Big Adventures, Little World

After our bad start to the festival and nearly not even leaving the UK, everything was only going to get better from there. We arrived at Bremen airport early morning then headed into the city centre to grab something to eat and organise some supplies for the festival. We checked out a small part of the city then found a supermarket where we stocked up on mainly booze and snacks, as well as a bit of bread and other stuff as well. After that was done though, there wasn’t much else to do except get on a train to Scheeßol.

The train was packed with everyone going to the festival with all their camping gear. Once we arrived at the station in Scheeßol about half an hour later it was much of the same, but even crazier. There was about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the station out to the festival grounds, which took a probably twice as long with all the stuff we were carrying. The bag containing 5 tents didn’t make it any easier! A lot of people were trudging along with all their gear, and some of the locals even had big trolleys or carts to bring everything along. Young children rode up and down in little pedal go karts with trailers and sold their services to people to help carry their things. I think by the end of it they would have made a killing!

We finally arrived at the festival site to hundreds, or maybe thousands of people waiting around for the wristband tent to open so people could start going in and setting up. It took forever and we were standing out in the hot sun for a couple of hours waiting and barely moving at all. Eventually, as the weather began to deteriorate, Elese went to try sneak her way through the front of the line and within 15 minutes she was back with her wristband. Then the rain started to fall so the rest of us did the same and manage to get in and get our wristband, and get absolutely soaked with rain in the process. It didn’t stop there though. The rain kept pouring down and we go into the campsite to setup up all 5 of our tents when all we wanted was to be dry. We found a spot that looked just about big enough and after some arguments with some Germans trying to save the spot for their friends we setup our tents anyway. The rain started to ease up after a while and we managed to get all the tents up and get into some dry clothes and relax. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out again so we sat around with a few drinks and made up a drinking game with a coin and some cufflinks.

Hurricane Festival Blue Stage

The first act wasn’t until 3.30PM on Friday, and there wasn’t really much we really wanted to see until later in the afternoon, so we went for a wander around the campsite and checked out some of the impressive setups that people had, and envied a lot of them because we couldn’t bring as much stuff as we wanted. We ended up getting some food and checking out the festival area which was full of stalls, bars, and rides. It was quite a small site with 4 stages but 2 of the stages were in tents so the music did travel as much and interfere with the other stages.

We organised for Nick, Sophie and Matt to pick up some more food and drinks seeing as they had hired a car so when they arrived we went and met them to help carry everything back to the campsite. We also got a disposable BBQ and cooked up some sausages they got. After the BBQ and drinks we headed back to the festival grounds where we caught a bit of Glasvegas playing, and a bit of Elbow then we got into the mosh pit for Jimmy Eat World where we got to see the entire set and got suitably crushed as well. It was god fun though then we went and caught some of Arcade Fire’s set and then tried to get into the Red Tent to see Sum 41. Unfortunately, the tent was full and no one seemed to be leaving. We hung around there for a while but it seemed there was absolutely no chance to actually get in there. Most people would have got in there long before and just spent the entire afternoon in the tent! It had been a long day so we called it a night and went back to the tents to at least try and get some sleep.

Me and Jimi wearing our poncho suits

Saturday morning the music started early, though again there wasn’t much on until later in the afternoon that we really wanted to go and see so we chilled out, had some food and had a few drinks. We spent the day walking around the campsite and seeing what else was happening and lapping up the sunshine while we could, and it wasn’t until about 5 when we headed in to go and see some of the music. Friendly Fires were playing ant 5.30 and Elese and I stayed and watched their entire set. They were great and a good start to the rest of the acts we wanted to see for the night. After that we went for a bit of a wander and to see what else was on and caught bits and pieces of some of the acts on the Blue and Green stages until we headed back to the Blue Stage to see Two Door Cinema Club. I was really impressed by them and enjoyed the whole thing greatly. The weather was starting to look ominous so we headed back to the Green Stage and caught the last couple of song from My Chemical Romance, although not the one I really wanted to see them perform, and then decided that we best head back to the tent, put our gumboots on for the night then get a good spot at the Blue Stage for Kasabian, followed by the Kaiser Chiefs. They were two really excellent sets, but Kaiser Chiefs were by far the superior. Both acts brought a lot of energy to and just played to the crowd. It was just so much fun to watch and the weather even held out all night so we didn’t even need to be wearing gumboots, but who doesn’t love gumboots, right?

We woke up on Sunday morning to rain pouring down on the tent and cold weather. There was only one option: making rain coats out of garbage bags and ponchos. We put the ponchos on, and then taped garbage bags around our legs and to our gumboots to keep all the water out. To be honest, it wasn’t as effective as we hoped, but definitely helped. It was really starting to live up to its name as Hurricane Festival as the winds got stronger and people tents started getting blown over as well as gazebos flying through the air. It was quite funny to see, we just hoped that our tents help up. People were beginning to pack up and load their stuff into their cars and as more and more people did this the carnage in the campsite seemed to get worse and worse. The rain didn’t help either and the place started to turn into a mud bowl!

Some of the carnage at Hurricane Festival

There wasn’t much else for us to do except go and enjoy the music and hope our tents stayed up otherwise we could have been headed back to Bremen that night and staying in the train station! We went in early to go and see Tame Impala, thinking we should probably see the only Aussie band on the line up, but they played badly like they didn’t care or want to be there and with no energy whatsoever. We were going to stay around for Darwin Deez but because Tame Impala were so bad we just got some food and went back to the tent relax and get some rest. Besides, the next thing Elese and I really wanted to see wasn’t until after 6:00PM and that was The Wombats. They were great fun to watch and even though it was cold, wet and raining, it didn’t matter. I knew a lot of their songs but didn’t really know a lot of them were by The Wombats which made it even better for me, and Elese absolutely loved it as well being one of her favourite bands. Once they had finished though we made our way over to the Green Stage to see the Arctic Monkeys, followed by Foo Fighters. The Arctic Monkeys were great and gave a great opening to bring out the Foo Fighters for the big finale of the festival. When the Foo Fighters came on stage they just started playing with such energy and intensity. Dave Grohl was all over the stage and after the first couple of songs he said, “We’ve got 16 years of music to get through, so we’re not going to do and encore. Instead we’re just going to play until they tell us to get the fuck off the stage.” And that is exactly what they did. They played and played and was two hours later when they finished their set and headed off the stage. They played so many of their hits, but even then they still could have played even longer. It was just amazing to see how much they enjoyed doing it and love getting involved with the crowd as well. Definitely one of the best acts I have ever seen at a festival, and the two hours they played was phenomenal for a festival set. Absolutely amazing!

We woke up on the Monday morning nice and early to get everything packed up and to make our way back into Bremen for the flight home. The campsite was completely trashed with rubbish everywhere, including destroyed tents and gazebos and everything else people had destroyed and left behind. I certainly didn’t envy the people who had to clean up the place. It was running again and the mud was getting worse so we just wanted to get everything and go. We packed up as quickly as we could and got out of there so we could get back to London and shower and sleep in our own beds after the incredible festival we had just experienced!