Drownload Overview

Last weekend I was able to attend my third Download Festival. The line-up didn't look as good as previous years, but since Rob was going I figured I'd tag along too.


We ended up in the west carpark which sucked as it meant a long walk around to get to the entrance. However there was no queue to get in when we got there and we set up with some fellow Bathonians in black camp. The people we usually camp with were about a minute's walk away in pink, so that was good! It was stinking hot though, and I ended up by myself for a few hours while Rob went to help some of his friends get their bags so I just got burnt and read for most of the day!


The second day was just as hot! We had breakfast in town quite early, then there was a small sharkie meet-up in the afternoon. I got some very interesting tanlines in this outfit...fishnet thighs and panini shoulders. Ooops!


We had a chat outside the Sidesplitter for a while, then wandered around the shops and ended up with matching beaded bracelets with shark teeth on!

Spent the evening getting drunk and trying to watch a bit of Andrew O'Neill but neither me nor Rob were really feeling it and ended up going to sleep instead.

On Friday I was a tad too hungover for the long trek to breakfast the next morning so I chilled at camp with a can of spaghetti hoops until it was time to go see Alien Ant Farm, who were surprisingly good live!


Then Babymetal! And the most rain I've ever seen. It was just SO HEAVY, HUGE raindrops which soaked us straight through, messed up my camera, and delayed their start time by over half an hour. But was so worth the soaking! I wore my Babymetal outfit with tutus and stuff again, and once again didn't get a photo of it. They even converted Rob - when I asked if he wanted to see them at Wembley it was a massive "no", but now he wishes he had gone!


We stayed soggy for Killswitch Engage, who it turns out I really like. Will definitely be buying a few of their CDs and hopefully seeing them again somewhere drier. We did go back and change afterwards, although I kept on my tutus as they were doing a good job of keeping my legs dry.


Had intended on seeing Korn, but ended up heading to Twin Atlantic instead despite having seen them more times. It was just more fun! Somehow managed to get right near the front. We made quite a hasty exit though, which meant missing All Time Low.


But alas, we had to head over to the smallest tent for InMe! They were top of both our 'want to see' lists, so it had to be done. They were excellent as usual, I really hope their next tour brings them a bit closer to us! At this point my camera croaked though, so everything is blurry and awful. I have very few photos from the rest of the weekend due to this as my phone camera has poor zoom and I was worried about losing it in the massive mud puddles so I didn't risk it much!

The end of Rammstein's set ended our day. I'm sad that I always seem to miss most of their sets as they are a really good band, but eh there always seems to be something else I'd rather see on at the same time!

After breakfast in town on Saturday (with sweet sweet wifi), we wandered past Beartooth (too shouty!) for a couple songs of Black Peaks' set. I enjoyed them more than at NASS, but there were a lot of clashes so we left for a few songs of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing on the other side of the arena before seeing Atreyu. We both realised this was a bad move, but we're more likely to see the former again next time they tour. There wasn't much on afterwards, I think we saw a bit of Sixx:A.M. but it wasn't very memorable.

Milk Teeth were very good and somehow Bree, a fellow lolita, ended up stood right in front of me so we had a little catch up before they headed off to Bury Tomorrow (who we caught the tail end of) while we went to see a really fun punky thrash band called Lawnmower Deth. They reminded me a lot of Evil Scarecrow from the previous year, and they were even joined by Kim Wilde during their cover of her song 'Kids In America'. Juliette and the Licks weren't doing it for us, so we wandered around and got more cider, I guess? I don't remember. Apparently I had 7 pints in the main arena that day ^_^'

Architects were the band I was most looking forward to seeing on this day, but they had to pull out a few days before and were replaced by Against The Current, which was a nice surprise. I get the feeling they're going to be a really big band some day, and they'll deserve it when they get there. Rob wanted to see Deftones and, while they're a good band, I got bored quickly as all their songs are kinda slow and samey so we went to see Skindred's set instead, which was good fun. Not very amused finding out how the singer acted towards Babymetal at the Kerrang! Awards, but luckily I didn't find out until afterwards or it would have ruined the whole thing for me!


We had no interest in Sabbath so we stayed for NOFX and they were also super fun! I danced a lot and they were definitely a highlight of the weekend even though I only know one of their songs (which, thankfully, they did play). Will have to dig out the CD I got for Christmas a couple years back and give it a listen at some point. I just find that punk bands are the most fun to see live, whether you know their music or not.

On Sunday we didn't have breakfast as we had to carry all our stuff back to the car, which we stupidly left a little late so we had to battle through all the people heading to the main arena (because they wouldn't let us take the shortcut through gold -_-). But once that was out of the way, we wandered around aimlessly and grumpily as there was nothing much on and we were tired and aching and couldn't sit down anywhere as the whole place was a mud puddle. Apart from the places that were literal rivers, anyway. Not enough straw, guys! Put some paths in next year! Jeez.

I went to see Muncie Girls (Rob had to go help Pat with his stuff and he wanted to see a bit of Periphery on the way, but I was just SO TIRED and felt a bit sick too after the huge portion of chips I had for lunch (they were out of curry sauce so they were just too...potato-y). They were good, but the songs were a bit samey since I hadn't heard them before. Caught a bit of Halestorm on the way past, and they sounded INSANE. It's not really my kind of music, but Lzzy Hale can WAIL. I'd have liked to see a bit more, but Japanese band One Okay Rock were on at the same time and they weren't bad either (so many pretty men though, haha).

Darted back for Shinedown but didn't catch any songs I knew, then back for Breaking Benjamin as I knew Rob would meet me back there. I wasn't really impressed with them as they kind of passed me by back in the day...should have stayed at Lemmy Stage...hurr. But after that, I FINALLY got to see Disturbed after a decade of wanting to. I wasn't expecting them to be any good live, but they were a real highlight of the festival. Their cover of "The Sound of Silence" was a real high point, probably the best part of the weekend. They also played a few more covers with some cameos from Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm), Blaze Bailey (formerly of Iron Maiden), and Ben Burnley (of Breaking Benjamin).

Billy Talent after that was a bit of a struggle as it was raining quite a lot and we were just so tired, but they're always a good live band. Nightwish sounded even better and I caught a few tracks I vaguely remembered from years and years ago, but we missed most of their set as Rob wanted to see Jane's Addiction. I really didn't like them, and they had scantily-clad women girating around the stage for good measure...just no.

At this point my hip and back had reached peak agony, we both had wellies full of rain, and Rob had a huge blister on his foot. So rather than wait around ages having no choice but to stand to see Iron Maiden...we went back to the car. I know, it's bad. I was wearing a Maiden shirt and everything! But we caught snatches of it between aeroplanes jetting past from the carpark, and we got to sit and use the nice carpark portaloos and soothed our aches. I do wish I'd gone back for a few songs at least, but I knew Rob really wanted to rest and he probably would have insisted on walking me back there so we just missed it all. Oh well. Their sound was terrible 3 years ago, so I'm just assuming the same held true this year...

Once Pat got back to us it took 2 hours to leave the carpark, and a further 6 or so hours to get home since we had to make 2 nap stops for Rob on the way. Harrowing. But then we got clean and dry and ate pizza and slept, so that part was good!

I do like Download Festival, but they really need to deal with the rain better. I've never been so wet in all my life. I literally had puddles in my wellies on more than one occasion. I'd definitely drag a chair into the arena next time if it would be that wet. Wish I'd done so on Sunday, and then seeing Maiden would have been no problem!

Wow, that turned into a real big wall of text. But yeah, the rain broke my camera! It has just about started working again now it is dried out, but it's still not quite what it was before (which, after 10 years of use, wasn't 100% anyway haha).

Slam Dunk Midlands

My attendance at Slam Dunk was plagued with bad luck. I turned in a holiday form for it at least a month in advance, but it got thrown out by mistake and I wasn't allowed the weekend off work. I had already booked a hostel for the whole weekend (which luckily I could cancel for free) and train tickets (which had a £10 fee for cancelling). This gave me two options - try to flog my ticket for peanuts, or just go for the day and leave before any of the big bands. I chose to go and re-booked my train. The day before I found out the main band I wanted to see, The Qemists, had pulled out. But I was already committed, so I went. But yeah, that whole thing SUCKED.


Got to the venue about 20 minutes after doors opened, and the queue was massive. Luckily I made a friend called Bex on the train so we just chatted the whole time we were waiting! It took just over an hour to get in so I missed Moose Blood and Trash Boat, but made it to Desperados stage with plenty of time before the first band I really wanted to see. I didn't realise the stage would be outside, so I regretted not taking sun cream and a cap as I caught the sun a fair bit! I'm very sensitive to the sun as my skin is very pale and my hair very dark!


First band of the day for me was [spunge], who I've wanted to see since I was in my first year of secondary school. So...12 years, maybe? I'm not sure why it took me so long because they were SO GOOD! I only own 2 of their albums so I only knew 2 songs really well, but I still knew a fair few others and they totally killed it! I also got to have a chat with the singer afterwards which was pretty cool, and near the end of the set I made it to the barrier as well. I really hope to see them again soon. Just getting to see them made the stress of the whole thing worth it.

Also because the stage was right by the rail line, we had a thing going where we had to turn to the track and flip the bird every time a train went past, which was pretty fun. I'm sure there were probably some people who kept that going all day.


I ended up staying at the stage to see Catch Twenty-Two, and was surprised to find that I knew a few of their songs. Glad I stayed for them as it was fun and nice to stay out in the sunshine too.

Afterwards I headed inside and met up with Bex again for Yellowcard. Unfortunately I couldn't get any photos that were worth keeping as the main stage was huge so we were quite near the back, but hearing Ocean Avenue in full was really awesome. After seeing them last year at Download I already knew I wanted to go see them again, so I'm glad I got that chance! I can't imagine how gutted the people at North were since technical difficulties cut their set short to about 20 minutes...that must have sucked a lot, as probably a lot of people were going purely to see them play the full album.


Afterwards I made a somewhat swift exit to go see Hacktivist, but I managed to get lost on the way and the person who I asked for directions from sent me the wrong direction entirely and I ended up missing the first 3 songs which was pretty gutting. Especially since one of them is a really good one! But fingers crossed I'll see them at Reading later in the year. I was also really disappointed that Rou Reynolds didn't join them for their second song, Taken, as I'd been really looking forward to seeing them perform together for it because that song really helped me keep going when my Gran was dying. However he did join them for Elevate again, so at least I got to see one member of Enter Shikari, even if it was only for a few seconds!


I wasn't sure what to do afterwards so I headed back to Desperados for a bit of Zebrahead, who I last saw almost a decade ago. I didn't know the couple of songs I stayed for, but I kind of wish I'd stayed for longer. Instead I thought I'd give Issues a try since I like a couple of their songs, but I didn't hear any I recognised and their main singer has an annoying voice, so I decided to head back to the train station instead.

So I ended up leaving at about half seven. Which sucked. But it meant I was able to catch an earlier train back to Bristol than I had intended which I feel was a good move as if I'd missed the next one I'd have had to call my dad to pick me up from the station as I'd have missed the last bus. I was exhausted anyway - my pedometer logged almost 25,000 steps!

All in all, I definitely had a brilliant time. However it wasn't worth the money I paid at all being that The Qemists were one of the main reasons I had decided to go. Obviously I had initially thought I'd have been able to see a headliner too, which is what you're paying for, really. I'd have liked to have seen Of Mice & Men as I've not seen them before, or Panic! At The Disco again as they're brilliant live, and then a bit of Shikari Sound System for a short spell of dancing and Rory C fangirling...but alas, it was not to be.

I'd probably do the festival again as Midlands seems to have been organised a lot better than the other two venues, but I wouldn't just go for the day ever again!

Reading Festival Overview

Been a little while since the festival since it was the end of August bank holiday weekend, but somehow I'm only just getting around to writing as I've barely recovered still! And to be honest I'm way too lazy to go in-depth this time. I blog more for me than anything else, so it's just to remember who I saw. Pretty much every band I saw was really good!

I arrived around midday on Thursday & met Marie at the station. We have fairly similar taste in music so we ended up spending a lot of time together. On Thursday evening we ended up going on a big fail pub crawl, for some reason.

Friday
Friday morning didn't start as early as I had planned, but I caught the last half of Andrew O'Neill's History Of Heavy Metal since I missed it at Download. It wasn't as funny as I'd have hoped, by good nonetheless. Neck Deep were next on my list, followed by tagging along with Marie for a bit of a chill outside Lock Up for the of Vant followed by God Damn and The Bots. I then went solo to Main Stage for Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, and Bastille, before meeting up again at Lock Up for Modern Life Is War and The Bronx.

Highlight of the day for me had to be Limp Bizkit at NME. I even managed to persuade Marie and Greg to join me somehow! Although I did bribe them with the 2 Jager shots I'd smuggled in. I didn't get any photos though since we stood outside the tent for bar and toilet access!

I had intended to see the end of Mumford & Sons since I do like their singles, but ater one song I knew and half of the next song which sounded exactly the same, we bailed and went to see New Found Glory instead. Because Lock Up is easily the best stage, haha!

Saturday
I guess it doesn't mean a lot when the line-up this year was awfully poor, but Saturday was always the stand-out day and I'd probably have just done the one day had that been feasible. And mostly Main Stage!


Babymetal were first up, and I went all-out with my outfit (a red tutu, a black tutu, pleather peplum top, megitsune mask, red lippy...the whole shebang). And they really rocked! I've always loved J-pop, and while it took me a little while to warm to their music (Buono! will always be my favourite...), I really got into them recently. I already picked up a ticket to the Wembley show next year because I want to see them again. And hopefully with friends because I felt awkward being one of only a handful of people who knew more than "Gimme Chocolate!".

After changing into shorts and my Babymetal vest back at camp, it was back to Main Stage for Marmozets. They supported Muse on that surprise tour they did, which is why I was extra-specially annoyed that my dad went without me even though he'd have missed the announcement had I not told him! But hey, I got to see them eventually, and they lived up to expectations. Afterwards I saw Modestep for the third time this year, and it was probably the set I enjoyed most all weekend because their music is just so fun.

It must have been around this point that it started raining. I'm not a fan of Pierce The Veil at all, but I was sat in my poncho and I had a nice dry bit of ground under my butt, so I wasn't going to move. Alexisonfire rocked, and was much better than the time I saw them when I was 15 because I didn't get a split lip this time. I had intended to see Pvris at The Pit, but the stage was running madly behind so I had to skip them in favour of Royal Blood, whose set I had missed last time they played Reading.

The Pit running behind wasn't all bad though, as it meant I could sneak down there to catch Atreyu. I was delighted that they played "You Give Love A Bad Name", even if they did play it compeletely out of tune.


Bring Me The Horizon were another of my highlights. They sound really good live, I loved their last album and the singles from their new one. Even if I hate to admit it! I was glad of the rain and my poncho though as Oli Sykes was wearing a Babymetal shirt cut into a vest and a red checked shirt, the same as I was! I had to make a hasty exit during their last song however, as the on-screen graphics were awfully migraine-inducing.

I have obviously gone off of Twin Atlantic as I didn't enjoy their set at NME much. This probably wasn't helped by only vaguely knowing older songs, and the crowd being all children who only knew the new crap. Afterwards I caught the rest of Metallica's set. Objectively they were very good, but it was a little boring as all the songs go on forever and it was cold and too wet to sit down. And naturally they played "Enter Sandman" last, and it was the one song everyone was waiting for. I didn't have the nerve to dance the Macarena to it by myself though...shame on me!

Sunday
We had breakfast in town in the morning which was expensive and disappointing and made me miss Milton Jones. Boo.

So my day ended up starting quite late with Against Me!, and it was nice to see a decent punk band on Main Stage. The Gaslight Anthem followed there, before The Pit brought us Turbowolf, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, and Beartooth. After a wander around the clothing stalls, we stopped by Festival Republic for the end of We Are The Ocean before Manchester Orchestra (who are in fact, not an orchestra at all). A short jaunt to The Pit for Cancer Bats and a search for food filled our time before the headliner of our night.


Who was of course, Frank Turner. To be honest I was pretty disappointed. I really enojoyed his solo set at Bristol, but solo sets just don't work in such a bit place. You can't really dance around to acoustic music, and at once point The Libertines were drowning him out from the Main Stage. I also had a woman behind me with a baby strapped to her front, and she kept jabbing me with her baby. I mean, seriously? I ended up joining Marie outside after a while as I got too hot and the crowd were so ignorant about any of his older songs which annoyed me a bit! But I guess a bit of an acoustic old favourite was really the perfect wind down at the end of the weekend.

Overall... I didn't enjoy the festival much. I always knew the line-up would be weak, but I just couldn't afford enough alcohol to get any more enjoyment out of it! And I ended up sitting through most of the sets to preserve energy that I then didn't need for Frank Turner. The weekend needed more drinking and dancing!

But I did have a good time, I enjoyed getting to know old camp-mates better, and I wish I could see them all more than once a year. It's just the expense that makes me cry. But at least my train back home wasn't affected by the strikes, I guess, as that would have put a huge dampener on things!

NASS Festival

When I was 14, I wanted to go to NASS Festival but wasn't allowed. Now, ten years later, I finally got to go! It's a small festival just down the road from me with more focus on skating/BMXing and DJ sets than live music, but this year my beloved Enter Shikari were headlining on the Friday. So naturally I had to go.


Getting there was easy since I got a lift from my grandparents (literally too about 20 minutes), but I was queueing to get in for almost 2 hours, I think. The day tickets went through the VIP queue, but there were very few checkers and they were checking bags VERY thoroughly. Was super annoying as I was really thirsty and had no water on me as I knew I would get it taken off me on the way in. Generally not well organised as I was also sent through the camp site on the way in AND out even though I shouldn't have been there on a day ticket. Useless!


After buying a programme and a drink and getting lost and annoyed, I spent most of the day at the vert ramp as live music didn't start until 5pm.


Whenever I got too hot I went to the dirt ramps to sit under a tree. I'm glad I took a book with me to read (Fight Club) as it kept me occupied.


Back at the vert I could see some guys posing for photos but didn't think much of it. But then when I looked properly I realised it was only bloody Enter Shikari so I had to go muscle in on the action for a bit nand have a chat and a pose. Grinned like a mad thing for a solid hour afterwards.


At abvout 4pm the skateboarders came off the vert and it was BMX time.


Live music started on Main Stage at 5pm, where there were also invisible toilets.


The first band was Bare Knuckle Parade, who offered a kind of folk punk mix of goodness. Think Mumford & Sons, but with an accordion. They're also from Bath which means I should be able to go see them again some time too!


I'll admit to being a bit distracted during their set as Rob Rolfe and some Shikari crew were playing frisbee to the side of the stage...


Black Peaks were next, with some good clean wails.


Spotted some guys with Enter Shikari balloons at this point. Apparently Rob took the skies as soon as they arrived.


Near the end of their set I spotted Rory C, but waited until the band had finished playing before going to say hi and get a selfie. I'm glad I waited as he seemed to have really enjoyed Black Peaks. I'm still fangirling a bit now to be honest...


Decided to get some nachos which looked terrible but tasted amazing. Managed to make a friend who wanted to watch me eat as it's 'good to see skinny girls who actually eat', who then proceeded to assume I was a lesbian as I hadn't noticed any hot guys (apparently they were everywhere?), and tell me that she smuggled mkat in via the vajayjay. Uh huh haha.


By the time We Are The Ocean took to the stage, it had become very obvious that this isn't a festival for music lovers. There were less than 50 people watching, and I had considered them to be a fairly big band. I had seen more people at Sika Studios watching a DJ earlier that day. Sheesh.


Last trip to fill up my water bottle and grab some drinks at the bar (two-fisted style) allowed me to see some inline skating. Makes me want to buy a pair and give it a go again!


Even though only a small crowd was gathering, I hurried to the barrier before Modestep to guarantee a good spot for later.


I enjoyed them much more than at Download and had a good dance, although the dumb girl behind me was recording herself and screaming "NASSHYPE" intermittently for the whole set and kept smacking me in the head, and someone tried to grab my hat off my head and was surprised when I swore at them for it. One of the staff told her to stop though and checked I was okay afterwards, even warning me that Shikari crowds were well known for being rough and crowd surfers...lol.


My panic on placement was for nothing, as the crowd cleared before filling up again for Enter Shikari. My balloon friends even ended up next to me on the barrier with their backpacks on their fronts stuffed with pillows to avoid pain (I wish I'd thought of that...).


The setlist was pretty much the same as the night before, aside from the unfortunate strict curfew that cut them off a few songs short of the end so we were all left hanging. I thought that was pretty ridiculous considering the fact that we were in the middle of the bloody countryside and the DJs would be just as loud until 3am+...


Rory crowdsurfed right by me haha luckily not on me or I'd have been crushed. A couple other crowdsurfers went over me but I'm short enough to just duck below the barrier and shield my head with my arms until they're over!


The staff wouldn't give us any setlists, but I did convince the nice lady from before to get Rory C's #NASSHYPE paper plane for me! I mean, I have no proof whatsoever that he made it, but shhh.

Overall it was an odd festival. It definitely would be much more fun in a group, but I have no friends so I had to go by myself. Chilling in the sun with a drink watching skateboarding was good fun, but could have used some chatter. Most of the people there seemed to only care about getting drunk, taking drugs, and DJs. I would probably go again if there was a good live music line up though, as it was nice to get to the front with minimal effort or injury and to meet my favourite guys in the world again.

Download Festival Part 4

Sunday started bright and early with Sirens In The Delta as heard from the covered bench area near Jake's whilst eating cheesy curly fries. Afterwards it was off to main stage for a little sit down for 36 Crazyfists (I apparently only know one of their songs and they were shoutier than I had expected) and Cavalera Conspiracy. We also caught a bit of Evil Scarecrow (which was an experience...CRABULON, CRABULON) before heading to see We Are Harlot in yet more rain.

Our wildcard of the day was Trashboat. We'd laughed at the name as it was on Regular Show...and apparently they did literally take their name from that! They were actually pretty fun pop punk.


Billy Idol was one of those sets where I knew most of the songs despite only being able to name two off the top of my head. Rebel Yell was definitely worth sticking around for!


In Flames were a band I knew of, but didn't know any songs. Rob wasn't expecting them to be good live, but they were brilliant!

I only knew one Yellowcard song, but I really enjoyed their set and really need to invest in some of their CDs at some point. Couldn't see as there was a post in the way, but that means dancing room!


And the only reason I went...Enter Shikari! Such a shame their set was so short and that it was still really light out.


I think I annoyed just about everyone around me. They were all just stood there not doing much but I was dancing like crazy, singing like a gangster, and swigging from a hip flask of Jagermeister, as one does.


This is only decent photo I managed to get as I couldn't stand still long enough to take any better ones!


Nice to see Sorry, You're Not A Winner back, but an entire predictable setlist aside from There's A Price On Your Head. Not that that makes it a bad setlist! The set didn't seem as energetic as usual, but I'm guessing that was at least in part due to Rou's hospitalisation earlier that week.

We left as soon as they finished as Harry and two others were already waiting at the car as they left after Lamb Of God. Thankfully I fell asleep on the way home as 5 people and tons of camping gear shoved into a 3-door Micra wasn't too comfortable. It was definitely a relief to crawl into a real bed at 3am, even if we were still smelly and dirty!

Download Festival Part 3

The weather on Saturday was horrid! It rained all morning so none of us could really bothered to leave the comfort of our slightly leaky gazebo. However, I've managed to miss seeing FFAF repeatedly so I dragged poor Rob out into the rain with me and we caught the very end of Heart Of A Coward.


After such a long wait to see Funeral For A Friend, I was left disappointed. I think Matt must have had a bad throat or something as his vocals were really ropey. Good little flash back to when I was first getting into proper music, though.


We stuck around for Mallory Knox since we missed them at Takedown, but we scooted off back to camp afterwards to try to warm up and get a little drier! Which meant missing Apocalyptica which was a shame, but no regrets. I was feeling pretty miserable! But we did catch a bit of Rise Against when we got back.


Then a band I was really looking forward to...A Day To Remember! They're quickly becoming one of my favourites.


I really want to see them again! Preferably somewhere dry. The rain definitely kept my mood dampened.


We discovered a cocktail van called Beetle-Juice during Faith No More (who sounded good for a bunch of old dudes). I had a few Beetle-Juices (lychee,raspberry, & gin) whereas Rob was favouring Dark & Stormy (lime, ginger beer, & rum). We had to hang around outside for Andew W.K. as the tent was too packed, but it was still kinda fun. Rob was amazed that there are so many songs about partying that all sound pretty much the same.


Then there was Muse! With big bouncy balls!


As usual they played really well, but the setlist was a mixed bag. Mostly new stuff off of Drones which I only got to listen to once before going.


Microcuts and Citizen Erased though! Even though they were supposedly not playing Origin of Symmetry tracks again...bullllll.

Probably should have been closer for Muse to get more hype, but watching the crowd was quite a sight in itself!