My Merthyr Rock 2012
This article is pending translation.
Tents, outdoors and overpriced food. The joys of festivals, eh?
Let’s start with the fact that I despise camping! There’s something a little frightening about sleeping with nothing but a thin amount of material between you and the outside world! Never mind. I bit the bullet and did it. It wasn’t as awful as I thought! And the over-priced food at the festival? Stuffing your face with sandwiches before actually going to the festival was my way out.
While I’m complaining, I’ll have a rant about the campsite being four miles away from the actual site of Merthyr Rock! Thank goodness for a cheap taxi service and some free shuttle busses, and let’s face it, seeing Skindred live made it all worthwhile!
Arriving at the campsite on Saturday, knowing that you have to rush to put up a tent in order to catch a bus isn’t fun. Not that it mattered because we missed the bus anyway! Taxi job it was. On the plus side, it only cost me a pound because there were a few of us sharing the journey. Arriving at the festival, we checked out what stalls were around while Save Your Breath strutted their stuff on the second stage.
Once we had finished moseying about, we popped to the main stage to watch Lower Than Atlantis. Well! Let’s just say they sound a lot better on YouTube! We gave up listening and went and sat on a grassy bank and people-watched until Pulled Apart By Horses came on the second stage. Pulled Apart By Horses are a four-piece band from Leeds and my goodness they're awesome! I loved listening to them and they got me into a fantastic mood ready for Skindred. All the jumping around to them helped me work up an appetite for actual food too, so I gave in to the overly priced chips… £2.50! And just £1.50 for a small can of Coke… dearie me!
After stuffing my face with the overly-priced, but oh-so-yummy chips, I made my way over to the main stage once again to listen to Skindred. They are a Welsh rock-band from Newport, who mix styles of music like alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and reggae. They also like to play around with other styles; their finishing touch was a perfect example of this. They had made a dubstep mix of a Slipknot song… check it out on YouTube guys! It’s amazing! The band made the night for me. In fact, I think they made the whole weekend!
Coming back to the campsite on a bus full of drunken people was amusing, but I don’t think I’ll be adding it to my “best moments of my life”. At least I managed to sleep fairly well in the tent. I surprised myself!
Sunday morning I awoke, stiff as a board and regretting not bringing an airbed. My boyfriend said it would have taken up too much room… ah well! There was no time for fussing about with a crippled spine as we had woken up later than planned and had to get ready to catch the only shuttle bus to the festival. Again, we needed to tackle the overpriced food, so we decided to go for a walk to Cyfarthfa Retail Park, which was about ten minutes away. I only really wanted to go to stuff my face with a Chicken Legend meal from McDonald's, but also to have a nose around the shops. When we finally decided to wander back, we didn’t go straight into the festival. We went for a nose around the grounds of Cyfarthfa Castle. And they are beautiful! Although I did have to persuade Daniel, my boyfriend, to leave the poor ducks alone at times. Have you ever heard a duck hiss? It’s scary!
Walking back towards the festival, we could hear music from Proxies. They sounded a little more screamy than my headache could contend with, so I was glad I was a good few hundred metres away from the loudness! We got into the festival in time to see We Are The Ocean on the main stage. We Are the Ocean are a four-piece rock band from, Essex who formed in 2007. I quite liked these guys, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to buy their albums… not like Skindred!
While listening to these guys, I realised that I hadn’t bought anything yet! How could I possibly go to a festival and not buy anything to bring home! I popped over to the merchandise stall, then quickly diverted myself away when I realised that it was £15 for a vest top… never mind! Next to the official merchandise stall, there was an Oxfam stall. Here I got one of the best bargains ever! For just a fiver, I got myself a snazzy knew hoodie, originally priced at £8 and a daffy duck T-shirt originally priced at £4. A saving of £7! Can’t go wrong! So I celebrated by buying a venison burger for £4… I know! It's deer meat, but it was so tasty and every mouthful was amazing! And just for good measure I bought myself a shot of Jagermeister… for £3… on the plus side I got a hat, binoculars, and a lanyard… how cool is that?
After toodling about for a bit, my boyfriend and I decided to plonk our bums down on the grassy bank again. And we chilled out in our new hats, watching people get more and more drunk as the night wore on, listening to some OK music by some OK bands. I noticed a bit of a bigger crowd forming in the main stage tent, so decided to see who was on. It was Deaf Havana. I have listening to these guys in the past and thought they were pretty good. They were pretty good live too. They are an alternative rock band from Norfolk, England who formed in 2005 while at college. I remember when these guys were in Kerrang! featuring as a new up and coming band. I liked them then and I still like them now!
At this point in the festival, I face another of my pet-hates of festivals. Port-o-potties! They are always so disgusting with mess everywhere. Most of them had half-drunk beers and toilet roll all over the place. I often worry about them toppling over while being inside them… how embarrassing would that be!
Panic over, the toilets at the festival were actually pretty clean! So, off to the bar to grab a drink to listen to A with. A are a pretty cool band, who I thoroughly enjoyed listening too. But as you can imagine, I can’t find very much information about them online. Try typing “A” into Google and see what you come up with! Nothing to do with the actual band. If anyone finds any websites with anything to do with the band, stick a comment in the box please!
Next on the agenda was Kids In Glass Houses on the main stage. Again, I’ve listened to this band a lot in the past, and enjoyed them. There was a time where I would have killed for a chance to see them, not so much now. Though they were still good and I enjoyed watching them dancing about on stage. After these guys were done, I had to head back to the “shuttle bus of drunken bums” along with my drunken bum of a boyfriend… but hey, that’s festivals for you!
In all honesty I enjoyed the whole weekend, found some new bands and enjoyed listening to music from artists I already know and love. The people at the festival were all very nice and the campsite was lovely, despite being miles away from the festival! I suppose the cheap taxis, the shuttle busses and the good music made that distance bearable. Bring on the next festival!
Author's Note: When you watch the video above, make sure you put the quality up to 720p(HD).
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1 Comment – Post a comment
TWSkittles
Commented 8 months ago - 21st September 2012 - 14:53pm
Glad to know im not the only one that hates the 'camping' side to Festivals haha! Its horrible and smelly!
Great article though, wish I could go I looooooove kids in glass houses! X