Parklife 2007

So the Summer has started! Or at least that's what the annual Parklife festival means to a lot of Sydneysiders.

I can't believe how quickly time is going by. It doesn't seem like a year has passed since H and I went to Parklife last year.

H and I actually hadn't planned to go this year. We were festival whores last year and when the line-up for this years gig was announced we weren't that impressed. Given that it always falls on a long weekend down here we thought that we might go away somewhere instead. But one thing led to another, the weeks flew by, the festival sold out and we hadn't made any plans. Will made a late decision to go and H managed to buy a ticket off of Summers. I wasn't that fussed about missing out as Manly Sea Eagles were in the Grand Final (the rugby league equivalent of the FA Cup Final). The match was on Sunday evening so I had one eye on going out in Manly to watch the game on the big screen and take in the atmosphere. It also coincided with the annual Manly International Jazz Festival. Now, I don't much care for Jazz but it would've meant that Manly would've been even busier than normal.

However Martin came over on Saturday afternoon and he and H convinced me to go down to the festival for midday, when the gates opened, to see if I could blag a ticket. If I couldnt get one I would go back to Manly and watch the rugby. Everyones a winner. Martin came with me on the Sunday and after an hour or so of trying in the heat Martin blagged one off some guy in a carpark, for $180. Even the touts didn't have many to sell, and those that did were asking for more than double face value. Parklife it is, Glastonbury it isn't! There was no way I was going to give one of them the satisfaction of taking $250 for a $110 ticket.

Anyway, ticket in hand Martin and I cracked into the beers at Fox Studios while we waited for H, Will and Simo to arrive.

The weather was a beauty, at least 30 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. It was going to be a very good day and I was chuffed to have got a ticket. This years festival was twice the size of last years. I had visions of it being like Good Vibes earlier this year but thankfully there was plenty of space to get around.

I've been to quite a lot of festivals now and they all seem to follow a similar path. The days are spent wandering around, or chilling out on the grass, taking it all in and enjoying the sun. And when the sun sets it all goes a bit crazy. I like to call it 'The Witching Hour', or hours! Then, before you know it, the festival is over and people stagger home or to local bars and clubs. This was no different although I actually enjoyed the afternoon more than the evening. The Scratch Perverts and Freq Nasty were my highlights. I went particularly potty to a Rage tune that Freq Nasty played. I think there is a video doing the rounds somewhere! Adam Freeland, who had been the one guy I had originally wanted to see when the line-up was first announced, was very disappointing.

Next year I'll be sure to get a ticket as soon as they are released, like I do for all the other gigs I'm interested in. Afterall, it's better to be at a festival, than not to go at all.

Oh, apologies for the lack of 'people' pictures below.....