Brakes at Concorde/Glastonbury
After a couple of days resting Brakes descended on Brighton's Concorde for a benefit show for Unison. It was slightly strange playing in Brighton again. Hundreds of familiar faces, friends and family who it seemed like we hadn't seen for ages. Still a little jetlagged, we got up and played. It was hot and tiring. Sounded a little weird playing on such a big stage, as we'd become accustomed to the cosy proximities of the 200-300 capacity venues we'd mainly played over the last month. Good fun was had and soon after the end of our set we took off in the van headed west.
Some time in the early light, I woke to see misty hills whizzing past outside. I realised we were in Somerset and nearing Glastonbury. By the time we rolled up to the correct entrance to the site it was 6:30am. Unfortunately the route was closed and we weren't let in no matter how much pleading we did with the stony faced Geordie warden. Having been asked to wait until 8 we parked up and played Frisbee in a nearby car park. We eventually trundled into the site, found what seemed to be the last spot to camp in hospitality and pitched our tents. It was raining, not too bad but enough to force me to retreat inside my tent and get some kip until it got brighter.
The Cribs, loudly making their presence felt on the other stage just behind us, woke me a few hours later. We had a bit of a wander round, got muddy, drank some cider and went to see SFA who were brilliant. I wanted to stick around and watch The Coral but the cider got to me and I needed some shelter. Opted to go and see mates Thirty Pounds of Bone with Matt Eaton on geetaw in the late and live tent. Very good they were too. Ate some horrible and overpriced food and then caught a bit of Arcade Fire who were impressively anthemic. Then it was time to see Bjork. I'm a big fan of Bjork and she was fresh. Only downside was that being forced to listen to drunken people singing along to Bjork is pure torture and should be banned. The evening eventually blurred into nothingness. I have to admit that I spent most of my time at the festival in the backstage bar. It was convenient, like having a pub in your back garden and I swear I bumped into more people in there than I would walking around Brighton.
The next morning we were all up early and had to check in at the other stage and load our gear up for our 12:40pm performance. I'd been nervous all of Friday. Watching all those bands play on the same stage the day before made me feel like I was trespassing on hallowed ground. I wasn't so nervous come stage time though. Looking out into the audience I spotted people with pineapples on sticks and Brakes flags and banners. This was heartening. We went on in good time and got stuck in. It sounded reasonably good on stage and we had an amazing show. It was possibly the most thrilling experience I'd had with the band yet. The numbers rose as we played until I could see people all the way back past the control tower and fading into the distance. We had the weather on our side too and the sun shone for all our set. Kate Jackson of The Long Blondes joined us for a rendition of her namesake, 'Jackson' and before we knew it, it was all over.
After a couple of days resting Brakes descended on Brighton's Concorde for a benefit show for Unison. It was slightly strange playing in Brighton again. Hundreds of familiar faces, friends and family who it seemed like we hadn't seen for ages. Still a little jetlagged, we got up and played. It was hot and tiring. Sounded a little weird playing on such a big stage, as we'd become accustomed to the cosy proximities of the 200-300 capacity venues we'd mainly played over the last month. Good fun was had and soon after the end of our set we took off in the van headed west.
Some time in the early light, I woke to see misty hills whizzing past outside. I realised we were in Somerset and nearing Glastonbury. By the time we rolled up to the correct entrance to the site it was 6:30am. Unfortunately the route was closed and we weren't let in no matter how much pleading we did with the stony faced Geordie warden. Having been asked to wait until 8 we parked up and played Frisbee in a nearby car park. We eventually trundled into the site, found what seemed to be the last spot to camp in hospitality and pitched our tents. It was raining, not too bad but enough to force me to retreat inside my tent and get some kip until it got brighter.
The Cribs, loudly making their presence felt on the other stage just behind us, woke me a few hours later. We had a bit of a wander round, got muddy, drank some cider and went to see SFA who were brilliant. I wanted to stick around and watch The Coral but the cider got to me and I needed some shelter. Opted to go and see mates Thirty Pounds of Bone with Matt Eaton on geetaw in the late and live tent. Very good they were too. Ate some horrible and overpriced food and then caught a bit of Arcade Fire who were impressively anthemic. Then it was time to see Bjork. I'm a big fan of Bjork and she was fresh. Only downside was that being forced to listen to drunken people singing along to Bjork is pure torture and should be banned. The evening eventually blurred into nothingness. I have to admit that I spent most of my time at the festival in the backstage bar. It was convenient, like having a pub in your back garden and I swear I bumped into more people in there than I would walking around Brighton.
The next morning we were all up early and had to check in at the other stage and load our gear up for our 12:40pm performance. I'd been nervous all of Friday. Watching all those bands play on the same stage the day before made me feel like I was trespassing on hallowed ground. I wasn't so nervous come stage time though. Looking out into the audience I spotted people with pineapples on sticks and Brakes flags and banners. This was heartening. We went on in good time and got stuck in. It sounded reasonably good on stage and we had an amazing show. It was possibly the most thrilling experience I'd had with the band yet. The numbers rose as we played until I could see people all the way back past the control tower and fading into the distance. We had the weather on our side too and the sun shone for all our set. Kate Jackson of The Long Blondes joined us for a rendition of her namesake, 'Jackson' and before we knew it, it was all over.
Bumped into all the Editors dudes afterwards. Good to see them. We drank and toasted a fine gig and then all went off. Tom and Alex dashed over to the Guardian tent for their performance. It was hot and busy in there and the boys played well despite some string breaking action. Bumped into most of the Pipettes as well as various other Brighton faces. The mud outside in punter land was the mercilessly thick, boot-sucking type and was hard on the old thighs. It was safest just to head back to the bar where we spotted both Will Young and Mark Owen looking chic-ishly tramp like.
Didn't manage to catch anything else that day. There wasn't really anything I wanted to see and anything that was vaguely worth checking out was across a sea of bodies and sticky mud. The only thing worth the mission was the cider bus. It was well worth it and me and the lady drank both cold and hot cider before returning to the backstage area to drink more and smoke weed with Monster Bobby. Eamon and Tom did an acoustic performance in the leftfield tent at 2:30am however I was safely tucked up by then. Id managed to arrange a lift back on Sunday morning so needed the kip. The rain came again the next morning and taking the tent down was a depressing and messy task. We hiked through various muddy fields to get to our mates car, which refused to move in the mud. With a bit of pushing and shoving we were soon off and on our way out of Glasto 07.
Next up, Kent festival this Friday and then Brakes add another country to their international tally sheet with their first ever performance in Turkey at the Radar festival on the 2nd. Effectively we're supporting Marilyn Manson. Brilliant!
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