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home » festivals » Leeds Festival » Leeds Festival 2009
Friday at Leeds has more surprises than the line-up suggestedLeeds Festival 2009 reviewWednesday 2nd September 2009 I set off for Leeds feeling a little down in the dumps, some people may well shoot me down for saying this, but for me 2009 is one of the weakest line-ups on paper I've seen for a while.
10 miles away from the site the heavens absolutely open, making my welly/leather boots decision a whole lot easier, I've seen the site at its worst in previous years so wellies are the only option for me. We got straight into the site today, maybe something to do with the military like operation in place, with road closures and new routes, I only hope so as this is Leeds Festival, and being the victims of the mindless 'Lets burn anything that moves' morons in the past I no longer camp at this one so will hopefully be driving a couple of hours in and out everyday as long as the rain holds off and the car isn't 6 inches deep in mud when we get back to it later. The basic layout of Leeds Festival never seems to change that much so it's always easy to get your bearing and wander off in the right direction without worrying too much about getting it wrong.
Like a couple of other festivals this year the arena seems a lot busier than it has in the past, maybe organisers pushing the capacity to the limits during hard times who knows, but I personally would like to see the size of the arenas made bigger too. We get a tip off during The Eagles set, someone connected to the band is playing a secret set in the Radio One tent later in the day... ooooh don't you just love a good guessing game? I decide not to take the risk of missing out and head over to the tent and find myself someone to add to my 'must get' CD list... Patrick Wolf. 'Oh My God' was my first reaction but then as Wolf writhed around the stage in his silver lycra jumpsuit engaging the crowd at every opportunity I found I was proper enjoying myself for the first time all day, Result! In what should have been a couple of hours break in the Radio One tent line up, many people wander into the tent and the atmosphere starts to build, by the time my fave man of all time Mr. Dave Grohl takes to the stage the tent is about a quarter full, as the new supergroup on the block Them Crooked Vultures rip through their set the jungle drums at Leeds Festival must be in full swing as it doesn't take too long for the crowds to appear. I'm so carried away by Grohl, I nearly forget that there are some amazing musicians in this line up Josh Homme on vocals and John Paul Jones from none other than Led Zeppelin on bass. Suddenly the line up is looking better.
For those of you who have been to Leeds before you'll know the problems caused by the tiny entrances to and from the main arena, for me tonight with the added crowd I felt unsafe trying to get out, there was a crush that I can't explain and trust me I've been in a lot of festival crowds and moshes in my time. I would like to see this addressed for future years, if the capacity is going up these entrances need to be made wider before someone gets seriously hurt. Being a girl and loving a bit of Gossip there was only one headliner for me tonight, and I guess that's what the crush was all about, I wasn't the only one leaving the main arena and the Arctic Monkeys behind. I only caught the beginning of Gossip's set as I choose to make a dash for the car to try and get a clean get away from the site, but Beth Ditto has the boys just where she wants them... if only boys!! So I head back to the car in much better spirits than when I left it this morning, for a bad line up I had a cracking day. Roll on tomorrow. review by Julie Weston photos by Luke Seagrave
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