Saturday, 12th Feb, 1:00.
I arrived at Perth Station. Well, to be honest I arrived at Perth Station about 10 minutes before but because of all the construction going into sinking the trainline or whatever, I had to trek all the way through the William St entrance, tag on, walk through platform 10 (or 9, I don't know, it's the one that Trackside Bakery is facing), tag off and wait for the first of our party. Conscious of privacy, I will not disclose her name, so let's call her H.W. She always seems to be dressed in beautiful vintage clothing and is probably the most aesthetically pleasing of my small niche of festival go-ers. Today she wore a button-up brown shirt and a knee-length floral dress, eyes hidden behind her vintage shades. We receive word that everyone else will be late, so devote some time to tracing the paremeters of the festival. It's like a labrynth. Fences cling to the walls of the museum and library, creating small passages to get from one end to the other. The fences, we note, are very tall and not easily scalable. We go back to Perth train station. We meet another good friend of mine, N, who has been to almost every gig I've been to, and started exploring the live scene around the same time as I did. She and I share a love for most of the same things, from music to T.V. Next we meet E. E has been to every single gig I've been to, and is one of my funniest friends, and who's constant mutterings of love and gratitude to the sun and wildlife in numerous Pacific dialects is one of the most amusing yet beautiful aspects of my life. Naturally, he's got his billum with him (for those who don't know, it's a South Pacific weave bag). Finally, Reen arrives. Whenever I think about describing her, I can only think of the word 'eccentric'. I never really was friends with her when I started high school, but then we had this amazingly long conversation about being detectives together and being her future son's godfather, and have been brought together through that (I must remember to post that conversation one day). We're all here now, and now begins the challenge of getting in.
We walk around, following the passages till we reach a dead end, which is just stupid because the lead up to the dead end is about 100 m and you'd think they'd have cut it off ages ago. This is along the side of the library, and at the very end is a gap just big enough to get through. The problem? It opens into a small, shallow pool. We all take our shoes off, and prepare to get in, or at least convince the guard in front of us to 'be a lad'. A shirtless, shoeless man in a state of mental unease walks up by us, slides quickly through the gap and is soon apprehended by the authorities. Our resolve is diminished, and we continue to circle the fence. We actually did get in, a little while later, but escorted by security guards who took pity on us for having to walk the long way round, and in the next 10 seconds we were out. We reach the museum, and the view to the museum stage is very decent, there are some stairs that provide a good view. Then we see our chance. There are some steps, and while the fence is propped up on an angle it leaves an ample space to get through. We work ourselves up, call a few people through the fence to cover us, and set off. E goes first, then N. As Reen goes in, a security guard on the outside yells at me and H.W. We freak, and run away. We return to the stairs that offer the great view. We see Reen and N being escorted out by security. We run to them, first question off our lips,
"Where's E?"
For all his mutterings, E is actually very clever. He pulled on his hoodie, pulled down the sleeves and hid his bare wrists while it was easy to see N and Reen did not have wristbands. I'm also sure that his ethnicity helped, as it's often much harder for white's to judge the age of Islanders, especially the older whites. Oh, did I mention E does not have a phone. I had a phone for him to borrow, I really did! But I forgot, and we spent the next few hours in a state of jealous rage and genuine concern. Soon I get a call from my brother, who is 18 and bought a legitimate ticket. When I pick up, it's E who answers! I don't even recall him and my brother meeting, my bro said he recognised him from a school presentation night, and from his billum. At least we know E is alright. Now concern moves over to nothing but jealousy. H.W. has to leave, so at 5:00 we wave her off. Me, N and Reen return to Laneway, and listen to some music. We hear some Beach House, as clear as day, Norway was beautiful.We hear some Cloud Control, there's some excellent footage of Reen dancing to one of there songs about something in the water.We move back to Francis St stage, the back end, all fenced off with the roadies working away, to hear some Two Door Cinema Club. Then, who should we meet, but Two Door Cinema Club!
We were so excited, some of our jealousy towards E is evaporated. We hear them clear as day, even if we can't see them. Then we go around, listen to a little bit of Yeasayer, go to the nearest pharmacy (which was like, a kilometre away) and buy some drinks (Coke for me, Pepsi for N, a Pop-Top, blue-flavour, for Reen).
Then we go back to the back of Francis St Stage. We're waiting for Foals. It was really my major reason for going, even considering jumping. We're waiting. Wait some more. A seven-seater car pulls up. Fuck. It's Foals. It's actually fucking Foals, in a fucking seven seater, pulling up to the gate. We run over to them, 'can we get a photo'. Yannis Philippakis says yes, and we take a photo.
Then he says, 'why don't you come to the front of the stage?'. Shocked, I follow N and Reen, who are skipping merrily. He walks up casually to a security guard with us.
"They aren't allowed in here"
"They're with me"
We go forth, it's quite dark now. You know the mosh area, right? And you know how there's a fence that protects the stage from the mosh. WE WERE IN FRONT OF THAT FENCE! We were in the small rectangle of space reserved for photographers and other musicians. VIPs.
Me, N and Reen, we were all looking at each other, half-expecting reality to dissolve into the hazy fog of a dream. But it was real. Really, really real. And then they started playing. I could not stop smiling. Miami was... amazing. Cassius, was wow. All of the songs they played, amazing. Spanish Sahara was incredible, I took a video, it was the only song I could hold my phone steady too, but tears were streaming.
BIRD MAN // MAN GOD
I met the people who created something that beautiful! Every single ounce of jealousy held towards E had evaporated. At one point, Yannis scaled a set of speakers. They were shaking like crazy, I was scared for my life, but somehow I was even more scared for his. He jumped down. It must have been 4 metres. They finished with Two Steps, Twice. I raved so hard to that. We left in a frenzy, we got another photo with Foals, got picked up by my dad and driven to mine, where N and Reen were picked up. I hardly slept that night.
I hope this first tale brings some hope, some happiness to whomever is reading, if anyone's reading.
Ale. (w/ photography from Reen)
Reen dances to Cloud Control (specifically 0:15 - 0:36)
S.S. (excuse my singing, I was very emotional)
Oh my god!!
ReplyDeleteYou MUST teach me your ways!!