image from instagram.com/bethcheevers
(Disclaimer - this post is very light hearted and nothing more than a fun way for me to re-live and reminisce on a hilarious weekend. Please don't take it too seriously. That aside, I hope you enjoy reading about my weekend as much as I enjoyed being a part of it.)
Finally the day was here; one of the most anticipated weekends of my year had arrived and on 16th August me and three of my closest friends packed a suitcase full of necessities and headed three hours down south for V festival. The journey down to Weston Park was a car crash short of a nightmare. A journey which should have taken 2 and a half hours, in fact ended up taking us nine (NINE!!) and after setting off at 9am, we finally got parked up at 6pm. Thank you traffic, we owe you!
We finally found a pitch after the dreaded trek through the campsite with all our stuff (let's not talk about that! I need to learn how not to over pack) and it's safe to say that we were all definitely ready for the weekend to begin. Deciding on an early night - it's weird how tired sitting in a car for half a day can make you - we settled down for the night at 1am and soon realised that the concept of a peaceful nights sleep was definitely easier said than done. To the boy a few tents down with the megaphone chanting about police until 5am, i'd like to thank you.
Saturday morning soon arrived and what better way to start the day than with a can of fruit cider. If you can't do it at a festival, when can you?! After that, it was time to explore. We headed down to the campsite, had a mooch around the stalls and soon decided it was time to head back up to the tent and refuel ready for a day of music.
A few (ahem) shots and cocktails ('on the beach' - hilarious!) later we headed down to the arena, complete with bottles of alcohol hidden around out bodies with no other intention than to have the best time. A personal highlight? A friend - naming absolutely no names - falling over the tent and not being able to get up due to the alcohol stashed down her pants. I could tell already that this weekend was going to be a laugh a minute.
All in all we managed to sneak through a bottle and a half of shots, not before we had to take shelter under the cover of a burger van for five minutes while the rain passed (we are girls, after all!). While this may not seem much when shared between four girls, it didn't even take half of the bottle before we were feeling tipsy. I like to blame the fact that we'd barely eaten and not at all that all four of us are cheap dates and ridiculous lightweights! Still, that didn't stop us heading to the arena bar and stocking up on yet more ciders - honestly, at £4.50 a pop you'd think we were made of money - and by the time Olly Murs hit the stage we were, well, drunk! Shout out to the girl with the bag of wine who shared it with us, also! Think I perhaps got more down my chin than I did in my mouth but still, it's the thought that counts. The clouds had parted, the sun was shining and spirits were high.
Singing and dancing our way through his set, Olly Murs put on a brilliant show and definitely kept us in the best mood. We even managed to make up some dance moves (however basic they may have been!) that would go on to define the weekend. These included the 'welly dance', which basically involved us sticking one leg in the air and shaking it about, and pretending to pump an air bed and spread bird seed. Well, I did say they were basic (I wish I was joking - the looks we must have got).
The rest of the day pretty much continued like this until we felt ourselves sobering up and so headed back up to the tent to stock back up on alcohol. Many ciders, shots and some kind of schnapps, woo woo and malibu cocktail later (thank you, rebecca!) we decorated our faces with neon paint - probably not perfecting it as well as we would have liked - and headed back down to the arena ready for the headlining acts.
By the time Kings of Leon were ready to hit the stage we were all rather merry. For whatever reason, we thought cracking a bunch of discarded glow sticks we'd found on the floor so we could decorate our bodies with fluorescent ink would be a good idea. In turn, I managed to aim it directly in my left eye (OW I THINK I'VE GONE BLIND. IS MY EYE NEON PURPLE?!) and we also managed to annoy everyone around us by getting more ink on their clothes than our own bodies (DON'T WORRY, IT WASHES OUT!). Oops! I also thought asking, who was possible the best looking man at the festival, how tall he was would be the best idea - it wasn't - however, I do pride myself on not fainting as the mere sight of him until after he had left!
Kings of Leon put on an amazing set and while using a glow stick as a mustache has its advantages, the novelty soon wears off and they were thrown into the crowd within 10 minutes. And before we knew it, it was time to head back to the tent and prepare for the second day of music.
Sunday rolled around and we awoke to bright blue skies - a relief after the rain and grey skies of the day before - I even managed to burn, I thank my ginger skin for that. After another cider and cereal bar breakfast and cracking out some of my better innuendos ('I like them big and chunky' 'just bite it and blow, that'll do it' - make of them what you will) we prepared ourselves for the day ahead. The day passed by with ease and as the night started to draw in and after forcing the most disgusting cheap amaretto and warm cranberry down ourselves we made our way into the arena ready to see the queen (Beyonce).
Jessie J kicked off the night and was my biggest surprise of the weekend. Admittedly not the biggest fan, she managed to get me jumping around and making an even bigger fool of myself than I already had the day before, while she insulted all her haters in the crowd - harsh, but I guess she had a point.
The Script were up next and definitely know how to get a crowd going. After being joined on stage by Labrinth for a rendition of 'Earthquake' and 'Hall of Fame' (a lot less awkward to watch than that 'The Voice' performance), Danny proceeded to join the crowd and then ring a girl's ex and haul abuse at him down the phone telling him how little he was worth. Brilliant!
A quick toilet stop later and it was nearly time for Queen B to hit the stage - or so we thought. After a chorus of boo's, Beyonce finally started her set 35 minutes late. Well, it was worth it. Kicking off her set with 'Who Run The World' Beyonce turned Weston Park into one big party and I didn't stop dancing (yes, the welly dance was included) until she hit her last note.
The weekend had barely finished and I already missed it and as we made our way back to our collapsed tent (I still don't know how it managed to stay up so long, us girls are not cut out for camping life) a serious case of festival blues were already starting to hit.
The walk back to the car park the morning after was slightly better than the one on the friday, however the car journey back was just as traumatic as the one there - for a group of people that live in the north east, I don't know why the sat nav decided to direct us south west... I think it's best if we leave it there.
Despite some things not exactly going to plan, i'd do it all over again in a heartbeat and I already can't wait for next year. Bring on V FEST 2014!!
