Day Thirty One – Apples and Pears

July 4th; An early start today. I didn’t really feel like an early start. Then again, I did pay a bit of money for these tickets to this music festival and all. Kate, Ryan, Ben and I all headed down to STA travel first, to book our tour. I had been somewhat swayed.

After that the boys pretty much immediately jumped on the tube home. Apparently they slept for a good long time. Hendo got up at six in the evening, which is an amazing feat for one who went to bed at the same time as the rest of us and didn’t get out of bed with any of us that morning. Paying for the tour was probably the single hugest money drop I’ve done in my life, past even my school fees in all likeliness. It was done. It turns out the one that left on the ninth, only five days from this entry, was booked out that night or morning. We had to opt for a forty six day tour starting on the twenty third. Time to survive on no money for two and a half weeks!

Kate and I caught the tube to Hyde Park to get our groove on, or something along those lines. Maybe a bit of jive. We half followed the crowd / half followed the map to the show. It turns out we were on the completely opposite side of where we were supposed to be to get in. It was quite a big area. The walk was quite a bit longer again. We jumped through the gates, probably a good hour before any music actually started. There were several positive outcomes from this though.

They had big mushroom shaped couch things under a big tent. We got one to ourselves. When we did get up, it was to claim VIP tags to ‘posh’ toilets and free drinks and lunch later that day. We also got a pass onto some special bus they had going, with another free drink and a better view of the main stage. We went for a walk around – just to check out what food and stalls were on offer. They have carverys at London music festivals! That’s good! We walked past some Ubisoft and Sandisk tents and booths and whatnot. They were doing a bit of filming around there. We bypassed all that though. There was the cider tent to attend to!

They had wheelbarrows full of apples and pears. And deck chairs! So, we got a pear and apple cider, settled down in our chairs and started to pass the time. We did such exciting things as taking photos and drinking cider… But the best part was the free fruit. Now we were practically living on no money, we were taking advantage of everything free we could. I ate a pear. And I think we had another drink. But then the music started…

We started off wandering around the tents. Lightspeed Champion were playing first or second, so we sat around waiting for my brother to rock up. They were kind of boring. We did some more walking and watching, waiting for the good things to start. The Black Kids were first on Kate’s list, but we watched The Rascals before them. Both were decent. First on my list were Liam Finn and The National. Liam was playing first, and from what I could tell he was pretty much unknown over here. His album isn’t even out yet. Some silly metal band were playing before them, so we stood and waited. The good thing about not many people knowing him was that we could stand right at the front with no trouble. Liam and friends were standing backstage watching the metal band. I was looking at them. He was staring intently. Then I may have been checking out the attractive girl standing next to him. She turned and looked at me. I gave a cheesy grin. She gave a cheesy grin and started laughing.

So yeah, Liam Finn’s girlfriend or whoever it was totally wants me. She was checking me out the whole show. Never mind how I know this. I have eyes in the side of my head. Hugh insists she was checking him out, but she was looking at me long before he even arrived. I think it’s gonna be a situation not dissimilar from when Cate Blanchett fell in love with me at the Jay Leno show. I’m going to have to tell her that our lifestyles just don’t gel. Or maybe they will? My brother is pretty keen on Liam, so we could make a swap?

His music was really good. He went a little crazy. Finn jr. uses a whole heap of loop pedals and whatnot so he sets up a crazy guitar thing and then goes mental on the drums and jumps between them. Pretty much a one man show. One of Jimmy Barnes’ daughters does a little backup and dings the cowbell. A very important job. His live show is good because it’s the same songs but… crazier. A lot different in a way.

The National were the next big act I wanted to see. Beck had started before them on the mainstage and his show overlapped a little. It was okay though, because he was shit. I don’t at all mind his music but he just stands there being boring. The National were very good though. They have like twenty eight people on stage, though I might be a little off. Violins, trumpets, drums, guitar, the singer, other people doing things. They did all but one of my favourite songs and they were all bigger and better and full of more energy than usual. It was great. I’d definitely pay to see them again.

I think Kate and I finished the night doing a bit of eating and sitting on that VIP bus as Morissey started. But then we left, because neither of us liked Morissey. Because his music really didn’t seem that good. The English folk love him though, the park was packed out. We met my brother at the tube station. I think after that we headed straight to the Globe…

Time for Shakespeare! The Merry Wives of Windsor! It was a long day. We’d been standing up for nearly all of it. Now we got to stand up for another three or so. We went looking for a little food first. Everything was closed. It seems like London dies at eleven o’clock. My brother had only come down to get food, but luckily he bought a ticket off a scalper for five pounds. Another half an hour wasted standing up and we were in the theatre. May I say – it’s really very cool. I thought the sky inside was just a painted roof. It’s not! It’s a big open air theatre. That means it can get a little cold, and it might rain a little, but it’s an awesome atmosphere.

The musicians came out first and started playing a tune and walking around. Then the play started. It turns out one of the main actors was at the hospital whilst his wife was giving birth – so the Director had agreed to fill in for the one night. Apparently he was a little more portly than the usual actor but had squeezed into the outfit. May I say it was amongst the funniest shows I’ve ever seen, TV, movies, plays, whatever. It was awesome. The Director was hamming it up the whole time, he had the script on him, the other actors were playing games and stealing it and there was a bit of improv and all in all it was great. If you’re ever in London you should certainly pick up a five pound ticket to some Shakespeare.

We took the tube home. I think I had something to eat, maybe a drink… but then I collapsed.