Me and @Mooley at the NME Weekender.
In all my seemingly long and dull days, I had never once been to a music festival. The concept was pretty alien to me if I’m honest, never having really had a thing for music. Strange as that may sound to some, music has never really seemed to get me going in the way that it does for so many others.
Well, the NME Weekender in November 2010 was a great way to open me up to some great bands I’d never heard of. In fact, the only band I had heard of were the Babyshambles and I was never really a fan. But when the opportunity to obtain a free ticket was to be had, I jumped at the chance. And I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Mostly.
The accommodation at Pontins is rather disappointing.
Before I move on to the music and attempt to talk about something normally outside my field of expertise, let me explain the venue and accommodation. It was a very unusual festival in that it was held entirely indoors. At a Pontins. Yep, you didn’t misread that and I shall type it again so that there can be no confusion. It was at Pontins in Camber Sands. Which obviously meant that the living space we were given was worse than your average mud-soaked tent. It didn’t have a shower, for one. And whilst I am fully aware that a bed is preferable to sleeping in a field, I must point out that people take holidays in these places. Once you drive through security you end up back in 1974; filling up the electric meter and slipping on the exposed metal staircase to get to your room.
So, what about the bands? Well as I said, the only group I’d heard of were the Babyshambles and I’ve never really been a fan of theirs. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Doherty in the Libertines, but Babyshambles’ stuff never really appealed. That said, they seemed to get the crowd going and Doherty did managed to stay on his feet. I won’t mention what it was that kept him going though…
Rocking out
I did really enjoy 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, even after almost being knocked over by the lead who decided to bomb off the stage and race across the room. Unfortunately it wasn’t that busy and a great many people will have missed out on the incredibly fun and crowd-pleasing set. They also missed out on his stunning beard. To the same degree, The Whip certainly got my feet tapping with their dance-paced rock. Their album now resides on my iPhone for whenever the mood takes me.
We also ventured into the smaller room to sample some of the less well-known offerings, such as Wilder (who @Mooley complimented after the gig) and thrash-metallers, Trash Talk (whose guitarist complimented @Mooley after the gig).
The awesome tattoo @Mooley draw on my arm with a biro
There were of course a couple of acts we saw which didn’t really go down all to well. This was partly to do with the tiny crowds who turned up to the early shows and partly to do with some of the early shows being absolute dross. There were a bunch of students with laptops and far too much time on their hands, who were far too pish-poor for me to bother getting their name. We were also unanimous in our dislike of Leeds-based something-or-other, who followed Trash Talk but simply didn’t match up to their pace or style.
Despite the lacklustre accommodation and terrible beds, the rest of it was absolutely superb. Even the shit bands are tolerable when you’ve got great company, and that’s what I had this weekend (plus two incredible pen-drawn tattoos!). And rounding the weekend off with a stroll along the lovely beach at Camber really put the icing on the cake.
