Looking warm and sunny, but with rain forecast for the afternoon, I went into the festival with a bag full of umbrella and mac, but forecast wrong and didn’t need it at all. Instead, we burned in the sun. Mustn’t complain….
First port of call was the Wookey Hole Circus in the Big Top. Missed the beginning, but they did some very clever bike tricks and was impressed as usual. Stayed to watch Jessica Arpin, who also did some very clever bike tricks and my impressedness continued. Then it was Circomedia who had a girl doing clever and impressive twisting and climbing on a rope; another girl doing fast and high and dangerous-looking trapeze and a whole bunch of people doing acrobatics and clever gymnastics. Definitely worth a look if you get chance. In past years, for every 1 good act in the Big top, you get 2 rubbish ones; so either I was lucky with those 3, or they’ve been more selective this year.
Then it was to the Other Stage for Amanda Palmer. I’d only seen one of her music videos and liked it, so I was very pleased to enjoy her whole set and the crowd grew and grew, so passers by must have liked it too. Particularly enjoyed singing along to her cover of Pulp’s Common People.
Then stopped for a lovely pork roll and on to the Pyramid for Rita Ora. She gave a great performance full of energy and there was a good crowd atmosphere of everyone enjoying themselves.
Then straight to the Cabaret tent where we caught about half of Andy Parson’s set. He was very funny – better than I expected actually. Stayed for a bit of Rhythm Wave’s drumming, but then left to catch Phil Jupitus in the The Left Field. Couldn’t get in the tent and couldn’t hear from outside, so laid down and shut my eyes for 5 minutes. Then Back to Cabaret for Josie Long. She was entertaining, but too political for me really. She should have been in the left field. Watched a bit of fun can-can from Les Ooh La Las and then it was Josh Widdicombe who was very funny, but I’d seen a lot of the jokes on telly already, which was a shame. Then Holly Walsh, who I really liked – much more than I expected to. Mock the Week doesn’t really bring out the best in people when they’re scrambling for their 2 minutes camera time.
So then I wondered around Shangri-La – some of which was not appropriate for looking around with your teenage kids. There should be a warning really! Some incredibly impressive sets though – some very clever staging. It was too early to enjoy it properly though, so we continued all the way to the park. Couldn’t get in the Rabbit Hole, which was a shame, as I still haven’t been in there. So we tried the silent disco. This was much more fun than you’d expect! So, danced around a bit in there and then wandered by Portishead on the Other Stage before heading home. Blisters.