For 2015 we wave goodbye to festival season, we literally left in a bang and a boom with one of the most unbelievable nights of my life!
LOCATION: BRANHAM PARK, LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE, UK
I woke up fresh and fab, sighed with relief that our bodies were still in tact but really sad that today is our last day of music for the summer *Cue violin*. Another tin of soup, and early start of getting everything packed because we’re super lazy on the last day to sort everything. Then ventured off into the great unknown.
Because we ran out of bread to dip in our soup we decided on a little treat to sort our heads out in the VIP field – a bacon roll. Not a big fan of bacon, eating it far and few between but you can’t not have a bit of bacon smothered in some brown sauce to get your energy back eh? Washed down with a Funkin Cocktail of course!
The outfits of day were literally day and night, during the day I sported my favourite rainbow two-piece from Love Too True. Perfect for the rainbow child like me. It certainly brought some colour back into the skies as the weather went from miserably cloudy to bright and blue huzzah!
OUTFIT OF THE DAY
OUTFIT ONE
Puffa Yellow Rain Coat *
Love Too True Tie Dye Two Piece *
SpyLoveBuy Arctic Wellies *
RockFish Gumdrop Wellies *
Funkin Cocktails Cleo Ferin Scarf *
Boden Pink Suede Bag *
OUTFIT TWO
Rokit Vintage Suede Tassel Jacket *
Blitz Remix Fringe Bleach Tie Dye Dress *
Izabel London Pleated Dress *
Nasty Gal Black Shorts *
SpyLoveBuy Arctic Wellies *
RockFish Gumdrop Wellies *
Styled with some colourful accessories including my pink suede bag from Boden and my RockFish Wellies. I’ve been styling up my Cleo Ferin scarf in collaboration with Funkin Cocktails.
So the word on street was the surprise of a special few people being parachuted in for a last minute set. Good ol’ Foals know how to make us very happy!
Sticking to their good word in the afternoon came a wave of people rushing towards the NME stage where…yes the rumours were indeed true!
The last time I saw Foals was the East Village Arts Club where Yannis was sitting in front of me, and then proceeded to sit me and my and my boyfriends face, then crowd surfing to the bar, did a shot and crowd surfed back. I mean wow, you won’t get that at Leeds but hopefully for any un-savvy to Foals that gives you an idea how wonderful they are.
Afterwards we swung around to the Festival Republic Stage to see Stockports finest stock (I’ll stop being punny!)
Having seen them at Liverpool Sound City and Kendal Calling a third time lucky was proven correct. Their set so dark, so mysterious and a sexier edge. Leeds must be like second home to them.
Their vocal influence from Arctic Monkeys it meant songs like Cut Me And I’ll Bleed and Blow had such a 60s psychedelic feel. Kudos to Blossoms.
In my eyes they just get better with age like a fine wine.
Next was Slaves, who for me were the best new act in the entire festival. Pure punk anarchy. I mean there’s so many brilliant things to see, but I was laughing, crying and screaming all at the same time.
The duo from Kent know how to perform and have a good chat with the crowd. People were piling out the tents to see them play – we literally hung onto the tent for dear life to get a good spot.
We were told mosh pit carnage and that’s exactly what happened. Hell… I even saw some dude dressed up as a Mantaray inspired by their song Feed The Mantaray – they’re a big deal so watch out in years to come for Slaves, as frankly not many acts make it from touring the UK’s pub circuit.
I apologise for the crappy photo of Circa Waves – once again there’s no sympathy for the weak at the NME tent. I was knackered and we actually retired a few feet behind this photo on the edge of the tent by the big screen for a chill set. They were amazing to say the least.
I mean they’re from Liverpool and we wouldn’t have it any other way?
To summarise the NME tent if you pretty much get the gist how packed out each set was, day three is always special, it was rock day. You know you save 10% of your tummy for desert no matter how much you’ve eaten… you save 10% of your energy for extra jumping around on sunday.
If you remotely follow me on Twitter or Instagram you’ll probably see the constant mention of Royal Blood – another band we’ve been privileged to see about 5 times (we lose count!) and I got a quick chat in with at the NME awards.
How do you even explain how two people can wail louder than a full band, so much noise and so much old rock and roll!
Above and below are photos of Catfish And The Bottlemen (crazy right?) These four have shot into our lives very quickly and for all the right reasons. Their rock’n’roll tunes make such an astounding show, and with a sunset like this falling on the last night it was magical.
The best song played live was for sure Kathleen – everyone went mental.
I can’t wait to see where the next few years takes these boys, perhaps into the stratosphere?
I jumped into a fresh new set of clothes after leaping around and the night was getting a tad chilly. It’s not a festival without a massive tassel jacket, I’ve been wearing this on occasion but saving it for my favourite day of them all. It’s from Rokit and its big and beautiful.
I was getting so stupidly excited for Metallica, the parents always had the on at home and I was brought up on proper rock, it’s like it will always be instilled as part of my childhood – not your most generic childhood I might add!
We ran back to our tent for a few quick drinks and get pumped for the last act of Leeds 2015. What a weekend it had been so far, flittering through all the crazy things we had seen. Now for the finale.
Metallica actually started early, yes rock’n’roll is punctual. We ran up with lasers and big lights coming from the main stage.
There they were, it was such a surreal moment knowing they are on the stage in front of mine. Maybe not everyone gets this, but they are literal gods of music. The stuff that changed the way that music is written and effected by genre. They blew my mind and is the real reason why I now have post-festival depression because seeing them made me so happy!
Platinum winning gold was unleashed onstage, masked by the master of puppets picked out from the festival standing behind them!
They definitely live up to their reputation of being loud, your chest literally rumbles.
Somehow… we got to the very front, alive. Considering I carried round a massive DSLR and didn’t get crushed I was shocked. The mosh pits are probably what you expect but I’d never seen anything like it, even at my heaviest gigs.
For the last few songs we went right back, we catch a glimpse of bagged balloons and canons attached to the stage and Leeds Festival went BOOM!
Loads of space-hopper like balls with Metallica written on the front were flying across the crowd, followed by hundreds of fireworks shooting into the sky to Enter Sandman (perfect!)
It’s been a weekend indescribable to truly understand how amazing it is to be back at Leeds. This year they truly pulled it out the bag and I cannot wait to be back in Bramham Park, same time next year!
A big thank you to Festival Republic for having me for the weekend – it’s been truly bodacious!
