- Pub quiz, with Hannah and Leo
- Local Natives, particularly the live performance of Sun Hands
- The National! Of course. With a lovely acoustic version of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
I woke up feeling FRESH. I'm not sure the same can be said of Paddy and Jimmy who I think went to bed pretty late. I dressed (no bath. That ship has sailed) and headed down to the beach. It was one of those cool, crisp but bright days, and being relatively early for a Sunday, the beach was empty except for a few horses. I thought there was some sort of percussion band playing next to the doughnut hut but on closer viewing, turns out it was just the sound of the flag string hitting against the pole in the wind. I imagine some band from the festival will have sampled that.
I walked back along the sandy path to Rye Bay Cafe and took a seat. There was no menu but I took a shot, and unsurprisingly they served beans on toast. I was reading Monocle (and leaning a bit more about soft power) when some American voices piped up behind me. Clearly in a band. I spent the next twenty minutes eavesdropping and looking through my festival guide hoping to find out who they were. I narrowed the two guys down to support for Perfume Genius and the girl...well, her band was based in New Orleans, but she was from Minneapolis. Then ensued a rock and roll conversation about property prices in Seattle and wanting to settle out in a small city. Sure they're in a hip band and staying in luxury chalets, but they still talk about boring crap.
I felt pretty upbeat from the fresh air so I took a walk along the coast, intending to end up in Rye. I called my Grandma to wish her a belated happy 82nd birthday (I'd called her at 11pm the night before but she hadn't answered...) and we shared Camber Sands anecdotes. I think it was a frequent holiday destination of hers when my dad was a kid. I'd walked a few kilometres and had reached a nondescript part of the path when I changed my mind, and turned and walked back. There were lots of mini-reservoirs and normal size wind turbines on route. Really utilising that wind energy.
I walked past the Sunday 5-a-side in Pontins, but couldn't see any band members I recognised. I realise that's probably because I only recognise the four Antlers members and the front row of the National by face.
I caught up with Paddy and Chris Bunting from Farnham and we went to the Pop Quiz being held in the Queen Vic Pub on site. Turns out we should have registered the day before to enter, so we joined a 2-man team in order to at least take part. Leo and Hannah had come down from Cardiff for the event, and we figured we could in some way share the prize of a 4-man chalet at the Deerhunter ATP. A good £720 prize. My three main contributions to the answers I don't necessarily think gave me cool points with new friends Leo and Hannah; Q. What is the name of the Buffy musical episode? and later on, Q. Who is this band?
I clawed it back by solving the clue to the band and album of 'Feline female who uses energy in an attempt to be Muhammed Ali'.
The quiz lasted a long time, and the host (Lord Sinclair) whilst comical, probably used the 'c' word a few too many times for 2pm in the afternoon. There were a few 'guess the intro' rounds (I'd had a little practice on this when sitting and completing these with housemate Tony earlier in the week (http://www.sporcle.com/user/Kiwi_Buckle/games). After the quiz ended (I think we tied 5th) we headed back to the chalet with Leo and Hannah for some food and Lidl's own dry cider (with sugar and sweetener). Not as horrific as it sounds, and washed down with some lovely jelly they'd made. Hannah used to work on the city farm in Vauxhall, and her claim to fame was from earlier this year when the Queen had visited and Hannah had shown her a cock(erel). It was whilst working at the farm that she somehow converted her long-time vegan boyfriend back to meat-eating. She strenuously confirmed that farm rules were that you weren't allowed to eat any of the animals there though. Apparently when they died, you put them in the farm freezer, and then when the freezer was full, you went and buried/disposed of the corpses. Straight from her lips. Leo was a Medical Pharmacist at a University Hospital in Cardiff. He had just completed a PhD in Physics, so had a lot of chat with Paddy about theories/stuff that went way over my head. I could only contribute when they mentioned Brian Cox. I know him. From the telly.
Once we'd gorged ourselves on jelly, we headed back into the venue. I'd sadly missed Perfume Genius again (I missed them at Latitude as well, but really wanted to see this song Hood being performed (Perfume Genius – Hood). After a brief stop-off to see Wye Oak on Stage 2 (they were alright, but the room was too hot and stuffy to make it a pleasant experience) we fortunately arrived in time to see Owen Pallett. I have his album, though mainly know him from his work under the name 'Final Fantasy'. There's a song named 'He Poos Clouds' which is actually a really lovely composition, despite it's name (listen to it here: Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds. Really kicks off around 40seconds). His solo stuff is good as well. He's a violinist and has really strong vocals. We then moved forward to listen to Local Natives. They COMPLETELY blew me away. Hands down the highlight of the festival. I already knew the tracks Airplanes and Sun Hands before the festival, from back in 2010 I think, and old-housemate Becky had seen them live a few years ago and been impressed, but I think I'd listened to their album before and hadn't been completely sold. But LIVE, they were seriously good. They were a five piece in this performance, four of whom were lined up at the front, and moved around each-other's instruments throughout. All four sang as well, and the impact of four voices lined up and belting out at you was really impressive. Check it out here: Local Natives: Sun Hands (Live). Really kicks off at 3 minutes).
After their show, which included another guest appearance from one of the Dessners (I don't know which. It's difficult to know who you're watching:
We stayed close to the front waiting for The National to come on stage. It was a 2h show, starting at 11pm (the benefit of being in a venue where noise pollution isn't a problem) and so we were all pretty excited. And by all, I mean THE ENTIRE FESTIVAL. This whole event had been building to this performance. They came out, and the room erupted. It really was incredible. They played a few new tracks, along side the always brilliant live versions of Mr November, Abel and Fake Empire. Bloodbuzz Ohio was also beautiful (The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio). And then after a brief time off stage, they came back on to play a few more songs, finishing with an acoustic/no microphone version of Vanderlyle, Crybaby Geeks. Lead singer Matt stood up on a higher level at the front like some sort of ship figurehead as the band grouped behind him like a ship's crew and he just belted out the song as the entire crowd sang with him. It was powerful. A beautiful end to the weekend.
End of day 69.
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