So I survived T In The Park, just. It was once again an epic journey from East Kilbride to Balado. Not that I expected anything less after last year’s fiasco.

Started off with the boy’s mum picking up our friends from their houses and dropping them off at the bus station and then coming back to get us plus all their stuff that they’d left the night before, which nearly resulted in us forgetting their tent. That’d have served them right!

I took a few photos when we were getting ready to set off, but ended up not taking my camera with me because I’d managed to fill my one and only micro sd card and didn’t have time to backup the photos on it to the computer before we left. It ended up I bought a £1 disposable camera when we got there anyway…chances of the photos actually developing? Probably nil.

Anyway, we got to the bus station and I’d to run like hell to buy underwear (forgot to pack some) and a pair of sunglasses since I was optimistic about the weather situation. Turned out that was a good move on my part as the sun was blaring for most of the weekend. Got on the 50 year old double decker bus and sat downstairs with our bags for a change, heard too many stories of bags being stolen at the other end. In fact one of our friends went up to Balado on the Thursday night and had £200 stolen from his jeans while he slept. Idiot.

We didn’t hit any traffic what so ever on the way to Balado, which was amazing. By the time we got there it was about 11.45am (we left East Kilbride just after 10am) and didn’t get into the campsite until about 2.30pm. We had to queue, with backpacks on and in the heat, for probably about a mile and a half. Moving forward 4 foot every couple of minutes, with one of the boys constantly moaning about being in pain. Yes, so were we. I had a lot of stuff with me, including a double airbed in my backpack and carrying two camping chairs which were awkward as hell. Highlights of the queue included the boyfriend making a guranja (sp?) gyu scream Guranja pretty damn loudly that the whole queue seemed to turn around to look at him for 20p. Yes, 20p. We got a book out of it too which I ended up throwing over the fence as the boyfriend was a bit drunk on Saturday afternoon and was going to try and sell it to somebody. Probably would have ended up with him getting his head kicked in.

I found us a great place to camp, Yellow 2, and within 20 minutes of getting our tent up it started to rain. We sat and talked and the boys got drunk and then headed into the arena. I made us walk slow to listen to Scouting For Girls on the walk of death (really, really long walk into the arena up the side of the NME stage) and we went to get Mojitos from the Bacardi B-Bar. Which I stole. Well, the guy had two chances to ask me for the money and he didn’t so we just ran away with our drinks. £16 saved there. I got a lanyard with a whistle on it from the barman too, so that was me happy. Went and seen the Chemical Brothers with the boyfriend and danced like a tit for about 5 minutes with glowsticks because ONE drink gets me drunk, haha.

We headed back to the tent and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. Next day we didn’t head into the arena until about 7pm where I seen The Kaiser Cheifs and heard Ian Brown and Rage Against The Machine. Left the boyfriend to go see RATM on his own since I hate crowds and waited for an hour til he came back to our tent worried as hell, turns out that somebody was stabbed near out tent when he was walking back. Glad I didn’t know that when I was waiting for him.

On Sunday the boyfriend was terribly hungover, but he was in a state the day before so it’s his own fault. I seen The Prodigy, The Zutons…erh, I think that’s it. Heard the Racontours though walking into the arena. Seriously, didn’t get my moneys worth at all!

That’s the last time I’m going to T. It’s lost it’s charm, and it was a bloody nightmare.

Pictures once I get them developed and scanned!

Seven long months after paying for my ticket, one year after I swore I’d never go back, T In The Park is tomorrow. And actually? I don’t really want to go anymore. It’s absolutely chucking it down with rain, it’s overcast and cold. And that’s down here - in Kinross it’s more than likely worse as that’s in the north of Scotland and I’m central-belt. I know that once I get there it’ll be fine, I’ll be adopting a typically Scottish ‘Ach, it’s only a wee bit rain’ attitude and just ignore the mud, rain and typically crap feeling.

Last night I packed all my stuff. Or at least, I think I have packed everything. I have a box of Malteasers and 2 packets of Haribo. I’m sorted. Decided that I’m going to wear my hot pink camouflage welly / Ugg boots as they take up loads of room in my back pack, a pair of Primark jeans, tshirt and hoodie travelling and just pack an other pair of jeans, combats and shorts plus a few tshirts and an other hoodie in by bag. Seriously, still seems like I have too much though. The weather forecast is rain, rain, rain, rain. Oh joy.

Have a good weekend guys, and I’ll have pictures up on Tuesday or Wednesday of the mudbath, eh T In The Park

Finally, my Avon order was delivered. Well, the card to tell me that ’sorry, there was nobody in’ was personally handed to me by the post man. Cheeky swine!

I went to pick up my parcel yesterday when I finished work and used the over-night cream last night. All I can say is wow, my skin was so smooth and lovely when I woke up this morning. Here’s hoping that the anti-cellulite body sculpting creme is just as good, I’m wearing shorts at T In The Park so I want my legs to look as good as possible. Vain? Me? Nah!

For anyone who is going to this year’s T In The Park festival in three weeks I’ve found a copy of the map of the campsite from the eFestival’s Forum.

I’m quite excited that the arena is bigger than previous years, but there’s still the walk of death up the side of the NME/Radio 1 stage to get in and out of the arena to the campsite. I hate that walk with a passion, especially when everyone is leaving the arena to get back to the campsite and it’s mobbed with people - it’s a nightmare in the mud.

I am worse than a kid at Christmas waiting for T In The Park - bring it on! The worse bit is not the waiting but the remembering what to take with me. It’s a long walk from the campsite bus drop of to the area where we like to pitch our tent (yellow area, usually). And I’ve got all my clothes, food, drink, sleeping bag, airbed etc to carry that distance so I like to pack my luggage light, but also have to remember that I need to pack items for sunny weather, rain, cold, scorching heat - Scotland is notorious for it’s random weather patterns.

We’ve managed to get most of our stuff in, all I have to buy is a double airbed - it’s the one luxury I allow myself all weekend.

Everything I’ve done today seems to have broken or screwed up. I’m not a very happy bunny.

For a start this site went berzerk. Totally and utterly broken. And the best bit? I didn’t do anything. Hadn’t touched it, or logged on, in days. After reinstalling WordPress 15 times in an hour, finally everything is back on track except the fact barely any of my posts or pages have tags anymore, or if they do it’s the wrong ones. But I’m working on that as we speak.

What I really should be doing is finishing off my work for the Management Training Program since our next meeting is on Wednesday. Seriously thought I was finished but I’m no where near completion. I can see an all nighter on Tuesday happening.

I went shopping earlier for a few things for T In The Park which is 3 weeks away. So excited. I bought a waterproof jacket (it’s Scotland. That means rain), a pair of brown army-style shorts, bag to keep my tickets, camera and purse in, a million pairs of socks and a new top which is white and lime green with swallows and polka dots. It sounds horrendous, but it really is lovely. Spent more than I meant to, but hey what’s new?

The one good thing that happened today was RTDOBE’s Doctor Who episode. It made me *squee* outloud. A lot. And cry, laugh..generally become a hysterical fangirl again. I knew Bad Wolf before Donna said it, because I am the Bad Wolf queen. I just can’t believe that A) I need to wait til next Saturday to see part two and B) I’ll miss part three because I’ll be at T In The Park.

Expect a full review once I rewatch it…and have some sleep.

I absolutely adore live music, the thrill of being in the same room as somebody famous (I’m weird like that), hearing my favourite songs live with hundreds of other fans shouting the lyrics back at the artist and experience new music through support bands that I’ve maybe never heard of before.

I’ve kept a list (and the tickets) of all of the gigs and music festivals that I’ve attended since 2003, i.e. when I began going to gigs with the boyfriend instead of the Smash Hits Tour Party with school friends (cringe).

Taproot

Taproot played the Garage on January 2003 and were supported by Pulse Ultra. It was my first date with my boyfriend, so this gig’s special to me for obvious reasons! It was also the first time I’d been to a ‘real’ gig.

Placebo

April 2003 at the infamous Glasgow Barrowlands. Placebo are probably my most favorite band in the world and this was the first time that I saw them live. They were supported by The Faint who I weren’t too keen on. Brain Molko was as sexy as ever but they didn’t play Nancy Boy - very disappointing!

Marilyn Manson

The worst gig of my entire life! Manson and co played the Braehead Arena in June 2003. Well those of the band who hadn’t fallen out with each other and decided to do a disappearing act! After a forgetful warmup by Queen Andreena and hearing the full Rammstein - Mutter album twice through MM finally graced the stage. What a shame the sound in the Braehead arena is rubbish, it ruined the night!

Muse

At the all mighty SECC in November 2003. Again, this was the first time I went to see Muse live and they didn’t disappoint me! They were supported by Elbow who made me want to fall asleep. I don’t have much luck with support bands, I usually hate them!

Franz Ferdinand

Their amazing homecoming gig at the Glasgow QMU, broadcast live on Radio 1 in April 2004. For once I enjoyed to two support bands - Sons And Daughters and The Fiery Furnaces. I was right at the barrier for the entire gig but the venue’s that small I could have been upstairs and still be as close to the boys as I was at the front. I think I may have fallen in love with Alex Kapranos during this gig.

Download Festival / Gig On The Green

June 2004. Complete waste of money. Saw Machine Head, Iggy and the Stooges and The Distillers. We left before Lost Prophets and Linkin Park played. Funnily enough I don’t think Download’s been back in Glasgow since…

T In The Park

My first year at the awesome T was July 2004. Even though we were only there for the day I managed to cram in Black Eyed Peas, Keane, Mylo, Basement Jaxx, Faithless, The Darkness, Felix da Housecat, Tiefchwarz and Muse for the headline act. This day started my obsession with TITP.

Mauro Picotto

Not strictly a gig since he’s a DJ, but this night out at The Arches was a good one - little did I know that I knew so many of his songs already!

Franz Ferdinand

Seen my boys for the second time in December 2004, this time at the SECC. They were supported by the Kaiser Chiefs (yay!) and the Fire Engines, who were weird beyond belief. It’s such a shame that there were so many idiotic neds / chavs there ruining it all - just because they like ‘Take Me Out’ and spent the rest of the gig booing and getting drunk on watered down beer. Brilliant.

Electric Six

At the Barrowlands in Febuary 2005. Awesome gig, I loved it more than I ever thought that I would. Dick Valentine is a true showman, if not completly crazy!

Nine Inch Nails

July 05. The most amazing gig, ever. Trent was great live, didn’t really interact with the crowd although the crowd were singing back to him a lot, even though he was singing at a different time. Hilight of the night was either Hurt, Head Like a Hole or The Hand That Feeds. Supported by Saul Williams, who I didn’t enjoy but each to their own…

T In The Park

July 05. The day after NIN we headed to T In The Park for a weekend camping. Excellent weekend all in, saw Mylo, The Prodigy, Haysed Dixie, The Corel, The Killers, Keane, Joss Stone, Audioslave, Queens of the Stone Age, Snoop Dogg, New Order, The Streets, Jimmy Eat World, Ada, Butch Cassidy Sound System and Drive By Arguement.

T In The Park

T In The Park 2006, crammed in the following bands at some point in the weekend, Placebo, The Who, Hard-Fi, James Holden, 2 Many DJ’s, The Zutons, Lily Allen, My Robot Friend, Magic Numbers, Franz Ferdinand

T In The Park

Again, away for weekend camping in 2007 despite the horrendous mud situation! Completly missed the Friday night (yeah, thanks CityLink I wanted to spend 14 hours on a bus for a journey that should take 2) but managed to see The Fratellis, Just Jack, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Goo Goo Dolls, Scissor Sisters, Queens Of The Stoneage, Jet.. and spent the rest of the time in the PKR fun casino!

I’m reading journals and blogs of friends both old and new and everybody is going away on holiday somewhere utterly cool this year. New York, China, Russia, Denmark. Me? Balado. Which is in Scotland. And where the greatest music festival in the world takes place on the first weekend of July each year - T In The Park. Although so far there’s only actually a few bands that I want to see - Newton Faulkner, Primal Scream, Scouting For Girls, The Hoosiers, Reverend And The Makers. I’m a bit worried that the Sugababes and Will Young are playing, Geoff Ellis what are you thinking man?

So, the countdown begins. It’s only 11 weeks away. Well actually, it’s in 11 weeks. And I can’t wait. Question is, are any of you going to T this year? Or any other music festivals?

After spending over £100 on a ticket for T In The Park I didn’t think that I’d spend most of the weekend inside the fun casino that was there instead of watching bands that I love. I started off with £20 and quickly racked it up to over £750 playing poker, roulette and blackjack. I’d gotten the bug, man! Such a shame that the money wasn’t real.

As soon as I came home I decided that I was going to play for some real money but since I don’t fancy trekking into town every time I fancy a quick game I scoured the internet for a good, British online casino. Finally, after some searching, I came across Bet365 which combines all the games that I love playing.

The offer lots of different types of betting opportunities, on sports such as baseball, boxing, tennis, rugby - even lotto draws. But the best of the site is the casino area. The offer up to £100 free chips when you first sign up (which, by the way, takes mere minutes) which was incentive enough for me. I chose to download the software, but you can play from your browser if you prefer.

My favourite part of the site is the live dealer games - instead of playing with a computerized dealer there’s an actual person dealing the cards. For me, it makes me feel like I’m really in a casino without having to shell out membership fees.

My weekend at T In The Park was certainly an interesting one. After starting to queue for the bus at Buchanan Bus Station at just after noon, we finally got onto a rickety old double decker bus at about 3.45pm. In that time I managed to smoke around 10 cigarettes, mainly out of pure boredom. One of my friends got booked for smoking a joint and having some weed on him, the idiot. It made me laugh though!

It turns out that we were on the bus to Balado for..7 hours. It’s only 44miles from Glasgow to Balado and 50% of that is either a motorway or an A/B road. We completly missed the Friday night’s bands, which was shit. I really wanted to see Lily Allen and The Artic Monkeys. Still I could see the NME/Radio 1 stage and the big wheel from the window of the bus for about 2 hours. I should have just gotten off and walked. On the bus I managed to smoke a further 20 cigarettes and eat 3 bags of sweets and a packet of cookies. It’s a good job that I did because my gosh I needed the energy. The bus dropped us off at the opposite end of the arena from the campsite entrance, at least 2 miles away. We had to walk the rest, through inches and inches of mud with huge backpacks and camping chairs. Amusingly, our friend fell head first into the mud which was one of the funniest things that I’ve ever seen.

Once we actually got to the entrance to the campsite we very nearly turned back and got my mum to come & pick us up - the campsite was in even more mud and there was absolutely no where to pitch a tent! And the fact that Scott have wandered off with the 6 man tent didn’t really help much, it meant that Craig had to sleep in mine & the boy’s 2 man tent that night. Eh, just what I wanted. Obviously couldn’t let him sleep out in the cold though. I found the smallest space to put the tent up and sat smoking and really needing to pee while the boys put it up. I wasn’t even going to attempt to go to the Portaloos at 1 in the morning so left it til morning…

Even although I didn’t get to bed until about 2am I was up at the crack of dawn due to the sun blaring through my side of the tent and turning it into an oven. The boys went to find Scott at the welfare tent and to find somewhere to pitch their tent. While they were away I made breakfast (noodles and stockcubes) and attempted to go to the toilet. As soon as I stepped into the portaloo I suddenly didn’t need to go any more. It was the most disgusting thing that I have ever smelt and seen. Usually I’m ok with the toilet situation at TITP but my god it was nasty.

On the Saturday the only band I saw really was The Killers, who were bloody fantastic. I think I may love Brandon Flowers, he’s so energetic on stage. On the Sunday I managed to see The Fratellis, Scissor Sisters, Just Jack and Queens Of The Stoneage.

Oh..my writing mood has run out. I’ll write more about my weekend soon.
TBC