Mera Luna(tics)
Thursday night saw me packed and ready. It was raining so i waited for a Taxi to pick me up. I'd mixed all the Gin & Tonic i had into 4 x 1L bottles, so had to make do with a Jack & Coke. The train journey down to potters bar was reasonable if quiet and aided with the G&T and my ipod. Potters bar was quiet but i found rosenkavalier and Ian at the side entrance as the main bit was closed. We later found Emily & co round at the car park when the Coach turned up. Loaded on and bounced to near the back and a load of friends. The journey to the Tunnel was fairly manic, bouncy and good spirited. We met a few people for summer darkness at the tunnel stop including Deviant UK. smoke_rising had fun singing Chesney Hawkes at them, which at least made a change from Bon Jovi !
I woke up a while later and we had passed through France and Belgium and was into Germany, a touch over half way. We stopped for breakfast round 9am as we'd made good time. The services were nice and even sold interesting alcohol (apple schnapps) and Whisky Cigars, but the most impressive bit was the toilets. Normally service station toilets are at best mildy grim, but these were funky. The toilet seat rotated and cleaned itself !! It was almost a video moment.
We eventually hit Hildersheim a few hours and dvds later (levellers and a German bagpipe metal thing) and raided the supermarket. Like Waregem we ended up piling shopping trolleys full of beer and various fun liquids and a slight deficit of food. Onto the festival site and we collected wristbands at the entrance which seeing the queue further down was an amazingly smart move. It took a few atempts to agree on a camp site near the back fence but space for all. This included walking a huge erect event shelter down to many amused Germans. We popped a few kegs and drank a little, but most slowly passed out for a few hours until we went clubbing.
The club was a miserly E4 extra, but it was a great night. Beer was E2.8 for a half of Becks or E7 for a rather strong Vodka Redbull (or similar). The music was good and the company great and yielded one of the weekend memorable tales due to a couple of German ladies having bondage collars with a long chain between them. Cue limbo dancing from the brits. They soon got the idea and slowly lowered the chain. There was a also a guy dressed in Grecian leather armour who held the chain up HeMan style.
Saturday would have started later but for the Suns presence on the tents and making sleep difficult by 9am. Gazebo slumming, drinking and chatting happened until fairly late on. I think Jesus On Exstacy gave me the impetus to raid the festival. Alas they were missing the magic from WGT a few years back. Not least by loosing the eye candy. It was also hot in the hanger so i retreated out and found friends in the beer tent drinking Weiss beer ! Seems i picked the right ML to go to. *GRIN*
Chatted there for a while in comfort until the Birthday Massacre who i went down the front with a new friend, Ash. They were great fun and i got some nice snaps. Ended up grabbing some nice veggie/vegan india stuff and crashing between a couple of beer vans and watching some bits (PETER HEPPNER, APOCALYPTICA & NIGHTWISH). tawdryfilth & I tried to check out the club, but the music was far less to our liking and an earlier night was attempted and almost achieved but for the Gazebo for friends.
Sunday was thankfully overcast allowing sleep to around 10-11. I think i made it out of the camp for food and then see Grendel (4pm) who i really enjoyed. Parked myself outside near the beer vans and saw a few bits who were ok, but not that memorable. Actually went in to see the Deathstars who looked quite fun. Needed to dash off before the end though to change boots and attempt the Prodigy. I got back half way through the first track so making it 5th row from the front and inside the speaker stacks was no small achievement. Great tracks and loads of energy. I'd definitely watch them again. Although ear plugs essential and even then my chest was vibrating with the bass.
Afterwards the red tape cleared us out quite quickly and we headed back to camp. I had a bottle of G&T left and started on that. Got given a bottle of Bourbon & Coke which seemed like bourbon with colouring as it was rocket fuel. Got tempted to the medieval village for mead. Found Ash with a nicked phone. Tried to help wandering here and there. Got back to camp. Drank some cherry vodka thing Rich the Welsh security guard had and headed back to the runway for drumming and dancing. Exclaimed at one point that "Even a runway wasn't big enough for my dancing" and obviously fell over a bit due to bruises and aching calf's. There are pics of me later passed out on my tent. However it seems i was persuaded inside and even made it into PJs.
Monday morning is hazy. Its quite probably i was still drunk. However i did pack my case. Roll my new double self-inflating mattress up (awesome) and fit my sleeping bag into its stuff sack. I also packed the Quecha tent away although Andy had taken the tent pegs out while i was still in it. Made it with loads of help onto the bus, not least when everyone was leaving i headed in the oppersite direction to say goodbye to some other folks.
We went back to the supermarket for deposit and more bits. Seems i looked somewhat green at this point and actually bought an emergency bucket ! Considering its rare i throw due to alcohol this says a lot....though it stayed clean. The trip back was slow and sleepy though i think we made quite good time. We missed the lunch stop on the way back as it was hiding and ended up at a grim trucker stop on the edge of Germany and a Wooded garage in the Netherlands. The Ferry was easy if a tad late and had food which was nice. We made it back to potters bar only a few minutes late. Alas the early train had gone, but there was another 50 mins later. I got home via another taxi as i was half dead at 2:30am.
Another great festival. Again for the people though some bands were fun. The huge size and scale means all the bands are busy and getting a good spot is hard. However kicking back stadium rock style is also nice, even if the bands become matchstick size. The camping was good. The main toilets reasonable. The food and beer good if a tad pricey (though cheap festival wise). The bus trip epic and fun, if a tad long at points