Fri 29 Aug – Hydro Connect Festival

Finally! Nine days after the festival actually started, I've managed to snatch a minute to write my blog about it. To be perfectly honest I'm really not in the mood, but I'm hoping the theraputic qualities of the act of writing will fix that for me.

Friday 29th August
This was the first proper full-weekend camping over festival I'd been to since Leeds in 2005, so I was very much looking forward to it. We'd have to be setting off at about 5am on the Friday, so Lauren came over and stopped at mine on Thursday night, and we went shopping for supplies with Bob who then picked us up in the morning, bright and early.
Getting up that early is just plain wrong.
We packed the car, thinking we were being very reasonable with the amount of stuff we had to carry, but that was shot down in flames as soon as we reached the festival car park.

Meanwhile, however, we endured a 5 hour journey (we coulda got there in about 4 if we hadn't been mesmerised by some ducklings at a service station for a good half an hour) from good-ol' Lancaster through Rest and Be Thankful (and many other less cutely-named places) to Inverary and the banks of Loch Fyne. Our excitement at finally arriving was quickly dampened by the realisation that we had brought far too much stuff. Well, that isn't to say that we didn't use it all, because we did, but what was really a 20 minute walk to the campsite from the car park became an arduous, hellish death march for me and Lauren. It was alright for Bob...he strapped his bag on, hoisted his crate of Carlsberg up into his arms and went marching off, but for us it was a different story. By the end of it I was wishing Sam Gamgee would appear and offer to carry me. "I can't carry your beer Missy Cazzo, but I can carry you!!"

After...far too long, we found a space and near-enough collapsed on the grass. Luckily at this point there was still grass, but more on that later. Lauren fell over three times on the way to the campsite which was very amusing, no matter what she says.
Me and Bob put the tent up, Lauren stood there "guarding the stuff" and we finally got to sit down with a beer each! Also around this time, a girl stood on a toad (by accident, of course) and broke its leg. Poor little thing...
I scooped it up with a spoon and put it by the fence so it wouldn't get squished to death. But yeah...after that we all sat down with a beer and felt a bit sorry for ourselves. And the toad.

The first band we were bothered about seeing was Guillemots, so we had the whole afternoon to mooch about. We went down to the arena a little bit early, though, and caught some of The Whip's set as well. I wish I had been paying more attention because they sounded pretty cool but I would be lying if I said I was transfixed. We didn't watch all of Guillemots because they overlapped with Ladytron, but I enjoyed what I did see. This is where I start wishing I'd had the time to write this blog earlier, however, because I really can't remember what I was feeling when Guillemots were on at all. Oh dear.
Ladytron were on the Guitars and Other Machines stage at the other side of the site, which had almost as lovely a setting as the Oyster Stage. Ladytron were great....their set was rather samey (but then I think their music is rather samey), but it was also very intense and moving. They're certainly one of those bands whose music really comes further to life through being played live.

After Ladytron it was pretty much time for bringing out the big guns as we wandered back over to Oyster Stage (apparently so named because it's shaped like an Oyster? Looked like a stage to me...) to endure a bit of Amy Macdonald whilst waiting for Manic Street Preachers, the band I personally was mostly there to see.
This was my third time seeing them and I'd say the second best. We got a pretty ace spot comfortably near-enough the front and I experienced the now familiar butterflies and anticipation between Nicky's feather boa'd mic stand/Welsh flag appearing and the Manics actually taking to the stage. They opened with Faster which I don't think works as well as an opener as You Love Us, but was fabulous all the same. The set included some interesting additions such as a cover of Pennyroyal Tea and their version of Umbrella. They also dedicated a snippet of Baby Love to Richey before launching into Motown Junk. At one point James warned the crowd not to be expecting the soaring, string-laden epics associated with Manics' more recent material, but they did of course play If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, A Design for Life and The Everlasting (that beautiful and fragile acoustic version again, which I was chuffed to bits about) nonetheless.
I never wanted them to leave the stage, and they seemed to do just that far too quickly, but I was totally wired (pardon the pun) before, during and after their top-class set. Apparently I elbowed Lauren in the face at one point and didn't notice that, or her yelling "CAZ!!" after the event. Sorry, Lauren.
Bob had never seen Manics before and he said something along the lines of "you can tell they've been doing this for as long as they have". Which you can...but it always still seems fresh and exciting for them at the same time.

Next up was Kasabian. When I booked the tickets I was almost equally looking forward to them as much as Manics, but by the time last week rolled 'round, I was less and less bothered about watching Kasabian.
Well no...the wording there is too harsh. I was looking forward to Kasabian, I love Kasabian. However, the edge has been taken off my obsession for them of late, and I had seen them four times before. I was by all means looking forward to their set, but I wasn't experiencing the badly-disguised hysteria I had at the previous Kasabian gigs I've been to.
We went to get a drink while we were waiting and then ended up like, miles back. It was still a good view and sound, though, because they'd placed the Oyster at the bottom of a hill so pretty much wherever you stood, you could see. Plus, by this time we'd been up and about for 22 hours. We were waning! Kasabian played all their obligatory party tracks - and well at that, although I thought there could've been more guitars in the mix. Especially from Jay - as well as some new ones and some I hadn't heard live before. Well, they played new track Fire and Fast Fuse which I've only heard on record so far, even though it's not that new.
You'll probably be rather surprised to hear that we left before the end of the set. However, if you felt anything like how we were feeling at that moment I'm sure you'd have done the exact same thing. Also, Lauren was in a self-confessed "grump" and hadn't talked to either of us for at least half an hour. I think if you'd have given us ten more minutes we'd have all just fallen asleep where we were standing, like horses.
Walking back to our tent we could hear The Doberman echoing out, which was certainly nice to stumble back to.

Saturday 30th August
I didn't sleep all that well, but once I'd given myself a chance to wake up on Saturday morning I was all fired up and ready to go! Manics aside, this was the best day by far. The weather was reasonable for most of the afternoon (even though the mudbath was well and truly on its way) and we didn't have anyone to go and watch before Michael Franti & Spearhead at gone half four. So, we had a lovely morning and afternoon drinking beer, chatting and people-watching outside our tent. We were all half-pissed by the time we got to the arena. It was pretty much pouring down, but Michael Franti was displaying the most wishful of wishful thinking by going on and on about what a beautiful day it was. I really enjoyed their set...probably one of my unexpected highlights of the weekend. Shame we weren't closer but the tiny Michael Franti we could see looked like an awesome, energetic frontman.
Next, Bob went off to watch Black Lips while me and Lauren stayed for Spiritualized. I am pretty much unfamiliar with their material - I've heard bits and liked it, but I could never sing you a song off the top of my head - but now I would definitely buy something to check out. A guy who comes in the shop I work in loves them and says their early stuff is the best, so I guess I should start there. Seems logical anyway.
Our last little bit of relaxing for the evening took place while watching Grinderman, making their wonderful racket while we sat on our free ponchos. It was the calm before the storm, however because up next was half an hour of Paolo Nutini followed by half an hour of Gomez followed by the end of The Roots' set.
I was looking forward to Paolo. I saw him at Ahmet Tribute back in December but he was playing covers. His set this time seemed to be a deliberate attempt to un-mainstream himself and show the crowd that he may not quite be what they seemed. I think it probably worked. It certainly was for Bob, who started off not bothered but ended up wanting to stick around! He wanted to watch all of Gomez's set, though, so he left before me and Lauren. We didn't wanna leave either! This night sure was a pickle, but the bit we did see of Gomez was great. Bob said they'd played the whole of Bring It On. Awesome.

The Roots were one of the acts Bob was most looking forward to seeing, but I think he was a bit disappointed, mostly because of the sound quality in the tent. I'm inclined to agree with him, there seemed to be no differentiation between any of the parts and instruments that should've been standing out at certain times were just lost in the mix. It was a shame, because what they were doing was great, I just felt like I was missing so much of it the whole time.
Even so, it was worth it just to see someone being so bouncy with a tuba.

After this round of stage-hopping, we went back over to Oyster Stage for Bloc Party. We were merry, there were super-cool lasers, they played The Prayer and Song For Clay (Disappear Here), Kele had a kilt on... All-in-all it was a tremendously enjoyable end to a fantastic day!
Plus I think we all slept a lot better that night!

However...on the down side, the toilets were starting to get a bit rank and the mud was getting deeper...

Sunday 31st August
On Sunday it rained.
And then it rained some more.
Oh, how it rained!
Plus it was raining on top of the rain and that = mud.
You can see the evidence of the mud here on my photos:


(Note the grass behind Lauren). This is just after we'd pitched the tent.


This is me walking in the same place when we were leaving the campsite on Sunday.

What was quite amusing for me on Sunday morning was that I managed to get my Quorn fake meat cooked just before the proper rain started, but then Bob whacked on his and Lauren's meaty sausages, and the heavens opened. Poor Bob, he certainly looked forlorn, sitting in the tent doorway with an umbrella that really wasn't doing much at all.

When I was done laughing at their meaty misfortune and the afternoon had rolled 'round, we went to watch The Young Knives, who were loads of fun. I've been wanting to listen to their first album since I got back but annoyingly, I have misplaced it.

Foy Vance was up next over on the Guitars and Other Machines stage. Me and Bob had seen him a few months back when he supported Buddy Guy. We had a great spot and it was pouring down but luckily Foy was as great as we remembered and he certainly took my mind off the rain! He's just ace. Lauren loved him too...she'd never heard him before. He did a version of Another Brick in the Wall that was very cool. The crowd were great sports too, singing along to command even though there wasn't really that many of us.
Next we went over to watch Levellers. I thought I only knew one song by them, but it turned out I knew a couple. In fact, I was quite surprised to find that the songs I knew were the ones I enjoyed the least. What a Beautiful Day fell flat with me, but the more folky, fiddly tracks just made me want to smile and do a jig. Hoorah.

Then it was finally time for Elbow, who I was dead excited about and Lauren was most looking forward to seeing all weekend, I think.
This was the third time I'd seen Elbow, but the first time I really gave a crap...so ashamedly, I'll call it the first time. They played loads of stuff off The Seldom Seen Kid and it all sounded great. I couldn't fault Guy Garvey live. Plus he's a very affable frontman. He just seems so normal, and seemed slightly humbled the whole time and like he was performing for us rather than to us, if you know what I mean. Lovely.

Goldfrapp were next and although I quite like them, I don't think any of us were massively bothered, so we enjoyed their set futher back, sat on the grass. I was suprised at what Alison Goldfrapp can do with her voice, though. I was more impressed than I thought I'd be. We didn't catch all of their set because we went to watch The Coral. This was slightly confusing because they were billed as The Coral (Acoustic) but as far as I could tell, there wasn't really much acoustic about their setup at all. Whatever was going on, it was great. The Coral are pretty straightforward but that's what's ace about them. They play simply great songs and they play them fantastically well. No fuss.

We were gonna try and catch the end of Sigur Rós, but we decided we wouldn't get there in time (there was only 15 mins of their set left) and had a cuppa tea instead. The headliner on the Guitars and Other Machines stage was Duffy, so we stayed and watched her first two or three tracks. Her voice is just as great live as it is on record, although it does seem a little more affected. Plus, aside from coming out with a couple of embarrasingly contrived-sounding token swears, she seems like a great performer. She was pulling shapes for England. Or Wales. Or Scotland, even?

She was pulling shapes for Britain!

We had to say bye-bye to Duffy though because I wanted to buy a t-shirt and time was running out! Time was running out even more because every journey took twice as long on account of the mud!
I was getting to be quite a mud expert by this time. The worst stuff had the consistency of rice pudding. The most fun stuff was like chocolate milkshake and you could kinda ski through it instead of walking. Yay wellies. Teehee.

To finish off the weekend we had some prime Scottish fayre in the shape of Franz Ferdinand.
I like Franz Ferdinand, but the most intimate I ever got with them was that I listened to their first album LOADS when I first started uni. You Could Have It So Much Better kinda passed me by a little bit...I never got to know it all that well.
They are loads better live live than they are telly live. They just don't seem that great when you see their festival sets on the telly but they're much better than that, which I was glad to learn.
They were jolly good fun, there was a party mood again, but unfortunately we were also waning. I wanted stay to the very end but we just couldn't do it.
So, back to the tent we went...we thought it was near the end of their set, but we could hear them for a good 20 minutes or so after we got back to the campsite, so they must've been on for AGES!

Monday 1st September
The end.
Almost as sad as knowing it was over was knowing that we'd have to walk that bloody walk again back to the car. It wasn't half as bad on the way back, though (after getting out of the campsite...I nearly fell on my arse in that mud about three times, and methinks with the weight on my back I'd never have been able to get up again ). The car was bliss.
It took forever to get home but once I did I had the best bath ever.

In very brief summary: a great weekend that was kinda marred by the weather, but had the weather not been like that, it just wouldn't have had the same vibe! Also it was a shame more of my mates couldn't have come but the big losers went swanning off to Florida. Bet there's no rice pudding mud there.

THE END.

1. What's your favorite song by 14?
Au Revoir Simone - Sad Song, because of the memories.

2. How did you get into 20?
Kimya Dawson - Hmm, I just remember downloading Wanderer's Daughter and liking the simplicity of it

3. Who is your favorite member in 8?
Eisley - Sherri Dupree I think cause she replied to my flickrmail

4. Whats your favorite lyric bit by 29?
Joanna Newsom - The Book of Right-On, I like singing it to annoy other people :p

5. Have you ever seen 22 live?
Rilo Kiley - no

6. What's your favorite album from 10?
Cake Bake Betty - only has one, Songs About Teeth

7. Do you own any merchandise from 3?
Laura Marling - No :( I'd love to have the musicbox!

8. What is a good memory you have of 7?
The Weepies - I can think of bad memories, but good ones...
oh yeah, listening to them on the way to my best friend :)

9. Is there a member of the same age as you in 2?
Dido - no

10. When did you first get into 1?
Regina Spektor - Loads of people on lj love her so I gave her a chance, am I happy I did :D

11. Who likes 4 along with you?
Ane Brun - Some people on lj, and my best friend likes some songs too

12. Which song did you first hear from 15?
Jose Vanders - Faces Going Places

13. What song made you fall in love with 5?
Kate Nash - Birds of course

14. Which song do you not like by 18?
Brooke Waggoner - I don't really dislike any of her songs, it's just sometimes her voice is too smooth when I'm in a frustrated mood.

15. Why do you like 14's songs?
Au Revoir Simone - Their voices are so clear and pure, and I like how their music is hypnotizing and it sucks you into this different world, kinda. It's magical and dreamy; and some songs make me wanna dance

16. Where did you first hear 6?
Jaymay - Here, last fm ;)

17. How long was 19 a singer before you liked them?
Roxy Rawson - I really don't know, not that long I think, she doesn't even have an album yet

18. Does 13 have a song that gives you a bad memory?
Alela Diane - Hmm, no can't think of any

19. When did you get into 17?
Hanne Hukkelberg - almost a year ago

20. How long have you been into 11?
Dixie Chicks - Years, I liked them in primary school so...

21. If 9 had a concert 300 miles away, would you drive there to see them?
Emmy the Great - Honestly, I don't think so


22. How many CDs do you own of 12?
Alina Orlova - None

23. Does 21 have a song that makes you cry?
Fiona Apple - Get Gone once made me cry cause I was very frustrated

24. Does 27 have a song that makes you happy?
Slow Club - all their songs make me happy ;) specially Me And You or Sunday

25. Does 23 have a song that makes you smile?
Ulrich Schnauss - passing by, so peaceful.


26. What's the last song you've listened to from 28?
Mariee Sioux - While listening to my own library a song played, but I have no idea which one.

27. Is there a song by 32 that you've listened to more than 30 times?
Sia - Don't think so


28. What is a song from 50 that you've only listened to once?
Jem - some songs from the new album, or Come on Closer, don't like that one

29. Is there a song you are sick of hearing by 24?
Kosheen - Not really no, I still love Hungry even though I've listened to it a million times on the swing


30. What song got you into 40?
Azure Ray - Rise

31. What is your favorite single by 25?
Tracy Chapman - Telling Stories, one of my favourite songs ever.


32. If 49 hated you, what would you do?
Over the Rhine - Not really care actually :p

33. What would you say if 42 or one of the members from 42 asked you out?
She & Him - Um, I'd think it's a joke

34. Would you care if 41 had a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Ladytron - Not at all


35. Who has the best voice in 46?
Angus & Julia Stone - Angus I think ( which is weird cause I prefer female)


36. Do you think 26 is/are good looking?
Anna Ternheim - She's alright I guess, don't really remember

37. How many times have you listened to your favorite song by 36?
Amy Millan - Blue In Yr Eye has 11 plays on last fm

38. How many CDs do you own of 30?
Kaki King - None, only have downloaded stuff

39. Is there a song from 38 that makes you mad?
Sophie Solomon - Not really but I can get mad at myself for giving up on violin when I hear her music

40. Which member from 31 do you want to see go solo? If 31 is only one artist, what would you do if they joined a group?
Goldfrapp - I don't really care, she only has a few songs I like

41. What does your favorite song from 48 remind you of?
Way Out West - Don't Forget Me reminds me of walking around the lake

42. Did you hate 43 at first?
Priscilla Ahn - Nah, just thought her voice was kinda typical/boring

43. Does your best friend also listen to 33?
Kate Rusby - Haha yes! We sing Awkward Annie sometimes cause it's a personal song :p

44. Do you think your parents would like 37?
Laura Veirs - I don't think they'd like her voice

45. Does 47 have a song that makes you want to dance?
Kat Flint - Not dance, sing along yes

46. Have you ever seen 34 in person?
Steve Jablonsky - course not

47. Do you like 44's name?
Sol Seppy - It makes me think of Seppe, some annoying guy from primary school, so no

48. Is there someone in 45 that you want to go out with?
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - no

49. Do you know anyone that hates 39?
Keren Ann - no

50. Have you ever danced to a song from 35?
Jill Barber - no

This is gonna take ages for me to remember everyone so expect random new additions now and then.

* = Glastonbury

65daysofstatic x3 (Supporting The Cure all 3 times)
Annihalator (Supporting Trivium)
Apnia (Supporting Leaves' Eyes)
Art of Dying (Supporting 1st Seether)
Atrocity (Supporting Leaves' Eyes)
The Automatic x2 (Supporting Hard Fi + *)
Avenged Sevenfold (Supporting Iron Maiden - they sucked...)
Avril Lavigne - LOL
BabyHead (*)
Basement Jaxx (*)
Björk (*)
BlackBud (* - Pathetic...)
Bloc Party (* - Boring)
The Chemical Brothers x2 (Concert + *)
Coldplay (*)
Cult of Luna
The Cure x3
The Deal Was For The Diamond (Supporting Cult of Luna)
Devil Sold His Soul (Supporting Cult of Luna)
Dreadzone (*)
Editors (* x2)
Elis (Supporting Leaves' Eyes)
Engerica (Supporting 1st Seether)
The Feeling (UK NFL Giants vs Dolphins halftime show + * - Crap both times...)
Finger Eleven (Supporting 2nd Seether)
The Fratellis (* x2 - Disappointing both times...)
Garbage (*)
the Gemma Ray Ritual (Supporting Seasick Steve)
Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly (* - Boring...)
Gojira (Supporting Trivium)
Goldfrapp (*)
Groove Armada (*)
Lauren Harris (Supporting Iron Maiden)
Hard-Fi - Meh
HIM
Hot Chip (*)
Iron Maiden
Isis
Kill Hannah (Supporting HIM)
KT Tunstall (*)
Lacuna Coil
Leaves' Eyes
Martina Topley-Bird (*)
Massive Attack (*)
Modest Mouse (*)
Neon Neon (*)
Nine Black Alps (*)
Ozric Tentacles (*)
Pendulum (*)
The Pigeon Detectives (* x2)
Poisonblack (Supporting Lacuna Coil)
Primal Scream (*)
Sanctity (Supporting Trivium)
Scouting for Girls (* - BORING)
Seasick Steve x3 (Concert + * x2)
Seether x2
The Subways (*)
Trivium - Meh
The White Stripes (*)
Within Temptation (Supporting Iron Maiden)
The Wombats (*)
The Zutons (* x2)

Name your top 10 most played bands on Last.fm:


1. My Bloody Valentine
2. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
3. Radiohead
4. Sigur Rós
5. Rilo Kiley
6. The Gutter Twins
7. Gemma Hayes
8. The Dresden Dolls
9. Goldfrapp
10. Wilco

Now answer the questions according to the numbers:

what was the first song you ever heard by 6?
The Stations

what is your favourite album of 2?
Eck.....*ponders* Maybe Ballad of the Broken Seas..but I likes Sunday At Devil Dirt too....ah damn....=P

what is your favorite lyric that 5 has sung?
"I keep you close
In my wildest dreams
My rear view mirror
And you're waving to me
Our last goodbye"...methinks.

how many times have you seen 4 live?
Only the once....

what is your favorite song by 7?
Probably Lucky One (Bird Of Cassadaga) or Back of My Hand

what is a good memory you have considering the music of 10?
SEEING THEM AT ELECTRIC PICNIC!!!! =D And they played Impossible Germany

is there a song of 3 that makes you sad?
They don't really depress me, to be honest.

what is your favourite lyric that 2 has sung?
"Summer was high
When you caught my eye
But I was pledged to another
The feeling was strong when you came along
Now Lord only knows how I suffer"


what is your favourite song by 9?
Crystalline Green or Ride A White Horse or Lovely Head...too hard

how did you get in to 3?
Hmmm. Friends, and also my brother bought OK Computer.

what was the first song you heard by 1?
Only Shallow (though, I had seen Lost In Translation a few months before and Sometimes was on it. But I didn't really pay attention and I didn't know how it sounded).

what is your favourite song by 4?
Glósóli or Untitled 4

how many time have you seen 9 live?
Once

what is a good memory you have concerning 2?
Umm....buying their first CD on holidays =D completely spur of the moment....and seeing the latter at EP =D yay......

is there a song of 8 that makes you sad?
Slide...

what is your favourite album of 5?
Under The Blacklight.....no, More Adventurous.....oh, I don't know O_o

what is your favourite lyric that 3 has sung?
"I hit the bottom and escape...."

what is your favourite song of 1?
Sometimes

what is your favourite song of 10?
War On War or Impossible Germany

how many times have you seen 8 live?
NONE =[

what is your favourite album of 1?
Loveless =D

what is a great memory you have considering 9?
Oooh, seeing them at EP (yes, I've said this too many times, but they ARE GOOD MEMORIES!!!) and everyone going wild when Ooh La La came on. And when I first bought Black Cherry.

what was the first song you heard by 8?
Girl Anachronism.....thanks to Shoobs =]

what is your favorite cover by 2?
Eeem.....alls I knows regarding covers is Ramblin' Man...and I likes it

So, my old laptop "died" a couple of months ago, and with it all the information on play counts for iTunes (fortunately, not my music files, I have them in an external drive). Now my itunes play counts are pretty much down to zero. Since I have 10164 songs in my library and I haven't played 9991 of those yet, I figure it will be ages before I play them all. I thought I could let iTunes create a "smart" (¿?) playlist with 10 random songs I haven't played yet. Hopefully, there won't be lots of embarrassing stuff in it. Here's the first list:

1. Mi Novio Es Un Zombi - Alaska y Dinarama - Love it! Reminds me of oh-so-many parties.
2. Ideal Home - Black Box Recorder - Another one I like. I wonder if they will ever release anything new.
3. In My Place - Coldplay - Perhaps I should like them, but somehow I don't. I don't mind Clocks though.
4. Snowden - Doves - Brilliant song. They are great live, too. And one of them played guitar in some Saint Etienne records, which makes me love them only more.
5. Hombres (Carlos Jean Remix) - Fangoria - Did I mention Olvido Gara (a.k.a. Alaska) is our national treasure?
6. Special - Garbage - I love their first two albums, so, yes, I would have played this anyway.
7. Time Out From the World - Goldfrapp - As Agrado would say, "Soy fans, así, en plural" :)
8. Many Rivers To Cross - Jimmy Cliff - Not my "cup of tea". I don't think I ever played this song in my other computer either.
9. My Ship - June Christy - One of my favorite singers, so underrated and unknown nowadays too. When they invent the time machine, I'll see her live (and Anita O'Day, and Nina Simone, and....)
10. Mipney Ma - The Klezmatics - Not bad for an ending, although I prefer their more "upbeat" songs. Great band. Reminds me of the year I spent in NYC.

I think I'll do this every now and then, some surprises might come up... Now, back to work.

And so, another year, another mud bath at Hydro Connect 2008. Having looked at the line up I'd decided it actually wasn't worth spending money on, no matter how much I was absolutely dying to see Sigur Rós and had been for about a billion years. However, I was perusing the very fine music blog The Pop Cop one morning and noticed a competition, which along with a couple of others I was lucky enough to win (thanks guys!). This meant I could enjoy the bands I really really wanted to see without feeling I'd paid a huge amount of cash to stand around in the rain watching the majority of the rubbish that was on offer. And it worked perfectly! But I'm really glad I didn't pay this year - the organisers struck real gold with the line up last year, but this year it didn't seem like it knew where it wanted to go. Some classic old school highlights, nowhere near the amount of new talent and far too much XFM Scotland should have stayed at T in the Park nonsense. But nonetheless, here goes...

Friday
Having had to stay in Glasgow at an impressively rubbish neuroscience conference, I was gutted to miss Ladytron who many many people described as excellent. We arrived on site just in time to catch festival staples the Manic Street Preachers, who did what they always do and played a tight and loud set of songs you can sing along to. Having never been the biggest Manics fan in the world (that accolade goes to Nonimage) it was entertaining enough, but I figured after half their set that it was worth indulging my Crystal Castles related intrigue, and wandered over to the Unknown Pleasures Tent.

Crystal Castles are pretty good actually. Despite the hype their set was fun, dancable, although the "vocals" set your teeth on edge after a couple of songs. Huge beats, glowsticks, they're exactly what it says on the tin, but in a more in your face and clearly superior way than most of the aspiring new rave ilk.

A quick trip to the Guitars and Other Machines Stage caught the The Breeders just prior to Cannonball, which was excellent, and then saw them descend into more feedback and a bit of a mess. The thing I never really understood about the Breeders and the Pixies, having come to them pretty late, was why they would waste so much time writing dirge like messes when they're both capable of pristine and wonderful pop songs. I guess it makes the genius shine more, but live I have little patience for it, and headed to see Manics finish on a Design For Life, which was pretty awesome as always. Song for a generation and all that.

Finally it had come to the part in the day I'd been majorly excited about - Mercury Rev. Having fully expected to never get to see them live, it was an absolute joy. Fantastic craftsmenship, both in songwriting and stage presence, joyous and despairing in equal measures, they surpassed my expectations and we set off back to our B & B in a cosy air of wonder. Fabulous.


Saturday
The worst line up advertising in the world ever led to the Guitars and Other Machines stage being virtually devoid of people when Broken Records began their first set of the day. I simply cannot describe how amazing this band are. With every performance they grow in stature, convert cynics into ceilidh dancing mentals, and their tunes sound bigger and bigger. They have more talent in their fingernail cuticles then the whole of Glasvegas, the View and Travis put together. Easily the most exciting thing of the weekend.

Once they'd finished it was raining, so we headed for a bit of tent action. My Copy was a perfectly acceptable dance music type guy, I won't attempt to place a genre as I know nothing about that stuff, but it reminded me a bit of Bookashade, only with less build. He was however, followed by BeardyMan, a bit of a beatboxing boy genius. After twenty mins of the most amazing non assisted noises I have ever heard, covering a huge range of pop classics from drum and bass to motown, he then got in some looping action and the set turned a little more conventional. Still a great find and worth a look.

I then caught the last three tracks from the Friendly Fires, who sounded a lot larger than the last time I saw them, and have some cracking angular pop songs for a Saturday afternoon. The double drummers were used to particularly good effect, adding a dancier fun edge to the tunes, not dissimilar to Radio 4.

Rob then decided to demonstrate to me just how poor his friends' taste in music is, and dragged me along to see the end of Michael Franti & Spearhead. Total joke. It's the kind of music I'll just never get.

After them came Spiritualized, who I've never been the biggest fan of. I thought their soaring anthemic style would make the whole thing interesting enough, but my attention waned after 4 or so songs. Some excellent gospel backing vocals, but not not enough interest - the precise thing that left me switching off their albums after 4 or 5 songs.

It was then that Rob, having never heard of Glasvegas but heard a huge amount of hype about them over the course of the day, decided he wanted to go see Glasvegas. I warned him they merited none of the hype, that their painful dirges were completely without merit, being unoriginal and entirely mediocre. But off we tootled anyway, and I was proved to be exactly right, except with the addition that they have a complete lack of stagecraft and banter too. It makes me so angry that these complete losers get daytime radio 1 play whilst Broken Records languish unnoticed. Useless.

We then tootled back to Grinderman, who were quite entertaining in a hoary Neanderthal old man fashion, before nipping over to the Your Sound bandstand to catch another of Scotland's bright young things - Errors. Fantastically bizarre stage banter and tight Foals like time signatures provided an entertaining half an hour, restoring a lot of the faith I used to hold in Scottish music that had been cruelly destroyed by Glasvegas only hours earlier.

We then wandered over to Gomez, who reminded me exactly why I'd never actually managed to listen to Bring It On in it's entireity, and so we headed back, as true obsessives do, to watch Broken Records for a second time that day. And yet again they were awesome, despite a few sound checky type issues at the very start.

We ended the day with Bloc Party, who were fine, but just not quite big enough to fill such a spot. New song Mercury sounded better live than on the radio, and they played everything you wanted to hear, but something was a little lacking, so we skipped the encore and wandered back to the car singing Broken Records tunes.


Sunday
On Sunday, the heavens opened, there was nothing we were desperate to see until the evening, so we took a trip to Oban and the Cruachan Hydro Power Station, which was excellent fun, and crucially, dry. When we arrived at the site it had turned from a green Oasis into a huge mud bath, and we felt extremely vindacated in our decision! So we stood and watched the excellent Goldfrapp, who have pretty timelessly good tunes, a huge whack of charisma, and served as the perfect warm up for the most wonderful hour of the festival.

Sigur Rós had a lot of expectation, about 7 years worth I guess, hanging on their shoulders. Being a band akin to Death Cab, who have a horrible knack of leaving whichever country I happen to enter a day before I get there, or only touring when I'm away from the UK, it had been a long wait. But boy, was it worth it! Sigur Rós play jaw droppingly beautiful music, so finely crafted, but have developed a huge sense of fun and joy in what they do over the years that they come only second to their fellow country woman Bjork in performance. Their set structure was perfect, seamlessly segueing between the more upbeat tracks of the latest album and the old classics. Older sounds sound fuller and more instant live, commanding every instant of your attention. They are quite simply, incredible.

Which makes it completely unbelievable to me that the four idiots stood next to us, about 6 rows back from the front, talked throughout the entire set. The whole thing. Despite dirty looks and louds protestations from everyone around between songs, the most moronic girl in the world chattered on and on and on throughout. And then when they finished, a song that you could never encore after, she starts yelling "ONE MORE TUNE." Maybe if you'd listened to the first ten or so, you'd be satisfied. People like her have no soul. My faith in humanity was luckily rather high, after overhearing a conversations between two very gnarled and middle aged drunken men, which went something along the lines of:

"Mate, I need to ask you something."
"What is it mate?"
"You know Sigur Rós right?"
"Aye"
"Are they going to make you cry?"
"Well, erm, now you come to mention it...maybe."
"Can I watch it with you then? Don't want to be the only sad old man blubbing."

Brilliant.


All in all, if Connect is to continue, it needs a more coherent music policy. The reason it worked so well last year, and that the rain and the mud didn't matter, was because the line up was head and shoulders above anything else in the UK, and attracted a group of people with the same ideas and expectations about music. This year was too much of a mish mash (Paulo sodding Nutini anyone?!), too random, that it made it very much just another festival, with long walks and huge mud and not very much else. People said ticket sales were low, and another year like this could well spend the end for what seemed like such a bright hope of a festival last year.

it's 6 months since one of the most irritating trolls has been banned. and it seems now that epic lulz are gone with the new lastfm so let's all have a moment of silence in rememberance of the great persona he was!

I miss you MrWInczakos :(

ps old lastfm sucked.

ps2 new last fm sucks.

ps3 will there be another mighty troll just like him and R.I.P. Octember (also known as Strictly Diesel) and Pagan_Winter (also known as - too many names, cant remember them all)? who knows. maybe someday.