sadly the pepperoni wasn’t round like a normal pizza, it was odd shaped bits instead – so he refused to try it!
The only thing he took an interest in was my beef chilli nachos, so I had to wolf down the jalapeños before he got any ideas. Let’s just say I regretted the jalapeños this morning!
There were loads of small kids where we were and he enjoyed running around but he got a bit tired and grumpy.
He fought it as long as he could but finally fell asleep.
To be honest I’ve never been a huge Radiohead fan. I liked the bends but not fussed on a lot of their other stuff.
I thought it would be a good idea to leave before the end to bear the crowds just in case he woke up.
Just before we left they played street spirit (fade out) which is probably my favourite Radiohead song. Finally I was enjoying them but it still seemed a better bet to leave early.
Looking out from the tent across the massive site with lights and flames it was tempting to sit outside with a drink, but tiredness got the better of us!
