Soldato
I was in the mood for some nostalgia tonight and decided to look on youtube to see if there were any highlights from Leeds Festival 2005, which was my first festival experience. I couldn't find any clips of the bands. All I found was this video of the aftermath of the Sunday night anarchy...
For those who were there, anyone who has seen the Woodstock 99 doc on Netflix will recognise that Leeds 2005 was just as brutal on that final night. This is basically what I can recall from that night:
The festival had passed off largely without trouble and it was an incredible line up that year (as it used to be in those years).
Amongst others, on Friday we had Iggy and the Stooges which was a nice warm up for the phenomenal crowd crush that came next: Incubus. It was before the days of modern understanding for crowd control barriers and anti crush barriers that now run down the middle of big crowds that they have now. Just as the band came out there was an enormous crowd surge that piled everybody about 20 m(!) further forward from where they were stood for Iggy. This surge continued for the next 40 minutes or so, heaving from one position, then 10 m to the left and right until they finished their set. Kinda ruined it because it felt so dangerous trying all the time to stay on your feet and desperately trying to pick up those that fell before they got trampled. During the melee one of my campmates lost their glasses, then miraculously found them later after Incubus finished, with a missing lens and had to go the whole weekend with just one lens.
We then saw headliners Iron Maiden who were absolutely epic but I don't really recall what happened that evening but it probably involved beer and then a quick sleep!
Saturday and Sunday then passed off pretty well, with highlights being Art Brut, Marilyn Manson(hmmm), Pixies, Nine Black Alps...then came Sunday night...
Foo Fighters closed the festival. They were incredible and I think was around the time they played All My Life that one of our friends was last seen crowd surfing to the front. This was the days when mobile phone batteries couldn't last a whole 4-5 days and there weren't charge stations so our phones were off and that was the last we saw of him that night.
Meanwhile we enjoyed the laser show and a very energetic Grohl at the peak of his powers. A real top end to an incredible festival, or so we thought. Once they finished up, that was when the trouble all started. Now I know this happened many years around then and it wouldn't surprise me if it still does but it felt very visceral to me at the time!
Huge crowds started making their ways to the exit of the arena and back to the campsites. We were in the red campsite. Already some strange signs...the Aftershock tent closed, the burger vans closed. Then, a small fire here, a small fire there, a big fire here, a big fire there. Tents...worryingly close to where ours were, ablaze.
We passed some other friends on our way back and fires were literally next to theirs. But for some strange reason (to this day I can't recall why) we thought it would be funny to go to the site shop to see if we could buy some cheap bread, pretty sure we didn't buy it in the end and moved on.
That's when we saw peak anarchy. Telegraph poles that held the electrical lighting upheaved out of the ground by the hordes, a wheely bin set alight right next to now closed burger vans and stalls, people dancing around it, another wheely bin and telegraph pole added for good measure, then BOOOOM!! Something inside exploded and sent large firey wheely bin fragments flying into the air. How people weren't injured I will never know. This was when the private security teams arrived (full on riot gear). They gave no quarter that night and in long lines with shields and visors they began charging the crowds indiscriminately.
We decided to move well away from this, meanwhile came across a group of about 50 people who were banging pots and pans(!) and roaming round the site chanting "join the mob", whilst small private security squads patrolled the camp in small groups with fire extinguishers putting out tents. It was then we saw what looked like an Victorian era antique fire engine being deployed to the large fires.
Feeling fairly shaken by this point, and it was pushing 3-4am we thought we would just go to our tent and sleep before departing the next day. I don't know what possessed me to do that given the chaos unfolding outside. I didn't sleep, I just lay there really.
When it was light, we packed up our things amongst a thick smokey haze that covered the bombsite and headed out to get the bus back to Leeds station.
It was a crazy, wild night, one which I don't especially want to relive but it sure gave some stories.
For those who were there, anyone who has seen the Woodstock 99 doc on Netflix will recognise that Leeds 2005 was just as brutal on that final night. This is basically what I can recall from that night:
The festival had passed off largely without trouble and it was an incredible line up that year (as it used to be in those years).
Amongst others, on Friday we had Iggy and the Stooges which was a nice warm up for the phenomenal crowd crush that came next: Incubus. It was before the days of modern understanding for crowd control barriers and anti crush barriers that now run down the middle of big crowds that they have now. Just as the band came out there was an enormous crowd surge that piled everybody about 20 m(!) further forward from where they were stood for Iggy. This surge continued for the next 40 minutes or so, heaving from one position, then 10 m to the left and right until they finished their set. Kinda ruined it because it felt so dangerous trying all the time to stay on your feet and desperately trying to pick up those that fell before they got trampled. During the melee one of my campmates lost their glasses, then miraculously found them later after Incubus finished, with a missing lens and had to go the whole weekend with just one lens.
We then saw headliners Iron Maiden who were absolutely epic but I don't really recall what happened that evening but it probably involved beer and then a quick sleep!
Saturday and Sunday then passed off pretty well, with highlights being Art Brut, Marilyn Manson(hmmm), Pixies, Nine Black Alps...then came Sunday night...
Foo Fighters closed the festival. They were incredible and I think was around the time they played All My Life that one of our friends was last seen crowd surfing to the front. This was the days when mobile phone batteries couldn't last a whole 4-5 days and there weren't charge stations so our phones were off and that was the last we saw of him that night.
Meanwhile we enjoyed the laser show and a very energetic Grohl at the peak of his powers. A real top end to an incredible festival, or so we thought. Once they finished up, that was when the trouble all started. Now I know this happened many years around then and it wouldn't surprise me if it still does but it felt very visceral to me at the time!
Huge crowds started making their ways to the exit of the arena and back to the campsites. We were in the red campsite. Already some strange signs...the Aftershock tent closed, the burger vans closed. Then, a small fire here, a small fire there, a big fire here, a big fire there. Tents...worryingly close to where ours were, ablaze.
We passed some other friends on our way back and fires were literally next to theirs. But for some strange reason (to this day I can't recall why) we thought it would be funny to go to the site shop to see if we could buy some cheap bread, pretty sure we didn't buy it in the end and moved on.
That's when we saw peak anarchy. Telegraph poles that held the electrical lighting upheaved out of the ground by the hordes, a wheely bin set alight right next to now closed burger vans and stalls, people dancing around it, another wheely bin and telegraph pole added for good measure, then BOOOOM!! Something inside exploded and sent large firey wheely bin fragments flying into the air. How people weren't injured I will never know. This was when the private security teams arrived (full on riot gear). They gave no quarter that night and in long lines with shields and visors they began charging the crowds indiscriminately.
We decided to move well away from this, meanwhile came across a group of about 50 people who were banging pots and pans(!) and roaming round the site chanting "join the mob", whilst small private security squads patrolled the camp in small groups with fire extinguishers putting out tents. It was then we saw what looked like an Victorian era antique fire engine being deployed to the large fires.
Feeling fairly shaken by this point, and it was pushing 3-4am we thought we would just go to our tent and sleep before departing the next day. I don't know what possessed me to do that given the chaos unfolding outside. I didn't sleep, I just lay there really.
When it was light, we packed up our things amongst a thick smokey haze that covered the bombsite and headed out to get the bus back to Leeds station.
It was a crazy, wild night, one which I don't especially want to relive but it sure gave some stories.
