My thoughts on Leeds Fest 09

[Trani on 10]

1. Getting into the site was easy as pie. The planning was great. Not queuing whatsoever.

2. The bars shouldn't be cash bars. They should be token bars like at V-Fest. Cuts queuing down 95%.

3. Arctic Monkeys were so pretentious and up their own arse. And they should've played more tunes off the first album.

4. Radiohead's set was pretty crap. They missed out all the classics and played new stuff instead. Gutted.

5. Kings Of Leon were awesome. Absolutely fantastic. Wish they'd have played Trani, KOTR and Arizona though.

6. The toilets in the campsite were minging.

7. The 'riots' on the last night weren't half as bad as i imagined. We just saw 1/2 big fires in the distance and hear a few aerosols being thrown on them. Oh, and saw a few of those light telegraph type poles being pushed/burnt down. Stupid, but not as violent as I thought.

[NotAVVirgin]

i thought the bars were amazing, been 2 v in chelmsford 4 the last few years and the queing for tokens then queing for the bar was a joke. was only there sunday though. can't believe how stress free and fun fun fun the whole weekend was

[ivan]

I thoughtt Radiohead's set was incredible , and I ain't really a fan.

Kings of Leon , were how shall I put this "workman like ! "

Arctics were rubbish - I shouted to Alex - "Get your hair cut and move back in with your mum and dad ! "

[Flasher]

Monkeys were shite, we left half way through. I understand that its 'cool' to act like you don't care but when you're headlining a festival and the crowd has waited all day in a field for you it takes more than just playing songs and acting cool to make them enjoy it. Compare them to the Kaiser Chiefs (who IMO were easily the best band of the weekend) and its easy to see why so many people were boinging around and loving KC whereas people were leaving halfway through AM.

[Chihiro Cheeks]

Yeah I had one of the most hassle free fests this year. Thought there was alot less trouble than normal. Only saw one small fire in the main arena. N other than the idiot who took a flare in for the Prodigy didnt see anything that worried me.

Will def be back next year!

[mandypants]

Them Crooked Vultures - nuff said

Saturday was a bit slow and I was a bit disappointed with Radiohead, passed over Arctic Monkeys for Gossip and it sounds like I made the right choice. Nothing could have followed that Prodigy set, they should have headlined.

Faith No More, Deftones, Mark Lanegan, Eagles of Death Metal, Placebo, not one of them disappointed, fantastic, even in the rain!

e2a there was loads less bother this year, which was great, let's get that under control then we can start on the mess that is left every Monday morning.

Edited September 1, 2009 by mandypants

[Al the CAT]

Worked a lot of it supervising my CAT team, so didn't get to see as many bands as I'd hoped, but what I saw I enjoyed. Really enjoyed Radiohead, having not seen them before, but really good (if you were in a mellow kind of mood - banging up fer it hardcore headlining it wasn't!).

Campsites were so much better this year, only Orange seemed to be the mentalists on Sunday night / Monday morning. Everywhere else had it's minor issues, but nothing that couldn't be handled. For the rest of the festival a lot of people said there seemed to be a much calmer and chilled out feel to the place, people just enjoying the festival (and drunks being happy / stupid drunks rather than aggressive drunks).

Like Mandypants said, just got to work on the state of the site afterwards now, going round it at 3pm yesterday afternoon when almost everyone had gone was so depressing. Tents even thrown (or left to blow) over the boundary fence into the Bramham grounds. Very poor.

On the positive, a lot less gas canisters. Thanks for not bringing them (or well done security for taking them!).

Al.

[tinpottery]

Went to this festival thinking it was going to be my last one and i was outgrowning it, but had a amazing time:

Things i liked:

The organisation of the car parks, a breeze compared to the 15 hour trip that was Glastonbury.

Pringles for breakfast

The majority of the weather

Talking about poo girl

Relentless tent

Things i didn't like:

The wasps

The wind

Our shite tent

Lack of toilets

Smoke from camp fires.

In terms of bands the stand outs for me:

Blood Red Shoes- loved the new songs they played, perfect way to start.

Metric- so underated, really good performance.

Prodigy- i loved them, crowd was going and they played a lot of the new stuff.

Arctic Monkeys- I agree with comments that it wasn't a good set for a festival, but i'm really loving the new album, really AM fans would have loved it.

Frank Turner- Who doesn't love Frank, he is awesome!

YYY's- Best band to see in the sunshine.

MSTRKRFT- Shame that their set was so short, would have happily stayed there all night.

Friendly Fires- Ed Mac's dancing is nearly as good as mine.

KOL- My favourate band, Caleb has such a amazing voice, perfect way to end the festival.

Just a brilliant weekend.

[Craigston]

1. Getting into the site was easy as pie. The planning was great. Not queuing whatsoever.

2. The bars shouldn't be cash bars. They should be token bars like at V-Fest. Cuts queuing down 95%.

3. Arctic Monkeys were so pretentious and up their own arse. And they should've played more tunes off the first album.

4. Radiohead's set was pretty crap. They missed out all the classics and played new stuff instead. Gutted.

5. Kings Of Leon were awesome. Absolutely fantastic. Wish they'd have played Trani, KOTR and Arizona though.

6. The toilets in the campsite were minging.

7. The 'riots' on the last night weren't half as bad as i imagined. We just saw 1/2 big fires in the distance and hear a few aerosols being thrown on them. Oh, and saw a few of those light telegraph type poles being pushed/burnt down. Stupid, but not as violent as I thought.

[Trani on 10]

Concur with point 1.

But I'm sorry, Point 4. is utter bollox.

15 Step'

'Airbag'

'There There'

'All I Need'

'Lucky'

'Nude'

'Morning Bell'

'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'

'2+2=5'

'A Wolf At The Door'

'Videotape'

'(nice dream)'

'The Gloaming'

'Reckoner'

'The National Anthem'

'Bodysnatchers'

'Idioteque'

'You And Whose Army?'

'These Are My Twisted Words'

'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'

'Paranoid Android'

'Just'

'Everything In Its Right Place'

The songs in bold are all 'classics' to me. The haunting 'these are my twisted words' the only new song in there.

In Rainbows is right up there with OK Computer so I'm not sure where you're coming from.

Edited September 4, 2009 by Trani on 10

[davelms]

I haven't come across a review or a forum comment where people thought the Arctic Monkeys set at Leeds was any good. Seems to have gone down really badly with a lot of people.

[TalkShow Bob]

It's all subjective, but i'd like to have seen;

High & Dry

Street Spirit*

Fake Plastic Trees

Creep*

Karma Police*

No Surprises*

The ones asterixed are undeniable classics. Gutted that they didn't play them.

[Trani on 10]

Should have come to Reading. They played Creep, Street Spirit and Karma police.

[ivan]

Worked a lot of it supervising my CAT team, so didn't get to see as many bands as I'd hoped, but what I saw I enjoyed. Really enjoyed Radiohead, having not seen them before, but really good (if you were in a mellow kind of mood - banging up fer it hardcore headlining it wasn't!).

Campsites were so much better this year, only Orange seemed to be the mentalists on Sunday night / Monday morning. Everywhere else had it's minor issues, but nothing that couldn't be handled. For the rest of the festival a lot of people said there seemed to be a much calmer and chilled out feel to the place, people just enjoying the festival (and drunks being happy / stupid drunks rather than aggressive drunks).

Like Mandypants said, just got to work on the state of the site afterwards now, going round it at 3pm yesterday afternoon when almost everyone had gone was so depressing. Tents even thrown (or left to blow) over the boundary fence into the Bramham grounds. Very poor.

On the positive, a lot less gas canisters. Thanks for not bringing them (or well done security for taking them!).

Al.

[renpen21]

All about opinions i Suppose..

1. Getting there was easy no traffic but had to que 90 minutes for our band (later found out no ques down at orange entrance)

2. Personally thought the bars were rubbish, On the Friday and Sunday we stopped drinking around 6 o'clock as couldn't do with the ques and arseholes pushing in...

3. Was not looking forward to the Artics but personally enjoyed there set, sure he was p*ssed and crowd interaction was poor but PERSONALLY enjoyed them..

4. Again only my own opinion but was the biggest let down of the festival for me, was looking forward to Radiohead the most, They sounded great but like Trani said would of loved to of heard

High & Dry

Street Spirit

Fake Plastic Trees

Creep

Karma Police

No Surprises

5. Thought Kings Of Leon were excellent, it amuses me how when a band becomes more popular they are judged to have sold out..

6. Toilets in brown weren't no where near as bad as i thought they'd be, Monday morning wasn't pretty but the other days were fine as long as you went early..

7. Riots, didn't really see anything but got a little worried Sunday night when some Chavs started letting flares off next to our tent, Secruity made them put them straight out but that made me unable to sleep for rest of night as was on edge..

8. Car Parking was a MARE, arrived Thursday 8 o clock and was told to park in orange, told them i wanted to park in brown as that's where i was planning to camp and was told it was full, said fine i'll park in green, was told that was also full and that it was here or no where... Was a real treck to camp... One of my friends turned up at 2 oclock thursday wanting to park in Orange and was told only brown was availabe !!!

Overall really enjoyed the festival..

Highlights.. Them Crocked Vultures, Friendly Fires, MSTRKRFT, Prodidgy, Artics, KOL and the Brown Campsite DJ !!

Disapointments.. Radiohead, Crystal Castles, Ian Brown

[Trani on 10]

had to que 90 minutes for our band (later found out no ques down at orange entrance)

[stephen07]

It's all subjective, but i'd like to have seen;

High & Dry

Street Spirit*

Fake Plastic Trees

Creep*

Karma Police*

No Surprises*

The ones asterixed are undeniable classics. Gutted that they didn't play them.

[biglewhill]

1. Getting into the site was easy as pie. The planning was great. Not queuing whatsoever.

2. The bars shouldn't be cash bars. They should be token bars like at V-Fest. Cuts queuing down 95%.

3. Arctic Monkeys were so pretentious and up their own arse. And they should've played more tunes off the first album.

4. Radiohead's set was pretty crap. They missed out all the classics and played new stuff instead. Gutted.

5. Kings Of Leon were awesome. Absolutely fantastic. Wish they'd have played Trani, KOTR and Arizona though.

6. The toilets in the campsite were minging.

7. The 'riots' on the last night weren't half as bad as i imagined. We just saw 1/2 big fires in the distance and hear a few aerosols being thrown on them. Oh, and saw a few of those light telegraph type poles being pushed/burnt down. Stupid, but not as violent as I thought.

[kev1664]

You must have caught it just at the right time! we were queuing for an hour or so, and a friend told me they queued for about three!

[Wesleyagimameagma]

I cant believe that there is so much going on in Leeds.

My favourate project has got to be Clarence House. Even though its not as tall as developments such as Criterion Place, it looks so quality. And the location is just fab.

[kev1664]

I cant believe that there is so much going on in Leeds.

My favourate project has got to be Clarence House. Even though its not as tall as developments such as Criterion Place, it looks so quality. And the location is just fab.

[sitanywear]

Shamed to say I had a camper van but glad I did after seeing the camp sites !

Loved it KOL were brilliant, and I really liked and have got into Enter Shikari

[craig-g]

I haven't come across a review or a forum comment where people thought the Arctic Monkeys set at Leeds was any good. Seems to have gone down really badly with a lot of people.