Originals On Tour

Hi Everyone,

The last week saw the Originals Team take a little time off so it was a bit quiet on the blog front last week. We are now back so here are a few of the pics from our excursions.

Jimmy ventured to Glastonbury to sample the delights of pitching in the wet (that sounds a bit saucy but it really wasn’t).Highlights included the Wu-Tang Clan, Tinie Tempah and The Chemical Brothers. Jessie J failed to impress, I think that the broken foot was to blame so we won’t hold it against her. Jimmy had the privilege of meeting and having some facial hair chat with the big man himself Michael Eavis!

Group Hug

Random Flag Action

King of the Castle

Lord of the Dance

Next stop is the London Festivals!!

Unlike Jimmy I had the pleasure of visiting the South of France for some beach/food/chilling action.

The fashion and music news from Nice is as follows:

Fashion – Ok, so I feel like I should quantify this next section. I am fair skinned, there isn’t much between me Casper the friendly ghost (see below), so due to being fair skinned I have avoided the sun since I was young.

Consequently I haven’t been to the beach in a while, my expectation was that there would be a lot of cool, well dressed beach folk, I was mistaken. There were a lot of banana hammocks on show and plenty of topless-ness too. I can safely say that the beach fashion articles in all the magazines are currently being ignored for the sake of comfort and nudity. My new saying when it comes to beach clothing is “If you don’t cover it, cream it”. There were some women looking like they had two very tan, leather handbags attached to their chests.

Music – In general, the sprinkling of French music we heard was ok. As with any country you go to there will be some good and some bad. One obvious point is that the budget for French music videos is significantly lower than UK and US counterparts. There were some pretty poor performances but I did see a bit of Ben L’oncle Soul on Taratata, he pretty much owned Pigeon John on this but I enjoyed it, on the whole.

PIGEON JOHN / BEN L'ONCLE SOUL : I got a woman - MYTARATATA.COM
TARATATA N°390 (Tour. le 13/06/2011 / Diff. France 4 le 28/06/11 & France 2 le 01/07/11)

I won’t bore you with any other details but suffice to say it was a great trip to Nice.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled for some interesting stories and I shall report back later in the week.

O

x

Glastonbury Guide Part 2

Hi Everyone,

Are you ready for part 2, good because here it comes…

1. Drink and food – Dry goods, no glass and drinks that don’t need cooling are best for the tent. This means you can fill your boots in the tent (helping reduce costs) before heading to the main areas and sampling the wares on the many food stalls etc. Obviously we only endorse responsible drinking but we favoured red wine for the tent and a vodka and coke in a plastic bottle for when we walked about using any of the bars as and where required.

2. Planning – There are too many bands to see them all that is a fact. If you’re in a group then there will be some negotiating if your tastes don’t match up. Get the guide (comes free in the intro bag) and spend a bit of time looking at who is on your MUST list. There may also be clashes with two of your bands playing at the same time. I sacrificed Arcade Fire one year and I’m still not over it. The guide and map are essential and will help you work out when you need to leave one area to get to the other in time.

3. Toilet – Guys are generally better set than girls in this area. The toilet traps are generally fine and there is a level of understanding between everyone. You are all pissing and shitting in a big hole in the ground so get over it and get on with it. It will smell, especially in warm weather and it gets worse along the weekend as they fill. They tend to be quieter in the morning and smell less too. For tent activities then Travel Johns will prevent the long trek in the night. Pissing up the side of the tent is a bit risky as you may get confused and piss up your own tent so be careful.

4. Clothing – Layers are essential you can always throw a water jacket over and you’re golden. Wellies are required, you can buy some there but if they sell out, good luck with that. Keep a dry set of clothes for in the tent so if you do get back you won’t have to be wet in the tent. Sunglasses have a dual bonus of protection against the sun and hiding any rough looking eyes, see below.

5.Fun-Tastic – Outside of the bands you really want to see check out all the areas at least once. Some only kick into action when the bands finish. It’s all about meeting random people and seeing some random things too!! Remember you have forked out a shed loud of money and regardless of the potential mudpacks it is not spa facility. Get a few hours’ sleep, take some paracetamol and water to fend of hangovers and enjoy all the incredible bands, cafes, bars and other experiences. You should come back with at least one band that you have ‘discovered‘ and can wax lyrical about to your mates. It is entirely pointless whether the band are actually any good as your opinion was formed after too many drinks.

So there are our musings the atmosphere is incredible soak it all up and I shall post on who we think will rock your Glastonbury tomorrow.

O

x

Glastonbury Guide Part 1

This isn’t the ultimate guide to Glasto but seeing as we are heading out we thought it would share our musings on how to maximise the good times!! It ended up being a bit longer than I was expecting so Part 1 today and I’ll polish it off tommz.

As you would expect there are many different types of people that will be attending so this may not apply to you. There will be people who turn up, through their pop up tent in the air and stick a peg in it where it lands. I have no doubt that you will see these (normally closer to the stages) and you will see a fair few people laying half in/out of them with limited to no sleeping bag for cover. We do not fall in this category. We like to form a solid base of operations from which to plan our attack on each of the stages and also mean that the three or so hours of sleep we manage to squeeze in aren’t interrupted by people falling into our tent.

1. Prep – Pack well and pack as light as you can as you will have to do a fair bit of walking from the car park to where you camp. It’s worth having some sort of trolley and if it hasn’t been too wet then you MAY get away with a travel case with small wheels. Nothing keeps to well in a tent so emergency snacks are useful, cereal bars, crisps any dry goods that will tide you over until you get to the food wagons. Take your phone charger if you want but the queue is normally really long so just stick it on for an hour a day, if it’s important you’ll have a message waiting. Have a quick check of your gear before you go, wrap up your sleeping bag in a bin bag for some waterproofing goodness. Wet wipes, antibacterial gel, dry shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant are you best bets to stay fresh. Take a fold up chair too, not for watching the bands just for the tent as there will be times you don’t want to lay or stand. Take sun cream and maybe a wind up lamp. The lamp is not essential but if you’re trying to do contacts or other fiddly things at night, you may need it.

2. Travel – However you get there be prepared to wait. The train station will get rammed but they do prepare for this and run shuttles from the train to the campsite. Driving is a bit hit and miss, you may hit a smooth run but it’s likely that you will queue for a bit. In the past I’ve found that parking near the exit is best. It mean a longer walk to the camping areas but it means it’s easier to leave which is all you want to do after four days of partying.

3. Pitch – Do not pitch near the toilets, bear in mind wind direction too. Like I said earlier, this is a bit more subjective. If you want to be in the throws of it then pitch closer to the paths and closer to the stages. They will be louder at night and are more likely to be subject to some water logging if it rains. Higher ground set a bit back from the main paths or by the security fences means a quieter life but trekking to the stages takes more time. If the weather does turn then make sure you have your guy ropes in to prevent water seepage. Then the tent will be your refuge in times of extreme weather.

Some people will take a flag to help identify where they’ve pitched, we’ve never done this as we found that we can navigate by somebody else’s flag.

Part 2 will land on the morrow.