cage the elepahnt, swmrs, post animal
so so good! i mainly went for swmrs, because for me i sorta left behind cage the elephant in 2016. but they were still soooo amazing, and played like all my favourite songs of theirs. swmrs was good, but because they were openers it was barely like 6 songs or something, nowhere near as good as when i saw them at trnsmt. post animal were pretty awesome too, although i didn't know any of their songs. i went with a friend who had never been in a mosh pit before, so it was quite funny when swmrs played 'd'you have a car' and i was immediately knocked over. my leg still hurts, and i have this big blue-green bruise on my arm. but totally worth it. also we smoked weed before, which is the first time i'd ever been fried at a concert. not exactly the right atmosphere for it, but it had pretty much worn off by the time swmrs came on, so it was alright.
waterparks, de'wayne jackson
my first concert of the new decade, and one of the best ever. it's been so long (5 months exactly, actually) since i've seen a band i really loved and knew all the songs live. a while ago i promised myself to always check out the opener before i saw the band, ever since waterparks and swmrs (two of my favourite bands ever) opened for all time low and i had no clue who they were. but this time, since i saw that de'wayne did hip hop and rap, i just ignored it because i thought i wouldn't like him. i was so wrong, he was amazing. not as good as waterparks, but that's only really because the crowd wasn't as hyped up. he was excited when we did the "here we, here we, here we fucking go" chant. and some girl screamed "you're so hot!" like 10 times, which was kinda funny. then waterparks came on, and oh my god. i saw otto come out, and i got that kinda squeeze in my heart. then geoff and awsten came out together and i lost it, i was so excited. i was about halfway away from the stage, but i was in the left side, and for the first few songs even though i was having fun the other people around me didn't seem to be. there was a huge circle pit in the middle which i missed, and when they played 'worst' awsten got each half of the crowd to sing a different verse. when my side was singing, i was just about the only one who knew the words. so when there was another pit in the middle i ended up squeezing through. and thank god i did. i nearly lost both my shoes and my phone, but the pit was good. my legs are covered in bruises. they played all my favourite songs, even the ones i wasn't expecting. they had the "i think you saved my life" line from 'not warriors', and they had '21 questions', and 'lucky people', and 'i felt younger when we met', which i LOVED. overall it was so so good. it just felt amazing to be able to jump up and down, exhausted and sweaty, but the music's too good to stand still. also there were some pretty funny bits, like the crowd making a massive cirlce pit to awsten just playing the smoke on the water riff over and over again. it was maybe one of the best concerts i've ever been to. waterparks concerts are always good. i hope i see them again soon. maybe next time i'll follow them around the uk if i have the money and time.
the japanese house, fake laugh
i saw them with two friends who were way more into the japanese house than i am. they were good, though i thought fake laugh was better than the japanese house. i was also on 100mg of dxm at the time and even though i didn't feel anything my friends thought i was acting funny, so yeah. it was sorta just meh.
the new power generation
this was prince's backing band for a few of his albums, plus a new singer. i went with my parents, since my mum (who loved prince) got them last christmas. they were amazing. its not the kind of music i would ever really listen to, but the musicianship was insane. the bass player especially was sooooo good, plus the guy on saxophone. the singer had a really good stage prescence too, and honestly it just felt like watching 8 really good friends jamming on stage. plus, the crowd was hilarious. there's this thing that every middle aged white person does after three cocktails, this mad dance that is so funny to watch. it was cute, and even though i didn't know a lot of the songs, they sounded amazing.
laura jane grace and the devouring mothers, frank iero and the future violents
i went alone, but met so many cool people while i was there. everyone looked so cool. there were so many full on punk kids - dyed hair and patch jackets, the whole lot. frank was amazing, when he walked out on stage i don't think i've ever felt so starstruck. i was in awe. most of the artists i've seen i've not been obsessed with, and those i have seen have been in bigger venues. but this was a tiny venue (it's actually a renovated church, stained glass windows and all) and he was right there. the music was amazing, but i could hardly even hear it because it was so loud. loads of people left after frank, and i managed to get to barrier when laura jane grace came on. it was crazy how close she was, i could've touched her if we both reached out. i've never been barrier before. even though i know the songs i couldn't sing along becuase i didn't know what damn songs she was singing, i was deaf by this point. it was just noise, but i loved it.
george ezra, lewis capaldi, swmrs, the kooks, the wombats, the amazons
george ezra was better than i'd expected, as was lewis capaldi. i missed most of the amazons, but i caught junk food forever and black magic (my two favourite songs). watching the wombats made me want to play my bass again, because the bass player looked like he was having so much fun. swmrs were better than i could have ever imagined. it was my second time seeing them live, but the first time i saw them i didn't know any of their music. they were on a smaller stage ajacent to the main one, which was so much better becasue there were fewer people and i was super close to the stage. i swear i could've reached up and touched them. every song was amazing (they played d'you got a car!!!). the pits at this stage were way better than they were at the main stage, and i got elbowed in the face so many times i was surprised my makeup stayed on and i wasn't bleeding. it was max's birthday too, so we sang happy birthday for him, and afterwards cole asked people to come out afterwards and smoke, and max jumped down to get pictures and meet everyone. i would've loved to stay, but i had to go and meet my friends again back at the main stage (which is why you should always go to festivals with people who like the same music as you!). the whole festival was probably average at best, but swmrs made it amazing.
arctic monkeys, interpol, blossoms, nothing but thieves
i was nearly crushed to death during the arctic monkeys, seriously. it was a riot, the most wild crowd i've ever seen. people were packed so close together that one person would fall and it would be a domino effect with everyone else falling, while the few left standing would try to get everyone on their feet again. it happened like 15 seperate times. i could hardly hear the music for some songs because the crowd was so loud. it was amazing.
harry styles
i was sitting on my own, seperated from my friends, beside a woman who was there with her daughter. i didn't know most of the songs, since he played some one direction ones. he played kiwi last, which was so much fun, even if i was on my own.
fall out boy
i cried when they played church. i cried when they played saturday. i was in awe at andy's drum solo. i saw them in the london o2, and it was the biggest building i had ever seen. we were miles above the stage, and there were miles above us before the roof. i would've preferred a smaller venue, but it was pretty cool.
waterparks, patent pending, dead!
i went with a girl, wednesday, who i had only met online about a week before. even though we didn't know one another, she was so lovely. dead! were amazing, although not many people knew who they were. patent pending were better than i had thought they'd be. waterparks were amazing. when they played tantrum as encore i almost cried. i didn't expect them to as i don't think they had played it at previous shows. but as soon as i heard the opening lyrics i was screaming. i didn't see the stage the entire song because i was jumping about so much. it was amazing. just so amazing. also cried during not warriors lmao.
the stone roses, primal scream
on the way there everyone was wearing bucket hats. in front of us was a couple on a tinder date, but she didn't even know his name. they seemed cute together though
all time low, swmrs, waterparks
i didn't know who waterparks were at the time, but awsten mentioned that they had their first magazine cover and asked us to buy it or else his band would fail and he'd end up back in college crying in the shower. swmrs said fuck trump. during all time low i was in the mosh pit with four other drunk girls near me who were up for it. my friend stood at the side with another girl and complained about how we were ruining it for everyone else, even though all we were doing was having fun. at the end i bought a knock off all time low shirt that was 10 pounds but i accidentally gave him a 20 and he didn't give me any change.
the 1975, catfish and the bottlemen, kaiser chiefs, last shadow puppets, spring king
i remember running away from my parents so i could see all of catfish's set. i managed to wriggle my way relatively close to the stage, and i happened to be right in the middle of the mosh pit. i had the most fun of my life. after their set was over and i got back to my parents they were really mad at me for leaving them. as we stood in the slam tent i was trying not to cry, but was comforted by the image of a guy with like 20 glowsticks in his mouth dancing like crazy. by the time the 1975 was on i was emotionally and physically exhausted, and as robbers played i walked away, trying not to cry.