My Leeds Festival 2005 review

OK, I went to Leeds Festival over the weekend, had an awesome time. Here's a rundown of the acts I saw:

Friday:

Turbonegro - Cool band to start off with. Really good set. Got the fans laughing and joining in well for a lower card band.

Alkaline Trio - Not really a fan but sat through em. Meh.

NOFX - Absolutely fantastic. Sang a song about the UK ("The people are nicer in the UK, but America has better crack cocaine"😉. Ace.

Funeral For A Friend - Rubbish. Sat through em to rest up. Yawn.

Iggy and The Stooges - Iggy Pop is mental. Cool songs. His guitarist looks like an even more retarded George Bush and the bassist looks just like Johnny Vegas.

Incubus - A bit boring if I'm totally honest. Not a fan anyway.

Marylin Manson - Not the biggest MM fan, but man this guy does an awesome show. Atmospheric and a brilliant spectacle. Brilliant live act. Opened up with a Willy Wonka type intro, went on to sing on stilts, then dressed up like a dictator and acted like a creepy puppet. Awesome.

Iron Maiden - This band just plain rocked. Amazing set pieces and stage work (automated red-eyed devil and a 20 foot walking Eddie during songs). Superb. Bruce Dickenson is one class act.

Saturday:

Goldie Lookin Chain - Started the day off nicely. Loved the new song "Adams Charm School" which had a sample ripped straight from the old Grange Hill theme. Had the whole crowd laughing the whole time, and capped it off with "I wanna sleep with your sister".

Death From Above 1979 - I love this band. Just a bassist and a drummer getting the most out of their instruments. Noisy, bassy crunchiness.

The Subways - I was dubious as to whether they'd be any good, but they are tailor made for live performance. Surprisingly good. I knew all the words to the songs, which kinda surprised me.

The Coral - Superb set, their songs are classics. Was nice to chill out for these guys. Really brilliant sound when Live.

Queens Of The Stone Age - I loved this. Homme was wasted and still played an awesome set and was even more entertaining. Love them. The only time I ever pitted during the whole thing, and everyone there was looking to have a good time. Song For The Dead is absolutely stunning live, you can't help but go insane.

The Killers - Thats right I watched The Killers. They were great, really feel-good atmosphere. Loved it. Totally enjoyable.

Kasabian - Absolutely brilliant live. The fact it took place in a smaller tent made it slightly more special and wonderful. Every song was brilliantly pulled off and they finished with the anthemic LSF.

Sunday:

Not much going on until the afternoon, so I went to watch Alan Carr down in the Comedy tent. Was pretty funny.

The Kills - Only the Kills fans were here so it made it even better. Really like their simple sound.

Charlatans - Didn't play many of their big hits but still enjoyed them.

Arcade Fire - I simply refused to watch the despisable Razorlight with my friends and went off on my own to watch Arcade Fire. WOW. Arcade Fire are amazing live. I had no idea they were this theatric and unique. Would love to go see them at a proper gig when they get another album out. They were so good that I didnt even realise they hadnt done their hit songs yet - then they finish off by playing both Power Out and Rebellion together. The way the girl danced, the way one of them suddenly donned a cycle helmet, the way the drummer flipped his sticks between beats, and the fact I was damn close - everything was just too cool and adorable.

Kings Of Leon - Thought they'd be boring. I was wrong. These guys are fantastic live. They went thru their hits and I loved it all.

Foo Fighters - What a way to end the weekend. The F*cking Foo FIghters. Shame Bad Religion were playing at the same time, but I love the Foos. Did a solo version of Everlong, did all the biggies and some old schools and topped it off with Monkey Wrench. When Taylor and Grohl switched over for "Cold Day In The Sun", the quote of the night was when Taylor said "Dave also plays the drums - bet ya didn't know that!".

All in all, I got to see all the bands I wanted to. I loved it all.

whats the story with the fires and riots and people stealing thousands of cans of beer that i've been hearing?

Oh dude that was mental. It all pretty much happened on Sunday night.

Basically, the crowd started some fires. The security came along to put them out. Gas cannisters from stoves were getting thrown on them and so on, and they were blowing up. Someone even thre an Industrial sized gas can on one fire on monday morning which caused a mini-earthquake.

Anyway, the riot police came out, and bashed a few heads. They clocked a few innocent bystanders, which angerred witnesses, so they'd join in. This would simply repeat itself in a snowball effect until it reached boiling point. A friend of mine was camped in the "yellow valley" campsite where all this was happeneing. We had to protect their tents. I was visiting him when the shit hit the fan and suddenly we were surrounded by the riot. It was intense stuff.

The security were like black stormtroopers with red glowing bits, they looked pretty cool. Some of them them were unprofessional, and only served to anger the rioters and bring more into the fray. They are usually drafted in from ex-army or police fields and some are right arseholes who just love to hurt people.

Poles with electrical wiring were pulled down (I managed to tear off a lagging piece of bunting to keep as a souvenier lol) and the live wires were exposed. Sometimes the fields looked like the night battle in War Of The Worlds. Explosions going off, livewires sparking, lights going out, panicked screams etc.

Theres a lot more to it than this, but to put it simply, it was a situation that wasn't helped by the security team who weren't at all fully professional. But, from what I've read, the stuff that happened at Leeds was nothing comparred to what happened at Reading. Apparently cans blew up and struck a few people with shrapnel. One 15 year old kid was apparently castrated according to one steward. Shocking.

That sounds pretty damn awesome! I would've enjoyed a ton of those bands.

Damn right it was awesome.

Josh Homme is teh shitz!

Some of the memorable quotes I can remember are:

"Don't you guys try and out scream me. I'll kick your ass" - Dave Grohl.

"I hope you all get laid tonight" - Josh Homme

"I know the carnies that have been butt f**king that machine for the last 10 years (points to big spinney fun fair ride thingy), but I would still give it a go, I will ride it with you" - Homme again

"Hello Limeys!" - NOFX

"Is that your girlfriend? Wow you've done well............you obviously have a really great personality" - Alan Carr

"We still have the Queen on our money - gotta love that Queen" - Arcade Fire (they're Canadian btw)

"Hey Leeds, thats a wierd name, what's with your plural cities? Yeah, they confuse me, it's not like we're from San Francisco's" - NOFX

"Does anyone here believe in God?' <cheers> 'Well, you're wrong' - NOFX

NOFX were f*cking legends.