Parklife (Part 2)

Sunday

The second day of Parklife dawned, and I dragged myself out of bed at 9am to shower and get ready, despite an oncoming hangover. I made a cooked breakfast for those that wanted it, and we again started drinking pretty earl, this time at about 11am. Because we were all slightly flagging, we got the later train at 1.30pm instead, and stopped in the station to get some sandwiches for lunch.

We did the long walk again, although this time the queues were much worse, so despite us only setting off an hour later, we didn't get inside Heaton Park until 3.45pm, narrowly missing Clean Bandit, which we were all pretty gutted about. We stopped off at the bar for drinks (we were on Strongbow dark fruits this time) and then hung around at the main stage until Sam Smith came on. I am not a huge fan, I think he has a great voice but he's just not my thing, but live he had a great rapport with the audience and did all the well known ones, as well as a great cover of Arctic Monkeys 'Do I Wanna Know'.

Directly after him was London Grammar, whose album I have been listening to recently. Their music was top notch, but the performance was let down slightly by their lack of on stage presence, at times we ended up talking through the set as they just weren't holding our attention. Their tracks are quite chilled out and mellow, which would have been great for say early afternoon on the Saturday, but wasn't ideal for 6pm on the Sunday when everyone was starting to feel the effects of a long weekend of drinking and dancing!

Luckily it was Bastille on after them, who completely made the weekend for me. I have already seen them once before and they haven't released another album since, but it made no difference as everything about them is just awesome in my eyes - they can perform well, write unique songs, draw the crowd in, mix up the stage show, and this time they even brought Ella Eyre on to do their song 'No Scrubs' a mashup of The xx's N'o Angels' and TLC's 'Scrubs'. Ella was brilliant, her voice is just phenomenal live, and after London Grammar it got the energy levels up again.

At this point it was getting quite late and we were a bit peckish, so Laura and I went to get a pizza, which was definitely worth the extra money I spent compared to the other takeaways - it was like one from a restaurant! We took them over to the main stage again, where we watched the final act of the day, Foals. They are a little pretentious as a band (the lead singer thinks he's some kind of demi-god) but their music is a bit more like my usual taste, slightly rocky, which was refreshing to hear after a weekend of dance and pop. We caught 15 minutes of Disclosure before having to leave, which would have been good to see the full set, but as I had work the next day I just couldn't chance being ridiculously late home.

We were even earlier home that day, but this time ordered some pizzas in which took a while to arrive, so I got to bed for just after half past midnight, not too bad really. I had a fabulous weekend, much improved on last year, and hope to go again in 2015!

Parklife (Part 1)

Saturday

This was my second year doing Parklife, and last year's was a bit chaotic for a number of reasons, so I was looking forward to a better experience being a bit more clued up about the festival. I went with my sister and four of her friends that I knew, and everyone was staying at mine for ease, so we started early on the Saturday; I was alternating between a cup of tea and an amaretto and coke at 10.30am! We got the tunes pumping and the drinks flowing, and after getting ready, set off to get the train into town at 12.30pm (armed with premixed vodka and lemonade).

The transport situation was much better this year - after getting the train we jumped straight on a met (a combo ticket was £5) and were at the Bowker Vale tram stop very quickly (it's the one before Heaton Park but is less crowded and not much further to walk). At this point we were all pretty tipsy, but needed a toilet stop, so went into a pub en route that was playing club music, and then had a shot each before moving on. The queue to get in wasn't too bad, so we were inside, bags checked and wristbands collected for 2pm. First stop - the bar. Unfortunately unlike last year they didn't have large bottles of wine, so we had to make do with smaller individual ones and make more trips, but at least the price wasn't any different.

We milled around for a while, bought a program and sussed out where the toilets etc were before heading to see our first act - Bondax. I personally hadn't heard of the DJ, but all the girls seemed to be buzzing for it so I went along. The atmosphere was great, for so early on people were pumped and dancing away like it was already 9pm. The mixes had lots of well known tracks so I got into it and was singing along before ten minutes were up. We stayed for the whole set before moving back to the main stage to see Foxes - an act I was particularly looking forward to.

She was so good live, a great voice and gorgeous as ever - she totally did the album justice. I am a big fan of her so knew all of the songs. At this point the rain we had endured on the journey there and for the first hour or so had stopped, and the sun had come out which was lovely - too bad the mud had already formed so there was no sitting on the floor!

After Foxes we went to get some food (chips with minted peas over them - classy!) and then stuck around for the next act, Katy B. This was the one I was most excited for - having played her latest album Little Red to death, mainly whilst dealing with a breakup, which I find always keeps songs and artists close to your heart. Not going to lie, I was crying through quite a lot of the set, though that was totally due to the wine...!

Annie Mac was on directly afterwards so we did a quick bar trip and then took up places quite near the front of the stage. The sun was starting to set at this point, and Annie brought her A game, so the crowd went wild and everyone was singing along until the end. 

We attempted to find the tent that A$ap Rocky was playing in next, but failed miserably so consoled ourselves with the last bottle of wine for the day and went to catch half an hour of Snoop Dogg before leaving at 10.30pm to beat the rush to the mets. We were home with pizza and chips in the oven for 11.30pm - a great first day of the festival!

Weekly Update!

School Holidays and Parklife Prep!

This post is being done today due to impending Parklife Weekender Festival which I will tell you all about next week! This week has been another busy one - looking after Aum (and friends!) full time is exhausting! Monday was spent at the Trafford Centre again, this time at Laser Quest so I got a bit of time to shop whilst they took part. We ate at Pizza Express this time, where I had the superfood salad with chicken, which I never get bored of, I think I have had it three times now!

On Tuesday we were supposed to be going to Legoland, but Aum hurt his shoulder during Laserquest so we decided to have a restful day until the afternoon, when he had a tennis lesson. I made red velvet pancakes for breakfast (out of a packet), they tasted good, but I think i prefer normal ones to be honest. I took the hour whilst Aum was at tennis to go to The Cake Gallery for a slice of chocolate cake and a salted caramel hot chocolate, was a good break if a little sickly! The following day we went to Cafe Gourmand for lunch, where I had a salmon and prawn salad that was nice and summery and then we had a wander around Altrincham.

Thursday was a lovely sunny day so we decided to go to Tatton Farm. It's a lovely little place, and had horses, cows, sheep and some tiny piglets that were very cute. Aum seemed more bothered about the outdoor play area though! 


Today we got chance to go to Legoland, taking his friend Joshua with us. We just ate at the little cafe inside, and I sat around while they went in the play area and modelling section for a few hours before dropping Josh home. After work I had my nails done (mint green with glitter for Parklife!) and then went round to my parents house for dinner, we had a big selection of Chinese startery type things and then duck with pancakes. One of Jasmine's friends from university was there for the weekend for Parklife, so we had some wine and a catchup before I left to come to Mo's until he arrives back from a night out... could be a while!

Parklife 2013

Day 2

Ill be honest, after the disaster of the first day, I wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of round two, but I forced myself to get ready, and got a lift with Mo into town to meet Ellie and the other guys I was going with. The weather was beaut again, so we headed to the park, but sat outside the gates for a while having a few drinks in the sunshine before heading in.

The first thing we did was go on the big wheel, which I wasn't too bothered about, but I'm so glad I did as the view was amazing! Toddla T Sound were on as we were on it, and the crowd were insane so we had fun watching from above and rocking out in our little pods to it! Afterwards we went to get some drinks and saw a bit of Iggy Azalea's set, which isn't my cup of tea, but she was really going for it on stage and had some brilliant dancers so it was a good show. The first act we properly saw was Joker, who got the day off to a good start with some awesome tunes that got us bouncing around. Then we went across to the Now Wave tent to see Liars, who I hadn't heard of before, but Africa and Phil who we were with rated them so we hopped along. They were an indie sort of band and were quite good, will be checking out some of their stuff.

I went with Jonny and Dom back to the first tent before Liars finished to catch the end of Benga, as I've always wanted to see him live. The tent was absolutely rammed, and the atmosphere was electric, really glad I bothered crushing through to see him perform. There was a bit of a gap music wise after that, so after a brief stint watching Jurassic 5, who were OK, I went back to the base where everyone was and got some nachos with sour cream and cheese, and sunbathed for a while. I bumped into Benn that I went to Benicassim last year with, so was good to catch up with him, and then I went back inside the Now Wave tent as Everything Everything were next to play.

This for me, was the reason I was looking forward to Sunday, as I love the band's new album,  Arc, and they were amazing at Xfm's Winter Wonderland. The lead singer had an incredible live voice, especially considering some of the songs are really high pitched and difficult to sing. Last time they only played five songs as it was a mini set, so it was great to see a full performance, and in particular when they did Kemosabe and Cough Cough, the crowd went wild.

The Horrors were next, who I have seen twice before so wasn't overly bothered about, but they did a good job nonetheless, and we just sat to one side and chilled out for a bit as the tiredness and alcohol were getting to us at that point!

The final act we saw was Julio Bashmore, and despite only knowing one track, everyone got really into it, and he cranked up the tempo until the final song when everyone went mental, which was a great feeling to finish off the festival on. We left quite quickly but then struggled to get a taxi, eventually paying £9 each (there were 7 of us) just to get back into town from Heaton Park! I was at work the next day so wanted to get a taxi straight home, and luckily everyone else was exhausted so did the same so it wasn't completely extortionate!

Parklife 2013

Day 1

Today I am pretty knackered after a heavy weekend at Parklife Festival in Heaton Park, Manchester. It is the first year I have been, and is also the first year it was held in the current venue, due to a big increase in performers/ attendees.

On the Saturday I went with Abi and her brother, and we were lucky enough to get a lift in, so escaped the crowds (and the hassle of a car crashing into the met causing them to be cancelled!) and we were in the venue for 1pm. It was quite busy, but to nowhere near the extent it was later on in the day!

The weather was gorgeous, so we spent the first couple of hours lounging around soaking up the rays, and I got a really tasty lamb pitta burger, which was fairly reasonable at £5.50, as it had stacks of proper roast lamb inside, as well as a mint yoghurt sauce. We could hear various performers on around us, but there wasn't a great deal of massively well-known acts on early on, so we decided to save our energy.

The first band we watched were Delphic, who were on the main stage. They came on at 3.15pm, so it was when everyone was starting to properly arrive and the atmosphere was really good. We missed the beginning, but I got to see them do 'Baiya', which is my favourite track off the new album, so I was happy. We had a bit of a dilemma afterwards, as we went to the bar and got split up from Abi's brother Joe, so ended up trying to find him for about an hour, before stationing ourselves near Nandos and hoping he received our text to meet there! The signal inside the park was atrocious, so most people couldn't contact anyone.

Whilst we were queueing for the bar, which we were at for nearly forty minutes due to the lack of people working on it, we heard The Temper Trap perform, and saw a little bit of Rudimental before we finally found Joe. We then went to the Hospitality tent, which was mainly for dance acts, where we saw High Contrast, which definitely cheered us all up and gave us some much needed energy. We went to get some Chinese chicken noodles for tea (they were so good!), and then headed over to the main stage to watch Maccabees.

I saw these guys at Benicassim last year, but didn't really know their stuff, so since getting more into them I was itching to watch them perform live again, and they didn't disappoint. They did a good mixture of older and new tracks, including a couple of my faves, and they always have an amazing crowd reaction, so even Abi and Joe commented that they enjoyed it, despite not knowing many songs.

By this point we were all getting a bit tired, and alcohol was wearing off, so we thought we'd counteract it in one of the dance tents. A French DJ called Madeon, who I was recently introduced to, was playing in the Drop the Mustard tent, and his set was electric! Abi and I got chatting to some guys, who put us on their shoulders too so we got some great views! Straight after him was Fake Blood, who I saw at Beni two years ago with my sister and all her friends, and strangely enough we bumped into them all in there, which was a coincidence. We were all dancing away and having fun and then he finished on his famous 'I Think I Like It', which sent everyone crazy!

We headed out at 11pm once all the music had finished, and Abi's dad kindly picked us up, which saved us lots of drama trying to get home. I was tucked up in bed at 1am, yet my sister got home at 3am and had to ask someone's mum to pick them up!

Weekly Update!

Trof, Hale Country Club, Cake Gallery & Gastronomy - a week of eating!

This week has been a really good one, Aum was back at school so I relished having my days free again, and I found plenty to keep myself occupied. On Monday I went into Manchester for lunch with Mo at Trof, which was really nice. I had broccoli and feta soup with sourdough bread which was off the specials menu, and was tasty. It was also good to do something a bit different whilst Aum was at school, and broke the day up by having something to look forward to.

On Tuesday I did a gym workout and swim, and had tea at the country club. I had a sort of deconstructed sushi dish called Kabachi - it was a bowl of diced raw salmon with avocado, sugar snap peas and chilli in a lime and sesame dressing. As it was so low calorie I treated myself to a dessert called Paris Mess, basically a variation on Eton Mess. It had broken macaroons, toasted almonds, caramel, chantilly cream and apricots in it and was amazing!

Wednesday was payday finally, so I filled my car up with petrol, bought my Parklife ticket, and paid to enter the triathlon I am competing in, as well as paying off various debts - it is gradually disappearing already! That evening I went to see Reel Big Fish with Mo, Dom and Kirsty (see previous post). On Thursday I met Hannah and Abi at the Cake Gallery for a catch up, where I had a pecan pie that was delicious, and totally took me back to my childhood when we used to have it all the time. Afterwards I did a 40 minute bike ride in the cinema room at the gym whilst watching Interview with a Vampire, and then had a fairly quiet evening.

On Friday I did a Body Combat class again which was fun, and then was told that I wasn't needed to pick Aum up, so spent the afternoon catching up with some reading and blogging. Mo came round in the evening, and we had pork meatballs with vegetable risotto for tea, and then had a few drinks and chilled out. We went out for lunch at Gastronomy on Saturday, which was really nice, I had a ham and cheese panini with chips, and Mo got a chorizo and cheese omelette. The weather was gorgeous so we sat in the garden for a while when we got back soaking up the rays, and then I got a lift to the airport to catch a train to Northampton to visit Geoff and see Timna.

I started on the gin as soon as I arrived, which coupled with a lack of any tea meant that I got ridiculously drunk and only just made it out of the taxi into town before falling over, so it was decided we would go back home. At least it was a cheap night! Today I journeyed home feeling very tired and sorry for myself, and then Mo came round for a Sunday roast and to officially 'meet the parents' haha. It went well, but I am so tired I will be glad when I can just collapse into bed!