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Leeds Carling Weekend 2001 - 24-26/08/01 We attended this years festival so check out Catherine's Festival Diary or our Leeds Festival Photo Gallery or The Festival Line-Up Thursday Friday The drizzle set in then, but our £2.49 stripy parasol kept us dry and we chilled out for a bit before venturing off to the arena. Saw some huge queues for tickets/wristbands but it all seemed pretty organised. Once in the arena I was convinced it had shrunk since I was last here 2 years ago, but I think there was just more stuff inside. Today was wet and nippy so less chilled out – no sitting about on the grass. Also it was ROCK day and everyone was kind of settling into the whole thing so the atmosphere was a bit unsettled, but peaceful as ever So, entertainment!…… Well, we were a bit wimpy and spent a lot of time sat in the Comedy tent to avoid the rain, but I do like festival comedy – its always a surprise and there’s always some real talent (and some real crap). Everyone had crowded in to see Johnny Vegas but his train was late, bless ‘im, so we were treated to fast talking, banjo playing Geordie Gavin Webster. Now I may be a little biased cos I come from the Northeast but this guy was REALLY sharp and funny – catch him if you can! ‘The man with the Beard’ (?? Kennedy) was not so good – if jokes that have been done before are your cup of tea then he’s all right, but jokes about vivisection just don’t do it for me. Mr Vegas himself seemed to go down extremely well with the crowd but I thought it was a poor effort myself. I like him on those best of the 80's type programmes where he’s just a witty Northern bloke, but his show just seemed to be a load of shouting with not much content. The famous (apparently) potters wheel was missing, but I guess that’s the kind of luggage that would cause a bit of trouble on British Rail so I can forgive him. We also had a bit of a sit down in the guest area (being Leeds365’s top correspondent gets you places!), a bit behind the scenes with trees, chairs, a ridiculously expensive café and very posh toilets. Now I won’t say I didn’t take advantage of them, but I reckoned it was kind of unfair that everyone couldn’t have a go at them. It was full of media types and very clean people who quite obviously weren’t camping and bitchy dolled up girls who kept looking at me and my muddy raincoat like I was shit on their shoes – bet they didn’t have nearly as good a time as me though, HA. So, we only just caught the end of The Cult, but were in time for early 90’s Indie disco classic ‘She Sells Sanctuary’…ahhh, took us back to our youth so it did. They were good too and seemed to pull a big crowd who weren’t all folk in their late 20's. We meant to catch Papa Roach but got waylaid with a trip back to the tent for beer and only got back in time for Marilyn Manson. I was really excited and curious about seeing Eminem, obviously everyone else was too, the crowd was gigantic – and ranged from kids to mums and dads. So, how was Mr Controversy, chainsaw wielding, parent scaring evil rap man? FANTASTIC, good old-fashioned rap/hip hop is what he was. He performed with his protégés D12 who were brilliant too. No chainsaws, no flashy stage show – just quality performance from very talented people. Why everyone has made such a negative fuss of this poor lad I do not know. Ok so he seems to have a problem with gay people – that attitude is abhorrent to me, but I’ve heard a lot worse from a lot of other stars, and I’d rather not base my opinion on one aspect of someone’s character. And any white rapper who gets this far with respect from the black rapping community has done well, VERY well, and deserves our respect too. And, as he freely admitted many times during the show – he’s just some fucked up kid made more fucked up by being catapulted to fame so quick, which he does seem genuinely amazed by. But he is an incredible songwriter and a brilliant performer and the crowd loved him. Stan brings tears to my eyes anyway but having thousands of people singing the chorus (Dido’s bit) was amazing. I’ve heard the song described as cheesy and slagged off to kingdom come – WHAT?????! It’s about time someone talked about something that mattered, and how many other stars would tackle the issue of fan obsession full on and say ‘hang on a minute – this is a bad thing – please stop!’ Good for him. The final verse wasn’t included – either censored or self-censored because he just can’t be bothered anymore with radio stations chopping off the whole point of the story/song was my guess. A fantastic end to the first day…can’t wait for more tomorrow!! Saturday Today the arena was much more chilled out, less frantic and full of entertaining spectacles like an impromptu long jump competition and a naked programme seller, eeek! So, after meeting up with a couple of mates we set off for a day of lots of bands! PJ Harvey is THE coolest, sexiest, scariest, foxiest lady there is! (and I’m a straight woman for goodness sake!) I don’t like making comparisons, but for those of you who don’t know her (you damn well should!)…She's kind of a cross between Courtney Love from Hole and Debbie Harry and she RRRROOOCCKS! She totally mesmerised me back in 1995 and had me captivated again, she has a less dowdy band now and a feisty blond woman guitarist but still completely stole the show with lots of new, loud, sexy songs. She is a goddess, need I say more? Evan Dando - Blast from the past! Some say he was arrogant, I always thought he was kind of a cute surfy dude who strummed nice country songs. He didn’t impress me much this time though, quite a lot of Lemonheads songs which although still good sounded a bit second rate and are now many, many years old, and some of his own stuff which was nothing special. Kind of pleasant but dull, hmmm? I wouldn’t have minded seeing a bit of Travis to find out what all the fuss is about – but I wouldn’t miss Ash for anything – give me feisty punk pop rock any day! I love Ash to bits and they never disappoint. Unfortunately they were very unwisely squashed into the Radio One Evening Session tent which was just a WEE bit too tiny. Tim Wheeler had to stop three times and ask the crowd to move back, sounding really worried bless ‘im! It was VERY sweaty in there but no one seemed to care and had a wicked time anyway, we went outside once the crushing started to scare the shit out of me but it was just as good out there and I still found some people to leap around with! They played all the hits, newer stuff and their new single ‘Candy’, which was very different, kind of mellower and psychedelic???…. Oh, I don’t know – go ask an NME journo, it was good anyway and everyone listened quietly but appreciatively. ASH ROCK!!!!! We had cunningly bought our firewood in the afternoon (up to £5.50 this year – bloody ‘ell! Mind you, fair play to the woodmen for making about 6 months of my salary in 3 days) so we nipped back to the site before the crowds and made the biggest blaze I had ever seen, thanks to some foraging in the woods by our lovely friends earlier in the day! Accompanied of course by the ever present shouts of "Bollocks" resounding through the night air, bit of variety this year provided by "Tiiimmmmmeeeeyy" (from South Park), but still damn annoying and downright boring, ah well, lets go of a bit of Testosterone I guess. Sunday Got myself outside quick to catch some rays and doze pleasantly while the Webmaster melted in the tent, ahhhh, just the job for dazed hangover morning. I’d really wanted to see OPM, but as is often the case at festivals I got involved in something else (foraging for wood!) and was just too laid back to make it on time. Just a note on the wood front – PLEEEEEASE can people not rip bits off trees, there’s a ton of dead wood on the ground – have a little respect. Saw a bit more comedy today – Mitch Benn is big soft long haired rocker type man with a little guitar that, as he said himself, made him look like a giant! He was pretty funny and had me properly laughing a few times – at jokes about women’s bodies bizarrely, but then I’m not easily offended. Speaking of which, after three days of the three males I was with checking out beautiful women every 10 minutes I got my turn with the lovely Huey from Fun Loving Criminals – what a man, and he seems so lovely too, bless ‘im. I like the FLC more every time I see them and this was just perfect – sun going down, gorgeous evening, chilled out rock/blues/hip hop from a band who quite obviously love what they’re doing and are really grateful for anyone watching – perfect! So, only one band left – the Manic Street Preachers. Now, I will try very hard to be objective, but bear in mind I’ve been desperate to see them for about 4 years and they are amongst my political heroes. The lights suddenly go down….a big image appears on each screen of Karl Marx doodling ‘I love Manics’ etc, then telling us we are about to see his favourite band…..then BANG, straight into ‘YOU LOVE US’ – OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! Sold out? My f***ing arse have they sold out! These three are absolute geniuses – little Sean the fantastic drummer hiding at the back, James Dean Bradfield with that amazing voice screaming at us about the f***ed up state of the world, and Nicky Wire – talk about stage presence – I had no idea! Self confessed "not-that-good" Bass player but fully talented STRUTTER!!! And if you think that doesn’t fit with what the Manics are about – go see for yourself! They are still the only band I know with absolute passion about the incredibly important things they are talking about and the power to get it across while still sounding absolutely fantastic and they excelled tonight. They raced and shouted and leapt through a load of old stuff from "Generation Terrorists" and the "Holy Bible" – "Archives of Pain", "Faster", "Little Baby Nothing" to name but a few, and even their very first single "Motown Junk", with James spitting out the lyrics like his life depended on it. "Kevin Carter" was fast and angry, and "Everything Must Go" nearly had me in tears (its about them carrying on after the disappearance of band member Richey James). There was newer stuff too – all the most recent hits and some songs from the new album, most notably "Miss Europa Disco Dancer" which was different and fantastic. Wonderful images of Cuba where they recently played an incredibly groundbreaking gig – the first Western band EVER to do so there – flashed behind them. And I have a new theory on this ‘sold out’ issue – maybe it’s the fans who have ‘sold out’. As James shouted out the lyrics of "Design for Life" - "We don’t talk about love, we only want to get drunk" – and "If you tolerate this…" I couldn’t help thinking that he was describing most of the apathetic audience. I don’t mean any offence by that, each to their own, but it was kind of ironic. Mind you, I was VERY glad to see a distinct lack of emaciated Richey lookalikes – he was a very poorly man, anorexia and self harm are NOT cool!! So, the Manics rock – yes, they have families and kids, but hang on – is that not what humans DO?! I would much rather my favourite Socialists were just average folk, that's the way it should be. They sing about what they see around them and that's what makes them fantastic – go read their lyrics and album covers and have a look at a few of their references (authors, artists, whatever), you might learn something…. Thankyou Manics for one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and for firing up my politic venom – you made want to go start a revolution then. Sold out? – Bollocks, quite frankly. I couldn’t bring myself to leave just yet, and couldn’t keep still either!, so we had a last wander round the site and then wandered back to the tent, me still singing Manics lyrics and leaping about – much to the surprise of those around me! Lasting image of the walk was a group of police in riot gear, hmmm, rather worrying, until they were suddenly attacked by a bunch of grinning lads with cameras and I wasn’t the only one wondering quite why the get up was necessary – sheepish police in riot gear! The usual last night destruction and disarray was in full swing back at the site, lightened up with a merry and ever growing band of folk banging pots and pans and blowing whistles (quite tunefully I might add) as they weaved their way around the campsites – cool! Not quite so cool were the exploding aerosols. Monday What a fantastic weekend – hope you enjoyed it too! Can’t wait till next year…… - Catherine Tonge Leeds Carling Weekend 2001 - Photo Gallery
Leeds Carling Weekend 2001 - Full Line-Up Main Stage: Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Papa Roach, Queens of the Stone Age, The Cult, XZibit, System of a Down, Fear Factory, Hed PE, Staind, Boy Hits Car, Travis, Green Day, PJ Harvey, Iggy Pop, Eels, Run DMC, Lofidelity Allstars, The Living End, The Donnas, Manic Street Preachers, Fun Lovin Criminals, Supergrass, Feeder, Rancid, Frank Black, Trail of Dead, Soulwax, Terris. Evening Session Stage: Mercury Rev, Stephen Malkmus, Gene, D12, Lowgold, Mark B & Blade, Alien Ant Farm, Grand Theft Auto, Seafood, 100 Reasons, Murder City Devils, Biffy Clyro, Ash, Evan Dando, BS2000, Amen, King Adora, The Strokes, Cosmic Rough Riders, Mull Historical Society, South, Moldy Peaches, Crackout, Easyworld, Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, My Vitrol, Folk Implosion, Elbow, Gorkys Kygotic Mynci, Guided by Voices, Dislocated Styles, Soft Parade, The Zephyrs, Goldrush. Carling Stage: Hefner, Gay Dad, Clearlake, Cat Power, David Kitt, Ladytron, Godhead, Haven, Gloss, Electrelane, Fuzz Lightyears, Hopewell, Mower, Stella, Backyear Babies, Buckcherry, Nebula, Defenestration, Anyone, Cooper Temple Clause, Voy, Lift to Experience, Hell is for Heros, Skinny, Vex Red, Thirteen 13, Dirty Harry, Bridge & Tunnel, Arab Strap, The Posies, I Am Kloot, Mo Solid Gold, Proud Mary, Richard Hawley, American HiFi, Hammel on Trial, Bright Eyes, Tahiti 80, The Pattern, Lost Prophets, Little Hell, Ikara Colt. The End Dance Stage: Wookie, Roots Manouver, Oxide & Neutrino, Regular Fries, Delinquent Habits, So Solid Crew, Infinite Mass, Ben Onono, Green Velvet, Richie Hawtin (dj), Mouse on Mars, Kosheen, Pepe Deluxe (dj), Original Bedroom, Rockers, Spek. Concrete Jungle Stage: Rocket From the Crypt, Reel Big Fish, Good Ridance, Snuff, Mad Caddies, 28 Days, Dropkick Murphys, Ignite, Snapcase, Capdown, Save Ferris, Linea 77, Kids Near Water
* All Images Courtesy of Leeds365 & BBC *
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