If You Go Down To The Woods Today

The weekend before last I went to Electric Picnic to film for Cock and Bull TV. The crew was a lot smaller than last year as Donnacha is currently doing almost everything himself. We filmed six sessions with some Irish bands in the woods outside the campsite. Here's what we got up to;

My sister Kate helped us out by recording sound

Luke, my fellow camera operator

Adventure Time T-Shirt!

There was a lot of waiting around (and even more insects!)

Spook of the Thirteenth Lock

Niall was on photographer/drinking duties

These lovely sisters are called Twin Headed Wolf

Eric McGrath (and company)

The Main Arena

Coffee Break

Candy Floss

Drinking Break

The Cure!!!

John Blek and the Rats

Doesn't this look like a mask from a Horror movie?

Not to sound ungrateful for getting to go to EP for free, but the line up this year was definitely not as good as last year. It was a completely different experience because there was lots of people on the crew last year and we had so much fun and I was probably over-excited because I'd never been before. This time it was much more laid back and we actually left early on Sunday because there were no bands we wanted to see that evening. We spent most of Friday and Saturday in the Media Area and the woods filming. We did get to relax and have a few drinks and watch some amazing performances. We saw Grizzly Bear, The Vaccines, Alabama Shakes, Patti Smith, The Cure (who played for 3 hours!) and Not Squares who were a bit of a highlight for me.

After being fortunate enough to experience a festival this way and having access to nicer bathrooms, a private bar and seated area, having a lift to and from Donnacha's parents house nearby where we had nice warm beds and showers and proper food, I don't think I could ever camp at a festival. It's just not for me. I also think it's so hard to get into a performance because there are so many people in the audience just passing through or chatting to their friends or killing time or waiting for the next and on that stage. The atmosphere is never as good as when you're surrounded by true fans who have all paid to see the band play. I don't know whether it's me getting older but I just found myself getting annoyed at people for having full blown conversations in front of me while I'm trying to enjoy someone play, or having smoke blown into my face on purpose because the person knew I was getting annoyed at him and his friends. Ok, I think I am getting old!

Rude people aside, I had a great time and got to hang out with my sister and my friends and saw some bands I'd wanted to see for years and danced and ate gross food and wore wellies and laughed a lot.

On a side note, we have to move out of our apartment due to circumstances we can't control. We are both really sad and wish we didn't have to move but we do and so the apartment hunt begins. There is very little available of good quality in our area for our slim budget so it's going to be stressful. I'm going to try and keep blogging as much as I can to distract from the stress and worry of it all but I'll be packing and going to viewings and all that so you might not hear from me much over the next few weeks. Please pray (if you're so inclined) that we find somewhere nice within our budget.

I'll leave you with two of the films we made at the Picnic in the woods. Remember to watch in HD!