Reading Festival 2010 & the Songs we sing together…

Summer 2010 the Libertines have just announced their comeback tour and that they will be the headline act at Reading Festival. I’m 16 and this year is my first time at a music festival and like every other 16 year old in 2010 I only listen to Indie Music, wear a stupid flower headband in my hair and am obsessed with Pete Doherty and Alex Turner. 

It’s the Saturday of the festival and Dizzie Rascal is on before the libertines. My sister and friends are eager to get to the front to get a good spot for our favourite band so we’re pushing and shoving our way through. All I can see is heads, elbows and armpits before I jump on my friend’s shoulders for ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’. We’re just on the outside of a mosh pit, dangerous territory, especially on someone’s shoulders and Fuck someone throws a full pint at me, easy target I suppose, luckily it’s cold and not warm… After Dizzie finishes there is a huge clash of fans, people trying to get in front for the libs and Dizzie fans trying to get out. I’m gripping onto my friend’s hands but they’re slipping in the scramble, the emergency gates open, we lose sight of each other and one man is even punching his way through. Bad luck for me I’m right in his direction and get an elbow to the head as he punches with force, down I go. I get pulled up and out by someone through the gates and taken to the hospital tent. I feel a bit dizzy but I’m okay. I thank the girls that helped me and wait in the queue to be seen. And Shit… that’s the sound of Libertines starting. I ran out of the queue back through the gate to watch them on my own. My phone is out of battery so there’s no way of contacting anyone and there’s also no way I’m charging through that crowd again to find them. I’ve lost everyone I was with but I’m not really watching them alone. I’m screaming along to ‘Don’t Look Back Into the Sun’ with thousands of sweaty drunk people like me. I make friends with a man who has also lost his mates. We share cigarettes, debate who’s better out of Pete and Carl and he agrees to put me on his shoulders for the last song. The intro of ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ starts people roar and scream and the bloke says to me give me sec as he pisses in a cup then throws it into the crowd-right here we go he says puts me on his shoulders and we all sing in Unison IF YOU WANT TO TRY, THERE’S NO WORSE YOU CAN DO!!! OH OH OHH! I KNOW YOU LIE!

 

I realise in our current world this story sounds particularly harrowing on a germ level and I did get hit in the head but even still nothing quite beats the happiness you experience singing along to lyrics in a crowd with loved ones or strangers.

 It’s the one thing we know will not happen for some time and the one thing I miss the most. Whether that’s belting ‘Sweet Caroline’ on Karaoke with My Family, the end of the night ‘Hey Jude’ on a sticky floor of a pub in a huddle of your best mates, shoeless at a wedding for the final song of the night or sun burnt and tired on the last day of a festival with only the music getting you through. 

The songs we sing together the most don’t work as well on their own, they need a crowd to bring them alive. It will be a while but when the time comes let’s be ready beer in hand to belt out your Come on Eileen, Wonderwall, Build Me Up Buttercup and god even Mr Brightside. (And all the others).