What A Feeling, When It's Festival Season.



As it's officially the season for festivals/I'm a seasoned festival-goer it seemed only right to pen down one of my annual posts dedicated to all things mud, music and magic! Now ordinarily in the past I've given you guys a glimpse into what exactly I got up to with a diary style post but as I spend a lot of my summer these days making fleeting visits to festivals to see my boyfriend play, they kind of start to merge into one? And I don't want to run the risk of repeating myself... "Woke up on a tour bus, found coffee, watched Blossoms, sat in a field with cider" so forth, so forth. This year I thought it would be nice to take a trip down memory lane as I reminisce about ghost of festivals past, present and future. Here is my quick, round up list of festival memories! From does and don'ts, to "I'd do it again" or " I definitely won't"...

My First Festival
Showing my age a little bit here but it actually makes me feel so lucky to have been a teen when I was... My first festival was Leeds Festival 2006. Just to give you an idea of how far we've come since then; Young up and coming band Arctic Monkeys played but didn't headline, the line up was mainly emo or pop punk and Klaxon's did a secret set on the NME stage where everyone went insane for it... It was a very special moment in time when indie reigned supreme. The Kooks, Jet, Mystery Jets, Boy Kill Boy, The Vines, The Streets to name a few (yes a few... how times have changed for band music) were at the top of their game and although some few of these bands have faded into the abyss, all inevitably shaped me into the person I am today! Aww cute, hey? To summarise there was a worrying amount of florescent accessories (shag band anyone?), back combing was an essential part of your beauty routine and music magazines were still the holy grail. 

My Last Festival
Fast Forward to last weekend, I'm a little older and possibly slightly wiser.  I'm at TRNSMT festival in Glasgow watching my boyfriend play the main stage and Arctic Monkeys headline. It was boiling hot, I had to have about two power naps and I changed my outfit three times. Joe taught me to play drums and I got tipsy on cider which resulted in me dancing way too over zealously to AM. The vibe was good, there wasn't a fluorescent pink shag band in sight and I'm perfectly ok with that...

Best Festival Memory
I guess the one seems a little obvious but your first Glastonbury is pretty damn special. It was three years ago, I went with some of my favourite people and for about two weeks after had THE worst festival blues. It's crazy looking back on this particular festival because it was one of those pivotal moments in my life! I'd literally just started dating Joe and I was on the cusp of leaving my job/starting my blog. I guess with this in mind, I'll always look back so fondly at this period of time and the amazing people I spent it with. Me and my favourite girlfriends watching Florence & The Machine and had "a moment" together, I watched/fan-girled Catfish & The Bottlemen for the first time (on my own I might add) and Lionel Richie was by far one of my performance highlights. 

Worst Festival Memory
Hmmm... I guess none of my festival memories have necessarily been bad ones but there have definitely been a few moments which have exhausted me. Mainly involving mud! Festival No 6 two years ago was probably one of the worst experiences I had involving rain and lots of it! There was severe weather warning and the main stage was temporarily shut down BUT that said... Portmeirion is categorically one of THE most beautiful/magical locations I've ever seen for a festival. I just which there had been more sunshine to actually enjoyed it.

Best Performance
Oh so many great performances and I honestly feel so lucky I've been there to witness them! I mean Arctic Monkeys at TRNSMT last week was pretty special but I kind of feel like that's a cheat answer? I loved watching Haim last year on the NME Stage at Reading Festival, they absolutely stole the show AAAND they did it all in vinyl pants which is an achievement in itself really. Maybe last year was the year of great performances though, as The Killer's secret set on the John Pile Stage at Glastonbury was pretty special too! It was so full of nostalgia, you couldn't not get a little emotional... Yes I may have shed a tear when they played Glamorous Indie Rock N Roll. Oh too be young again hey?

It's a little odd but some of my favourite performance have actually been the really obscure ones, I wasn't expecting to love as much as I did... 
The one big thing I adore about festivals is that for me they are a pin point for each summer and the older I get the more they act as mile stones to moments in my life. I've been festivalling now for 12 years and so much has changed on a personal level but also musically. I've had some pretty amazing memories which I will always look back on and smile, then mixed with some rather grim experiences which the less we talk about the better... Festival toilets, I'm looking at you. All in all I wouldn't change a single moment for the world! They maybe cold, they may be muddy, they may be stinky but there's honestly no place I'd rather be than at a British music festival.

Happy Festival Season guys!

Sophia x

For more inspiration on my summer/festival style this year way not check out my Pinterest board below:

All Photography by Rosie Butcher



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