21 Jul 2014

Gurtenfestival 2014


I’m writing this post sitting at our big dining table and eating pasta straight out of the pot. Things you can do while home alone. In the corner I can see my bag, all ready for an early start tomorrow off to Ireland. But before I’m going to embark on this new adventure I wanted to write a quick post about the festival I attended last weekend, the one that I already mentioned in my Summer Bucket List post. So let’s get crackin’!

My friend Sarah and I are quite the beginners when it comes to on-site festival camping as we both chose other places to stay over night last year. I stayed at a friend’s house close to the festival and Sarah was camping down by the river. So basically, we had no idea when to get there and what to expect. When we arrived at the valley station on Thursday morning for the little train that brings everyone up the hill there already was a queue, everyone was cheerful as the sun was shining and people were already drinking wine out of plastic cups. You know, you have to empty the glass bottle before you get in…so down with the stuff! Because we were still quite early we had to walk all the way back to the end of the camping site. Note to self: don’t come to early. But at least it wasn’t as noisy during the night. Pros and cons, always pros and cons to everything.

We set up our tent, went back down the hill to buy some lunch in the supermarket and made our way back up to sit in the sun for the rest of the afternoon and wait for the first gigs to start. Biffy Clyro were playing that night which I was very excited about, as I’ve wanted to see them for quite some time now. They were absolutely smashing it and I was singing at the top of my lungs through the whole gig (something I did several times during the four days of festival and which made me sound like a 60-year old chain-smoker in no time)
The rest of the first night was filled with lots of laughing, acting silly, some dancing and getting back to our tent as the sun was starting to rise.

Not the sunrise but the sunset was pretty stunning as well.


That has to be one of the most beautiful views you get at a festival!


 A little more than two hours later we were up again. Damn you, morning sun! Tent + hot summer days = not your friend when you’re trying to sleep. We escaped the heat and moved our sleeping quarter under a tree to doze a little longer. I can’t handle not sleeping enough and I later fell asleep during while we were sitting on the grass listening to a band. We watched the Irish band Kodaline and headed straight to The Kooks on the main stage, only to realise that singing and dancing (even just standing) during two gigs in row is pretty exhausting.

Saturday started with a nice breakfast and some time off the festival site to relay a little. And oh boy, it was a good decision! We later needed all our energy for what was my absolute favourite moment of the whole festival: Franz Ferdinand’s gig. 


 See, I have this list at home where I write down bands that I really really want to see live. Franz Ferdinand have been on this list for a couple of years now and I never managed to go and see them. I was looking for a clip from their performance but wasn’t lucky so here’s one from this year’s T in the Park, just so you get an idea of how much fun it was. 


It was not just fun and in general absolutely amazing but also a great work out at the same time! Jumping up and down for 1.5 hours straight can get you quite sweaty as it turns out. After some more music, Nutella crepes and some mood swings from both, Sarah and me, we decided to head home at around 3 in the morning. There was a rainstorm coming and because we are nice weather camper, we spend the night in the comfort of our own dry beds. Very good decision!

The next day started with rain, so it was time for wellington boots and raincoats. We saw a band called Kensington and later Jake Bugg, who is one of my favourites, and during his gig the sun came out again! Still, we were just to knackered and there wasn’t much on the program that day to excite us so we made our way back down, home to dry off, unpack and go to sleep. Mostly for the last one.

Although there were some ups and downs, we had a great time and will definitely go again next year. Maybe I can practice managing some days with little sleep without turning into grumpy cat until then!

Thanks for reading! I will be in Ireland for the next 10 days but you can expect new post at the beginning of August. Have a lovely time.
xx

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