Download Festival

Hey guys,

How are you all doing on this 'lovely' morning? For those of you who follow my Twitter and Instagram you will know that at the beginning of June I went to my first ever festival. That's right, I finally made it to Download festival and oh boy what a time I had.

I first found out I was going to be going in December last year as my fiance had bought tickets for a Christmas present. He bought the tickets for the 5 night camping so we could enjoy the whole experience. 

First things first (besides screaming in joy) was to get time off work and get everything we needed to take along with us. When I say first things first you would have thought we did this immediately, but that was not the case. We were still shopping for supplies and packing the day before we were leaving to go! Not very organised when it comes to situations like these... But don't worry, we had some of the booze ready a few days earlier!

So Day 1; getting there - What a journey. The journey consisted of one taxi, two trains, one bus, a long wait in line of a very short distance followed by what seemed like forever to get to the campsite to pitch. Now this doesn't seem so bad but imagine doing this carrying your own body weight in a rucksack, a tent, chairs and a trolley. The worst part of it was queuing for over an hour and a half in a short distance with that bag on my back, I ended up having to take it off and drag it 5 paces every 20 minutes. But my goodness the rest of the week made this journey so worth it, even with the back and shoulder ache!

It was exhausting and when we managed to find somewhere to pitch the tents the wind really didn't help at all. Also when we pitched the tent we purchased from Halfords it was an absolute disaster. They only went and sent us a tent without any pegs so we had to go and buy some pegs, which was an absolute nightmare. We managed to sort everything out by around 3pm so all in all in took us around 6 hours to get there and pitched up.

Finally pitched and there.

On the Thursday we met up with our friend Vicky and consumed some of the alcohol we carried with us and enjoyed going round the village and going on some of the rides.



The following few days consisted of playing some games, drinking and enjoying time in the sun. Then going into the arena later on in the day and listening to some awesome bands.

On the Friday I was super overwhelmed with the whole set of the festival, it was so huge and there was so much going on so I spent most of this day in awe. Decided to get a pint whilst in the arena as well, do not recommend unless you have a lot money! This day we saw (not in order) Sum 41, Good Charlotte, Five Finger Death Punch and headlining we saw System of a Down (these were just a few that I can remember) - so awesome though. We were aiming to go and see Motionless in White but sadly got there just after they finished the set list (Kee got the times wrong, sheesh). Such a good day though but super tiring - as expected!



Then comes the second day of being able to watch the bands - this was probably my favourite day of the week. We spent most of this day playing stupid drinking games and again enjoying the sun. Also decided to get some face paint which was the BEST idea but also turned out to be the worst idea for poor Vicky who had a bad reaction to it (sadly no photos). But this happened the day after so it seemed like a great idea at the time! Then this day we saw A Day to Remember, which was followed by Kee and Vicky absolutely terrifying themselves with going on one of the rides. Then we went to go and see Alestorm! I have no words on how awesome this was and how much fun everyone was having singing along to these. Then we saw the headliners Biffy Clyro - who were awesome. After listening to these for so long it was surreal seeing them perform live. 









So, the next day was quite something (that hangover, I mean, WOW....). It was a mix between wanting to eat everything whilst trying not to be sick but again, drinking. My poor body. Vicky did have a bit of a problem at this point regarding her poor little face. I won't go into much detail but glitter, sun and Vicky do not mix. Good job she had sunglasses, even if it was raining....

So anyway, we returned to the routine we had been religiously practicing for the past few days. Then later on in the day we returned to the arena to listen to some bands. This day we went to watch Steel Panther.... my goodness what a show. I think I've only ever listened to one of their songs before but listening to them and seeing them perform live it was amazing. Some of their songs, I mean, it's probably an acquired taste but definitely worth giving a try. Best part was when they got all the girls on stage, by far.

 Then to finish the end of the festival.... Aerosmith! I don't know whether it was the hangover, lack of sleep, tired legs or just the song but my eyes got emotional during 'I don't want to miss a thing' (the song still makes me weep now). What an awesome show and way to end the festival.





Sadly the next day was packing and travelling home.... But my, my what an experience. Shout out to my fiance for the best Christmas present ever! Anyone who likes this sort of weekend, I would definitely recommend you go to Download, you won't be disappointed. 

Until next year, Download!

Peace out! 

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