5ft and 50 litres: Thursday 14-08 - Day 1, Pukkelpop 2008

I hadnt slept well that night. I couldnt get comfortable in the tent. Plus the temperature dropped right down during the early hours. I woke up shivering during the night. At about 9 in the mornig I finally woke up, with a slight hangover, but nothing that would stop me enjoying the day ahead. I was, however, incredibly overheated. The tents get so cold during the night but unbearably hot by morning. It was water proof but we were rained apon by condensation that had collected on the inside roof.

I changed clothes in the tent and washed with moist towelettes. There hadn´t been any rain that night so the ground was drying and not too muddy. The only still muddy area was the toilet block area. I wore my wellies to get there and then changed into my converse. The festival used the system by which a tent next to the toilets had staff giving out paper. I like it this way because the paper isn´t wasted and doesn´t run out.

I checked the bread we bought a day earier only to find it soaking wet from the moisture in the tent. So we needed to find another breakfast. Once everyone was done we crossed the road from the camp site to the festival site. This site had only just opened and so was much cleaner. We dropped our valuables off at a safe locker and bought food tickets. Breakfast was a foccaccia thick slice of pizza while we waited for Josh´s phone to charge at the charging station.

There wasn´t really anything I wanted to see on the first day until 6 when British Sea Power were on. So we wondered around a bit. We looked at the merch stalls and the food stalls and planed what we might eat on later days. As yet, there had been no rain. The dark clouds came and went without drama. The wind was not being so kind. It was chilly so Dani and Josh went to fetch our jackets.

Michael and I decided to take advantage of the eco reward system they seemed to have in place. 25 plastic drinks cups got you a sun visor and 50 got you a t-shirt. It was a clever way to keep the litter to a minimum. Although apparently other festivals gave you beer for them, which would have ben much much better. But a spare free t-shirt is still useful. So we joined the groups of people walking around with piles of other people´s cups. We only picked up the whole and not crushed cups. I didn´t even mind that we looked wierd doing it. It was kind of fun by the time we had a big pile. People would call us over and give us their cups when they were finished with them. It didn´t take long to reach 100 cups. By the time Dani and Josh were back with the jackets we both had cocacola shirts written in Chinese. They said "Coke is Chinese for delicious happiness".

We drank Flugel, a red energy drink with vodka and a duck on the small glass bottle.

We got lunch from some of the stalls before lying of the grass outside the ´marquee´ arena. We lay in the on-again-off-again sunshine. The nearby stage played the Pidgeon Detectives and then the Cribs. Dani bought us strange Belgian mini pancakes dusted with sugar. They were nice, if a bit undercooked.

We got spaces right at the front of British Sea Power. I was really impressed by them. They played some songs I knew off the older album. Even the new stuff I didn´t know was good. We met some cool Australians there and some Dutch guys.

Next we had a clash. We could either see Hot Chip who I loved, or we could see Henry Rollins (formerly of Black Flag) doing an hour and a half of spoken word. I decided I could more easily see Hot Chip at another point but had never seen Rollins before. I am 500% glad that I picked Henry. His work was so amazing. He has anger in his voice, but speaks with such passion. He even shed a descrete tear when he talked about hus visit to the killing fields. He was so eloquent and insightful. He gets up and travels to all the corners of the world just to see it for himself. He wants to know what is beyond the news reports and brings back incredible stories to tell his audience. He talked about war and disease and hope and courage. He talked about corruption and ignorance and needless hate. All these topics he covered with great humour and great humility. He inspired every person in that room so strive to make this world a better place. Maybe I exagerate, but truly left his tent feeling like the world´s problems were out there just waiting to be solved by ordinary people. I was full of energy.

Next was Mercury Rev. They were also energetic, leaving the crowd in a state of zen-like happiness. He sang with wonderous high pitched tones infront of psychodelic projections of suns exploding.

We were at the front barrier. I wouldn´t have it any other way. The next act I had been looking forward to for months.

I finally got to ses the flaming lips again! One of my most favourite bands. Wayne Coyne oversaw the preparations to the Lips stage spectacular. He tested the light-up gong and streamer guns and giant screen behind. The equipment and decorations were themed orange and yellow. Even the sound crew/roadies were wearing neon orange vests and hard hats. Wayne was wearing his traditional white suite and had his microphone camera playing on the screen behind as per usual. He kept shooting streamers over the crowd to keep them amped before the show.

The show started with Race for the Prize. Everything happened at once.

1- the flaming lips dancers came out. This time they were all dressed as telly tubbies. They danced around like crazy Belgians.

2- a shower of yellow balloons almost a meter in diameter fell on the crowd. Everywhere you looked where giant balls like yellow suns, bouncing above the heads and hands of the audience.

3- Wayne Coyne came out in his human sized hamster ball of love. He sailed on the crowd, spreading the joy that is the Flaming Lips to an ocean of smiling faces.