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Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
We sent Jade Foster along to Reading & Leeds Festival to be our Blogger in Boots - and let everyone know what really goes on at the festival...
From food to bands, signings to tents, Jade documented it all with her Olympus Tough TG-310 digital camera - take a look at how she got on here: -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
So, we drove to the festival and I was a bit apprehensive about how easy it would be to get to the main site but there was no need to worry as it was so organised! We parked in our designated area and followed everyone along the river to catch the boat. We waited about ten minutes before boarding and everyone was in good spirits, having a sing song and being very friendly. We arrived at the main site after a slow moving journey and I had to recover from motion sickness before we headed off to the entrance
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Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
Just our luck, day one meant torrential downpours but luckily for me I came prepared, unlike my fiancé who turned up in t-shirt and jeans! So thank goodness for my wellies, (a must-have come rain or shine), hoodie, umbrella, leggings and poncho! At the entrance to the site, there was access to stalls that sold the essentials including tents, chairs, wellies and ponchos so I made my fiance buy one to at least stop him getting further wet!!
As you can see, its not the best look I have ever worn but then everyone was in these fashionable items so I didn’t feel like such a wally! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
In between bands, and making sure our favourites didn’t clash, there were plenty of stalls to browse around including this one that sold funky hats, jewellery and t-shirts. If you haven’t been to Camden before, these stalls were perfect for summing up what its like, selling unusual items at reasonable prices.
To add to my collection of weird items, I bought some earrings in the shape of a guitar pick with some offensive words on which were noticed by many people throughout the weekend!! Other stalls included shoes, merchandise, bags, and clothes.. -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
During the day, we managed to enjoy three main bands. Although I am not a huge fan, Bring Me The Horizon put on a good show, crowd surfing into the audience and climbing all over the scaffolding - they even pulled someone out of the audience to join them on stage for a sing song!
The Architects opened the main stage and I had never heard of them before but I am certainly a fan now! And The Deftones (as above) were a band I had never seen live before but I was looking forward to this and they did not disappoint, playing their hits including my favourite, Minerva.
For most of these performances, we stood quite close to the front but on the side so we could see the stage and the screen which was probably the best view we could get, away from the mosh pits! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
After a mass amount of rain soaked through our clothes, made my hair dye run down my face and made my wellies all dirty and unpretty, the sun came out to make our festival experience a brighter one! And boy, did it turn out hot! So off came the poncho and hoodie, and on went the sun cream and sun glasses!!
As the sunset, I was most looking forward to seeing 30 Seconds to Mars, having seen them three times before this, I knew what to expect from them. We stood right in the middle of the crowds for their set and I was a bit disappointed by the sound and performance. I don’t think the crowd were into the music as much and there seemed to be some technical difficulties but I enjoyed hearing their hits again including The Kill, A Beautiful Lie, This is War and Kings and Queens.
The headliner for the evening was My Chemical Romance and although I prefer their older stuff, they really put on a show and I thoroughly enjoyed having a dance to Na Na Na Na, Sing and Helena. However, the highlight for me was their encore. Coming out to We Will Rock You got the crowd going, hands in the air and singing along, until the guitar kicked in and out comes Brian May! What a surprise that was and fulfilled another of my dreams, being a huge Queen fan! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
Our second day at the festival after having cleaned up our wellies, had a shower and a well deserved meal, and the sun was out for good! The mud had dried out, (which didn’t smell too good!) and I was extremely excited about today, knowing what to expect.
We arrived at the main stage again whilst it was still early for most people who were still sleeping in their camps, and took advantage of it being quiet by securing a close spot to the stage to watch the first band, We Are The Ocean, open up. -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
The Alternative Stage mainly consisted of comedy acts and one man I was overly excited to see was Tim Minchin. Knowing the arena would be packed out, me and my fiance headed to the tent two hours before he was due on. Although this seemed like a long wait initially, I am so pleased we didn’t miss out on the entertainment beforehand.
Sitting on plastic bags, (because the grass was still muddy!) we got to rest our legs whilst watching the hilarious Steve Hughes and Jarred Christmas. They were both so funny, perfect for a Sunday afternoon, and my jaw ached from laughing so hard! When Tim Minchin came on, the crowd rushed forward but I had a great view being only a few rows from the front and what a performance he gave. His set was about half hour, cramming in such favourites such as Cheese and Dark Side, relating his set to the evenings headline acts. -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
This was the biggest highlight for me from the whole festival, meeting the very friendly, Friendly Fires!
Their set was on the main stage and the crowd gathered in the hula skirts and Hawaiian shirts to dance carnival-style to the bands music. The lead singer, Ed, came out in a terrific white Hawaiian shirt and showed us his amazing dance moves. If you have never seen this band in action, you have to check out his dancing! My wonderful fiance kindly ruined his back whilst I went on his shoulders to my favourite song of theirs, Paris, and the view from up there was amazing! As carnival dancers entered the stage and handed out hula necklaces, I could see the crowd dancing and having one big party whilst a shower of rain fell on our heads, but we didn’t care!
As soon as the set was finished, I rushed over to the NME signing tent to meet the band. We had an hour wait before we saw them, so it was essential to have a beer in one hand and their latest CD in the other! It was worth the wait as the boys were extremely friendly, commenting on my offensive earrings, loving my red hair and talking about the gig. I got a picture with the lead singer, which wasn’t really allowed but I asked nicely, and I came away with three autographs on my album! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
This was one of many themed bars around the festival site, equally named after different years, which helped for meeting points, used by us many times. There was plenty of choice for drink, beers, wine and soft drinks and didn’t seem too expensive. I like to pace myself at gigs as I want to remember who I have seen so it wasn’t all about drinking for me.
With there being so much to do at the festival, we forgot to eat until late afternoon! As expected, the food was really expensive but there was plenty to choose from. Pizza, chicken, chips, Chinese, and some unusual food stalls were scattered around, and I paid £7 for a box of chicken and chips... However I did get my moneys worth and was better tasting than the food I cook myself! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
As the sunset on the last day of the festival, Elbow were playing, creating the perfect atmosphere. I wasn't sure how the crowd would react to Elbow as they are a lot calmer than the other bands headlining but everyone joined in with the swaying, lighter-holding, sing-along show. I am an old school Elbow fan, seeing them ten years ago when their first album came out, but they played the hits everyone knew, mainly from their last album including The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, Grounds for Divorce and of course, One Day Like This.
The sun went down just at the right time, the atmosphere was romantic and electric and I felt a bit sad that my first festival experience was coming to an end. -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
It was the ending of all endings, Muse headlining the main stage. This would be my 7th time seeing them live and not only was I about to see them for the first time at a festival, but they were to play their second (and best) album, Origin of Symmetry in its entirety, commemorating its tenth year of release. I was so excited!
The stage set was based on their albums art work and the crowd gave it their all, bouncing around and singing to every song. Once the album was played, the second half included their biggest hits such as Time Is Running Out, Starlight, Uprising and The Resistance. They even threw in a rendition of House of the Rising Sun and a spine-tingling Ennio Morricone inspired introduction to Knights of Cydonia.
Pyro- technics did not disappoint with fireballs at the right moments, the infamous bouncing balls Muse are known for throwing into the crowds, and fireworks at the end to round the gig off nicely. For anyone who had never seen Muse before, this would have been mind blowing and not something we will ever forget in a hurry! -
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Photo Diary
Wow, what an amazing weekend it was - I knew I was in for some treats but I never expected it to be that good! Highlights for me included meeting Friendly Fires, having Fearne Cotton wave to us from the BBC3 studio, Brian May coming out with My Chemical Romance and seeing Muse perform Origin of Symmetry in full, all moments I will never see again but that will be replayed in my memory time again.
I will definitely attend Reading again and camp with my Vango tent next time as is so much fun in the rain! I highly recommend anyone who is nervous about going to a festival to just be organised for all types of weather, take enough money and let your hair down and just go for it!
Thank you so much to Company for giving me this amazing opportunity to share my photo diary as it added to the experience of getting stuck in the mud to get that vital photo, charge my camera every hour in case the battery died and to add to the conversation when explaining to people why I was taking a picture of their muddy boots!
Bloggers in Boots: Reading & Leeds Festival
We sent Jade Foster along to Reading & Leeds Festival to be our Blogger in Boots - and let everyone know what really goes on at the festival...
by Theresa Caney
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