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Published: June 12th 2007
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Breaking our Virginity…….. again - V 2007 Sydney
I broke my festival virginity at V Festival in Chelmsford 2004 with Dave and Keys. This year Mr Branson (who I actually shared a bottle of Veuve with in Bondi) decided to extend the franchise to Sydney. With ‘me mate dave’ in town it seemed a perfect opportunity to reminisce and compare. Festival’ing in Sydney though quite a different affair from back home. It seems that without the threat of non stop rain and fields full of mud Sydneysiders would still rather just do one day festivals so they get back home safely to bed. This actually does make sense for as you walk around the grounds you feel like you’re more part of some sort of fashion festival than a music one!
The day itself was sunny as expected but with a little bit of chill in the air. The three musketeers were ‘me mate dave’ myself and Rod was drafted in for the missing Keys. It seemed though that most people I knew In Sydney had decided to make the inaugural event and a lot of the day was spent trying to find people as Rod, a complete festival
virgin, can testify. During daylight hours there wasn't really any music highlights and we all seemed to feel more at home in the small and intimate dance tents that were located around by various associate sponsors.
The big must see for perhaps everyone I knew was Groove Armada…… they have a reputation of putting on good performances in Sydney and I’ve been particularly upset that they haven’t been out here since I arrived. Getting a good spot was paramount and we decided to get to the stage they performed at 15 min before the act that was on before them started. This happened to be Gnarls Barkley who I thought wouldn’t be that bad…. Unfortunately I was wrong!!!! And we really didn’t need to get there that early as he bowed to a surprisingly receptive crowd, people started to disperse and we were able to almost get to the front row. Meeting people up to this point had been a chore but fait had changed and a few random meet ups we soon built up our own armada, Dave, Myself, (Rod MIA?), Katharine, Monica ‘pants’, ‘tall’ Katherine, Chrissy, Sue, Sarah, Zoe, Richard and a few other friends of friends.
Words
fall short of describing GA performance, they say a picture equals a thousand words but for me that still isn’t enough so I will attached a video. I will say
our own little armada was bouncing, jumping and going ‘Madder madder madder’ - to the sound of the groove armada we were certainly Supa-Styling!!!!!! After such a performance I was almost content to go home but 2 Many DJs were playing on another stage. Luck bestowed us again and we bumped into Sarah, Rich, Zoe and Nic. The crowd was massive and going crazy so was a good opportunity to jump on each others shoulders and have a dance finally!!!!
The Races
Eva chose the Randwick Races as a venue for her Birthday and it was a perfect opportunity to give ‘me mate dave’ a taste of how simple and sweet life can be in Sydney. 20 mins on a bus from Paddington and no queue to buy our 20bucks ground pass to the races. At 25 bucks a pop for a bottle bubbly I had a bit of spare cash to flutter with. However it seems my luck with horses is about as good as
Daves with the ladies and I ended up leaving with a small deficit
I love the white flairs off of my Travolta suit and it seems I had while siting in the Thai tailors I had subconsciously thought out a few days as the my pink ‘big collar’ shirt seemed perfect the occasion.
Me Mate Dave Turns 30
I’m so glad that me mate Dave turned out for my 30th in Byron and with his 30th in the same week as his immanent departure we all wanted to give him a big send off. Bling Bling, Fancy Dress…… bling bling, the limo.
People had been talking and preparing their threads all week. Dave dazzled in ‘Dirt Diggler’ flares and shirt, A lubricated Esther Bear jumped into a white jump suit, Rod rocked up in authentic 70’s out of a charity shop while pulled out things from their wardrobe that ought to be destined for the charity shop:-) Unsurprisingly I had gone for the Travolta suit once again but for the first time I felt no fancy enough.
The night stared at Hannibals, a BYO Lebanese in Surry hills. As a selection of meats came to
our table so did the resident belly dancer and it was up to the birthday boy to get up for the challenge……. And she did seem quite impressed by the ‘Crafty Pinner famous Grind’
Meal finished - que home made bear cake - que the limo……. And if we hadn’t already gained enough attention from the funky outfits que the limo was certainly giving us celebrity like status. We had it for a couple of hours or in alcohol terms 20 bottles of bubbly. Cheesy 70’s music on the stereo for us to sing along too, neon lighting round our champagne bar, laser projecting from the ceiling and a continuos popping of corks out of the ‘moon roof’ riding around in the limo for reason I can’t really put my finger on is a very entertaining experience! First stop Ravesis on the Bondi main strip then back into town to pull up outside the Establishment and tear up the dance floor before maintain our aloofness by disappearing back behind the blackened glass after our 15 mins of fame. At which point I’ll point out to people that riding in a limo and dressing up isn’t about being cool it
is about being kitsch….. and kitsch is fun!!!!
Quick ride around the city using our remaining time in the limo before pitching up to the retro bar for our final dance off…… saying good bye to the limo was quite sad saying good bye to dave a few days later was even sadder:-(
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'Ya mate Dave'
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Thanks!!!
Thanks for a great 30th fella! A top night and brilliant photo's to make up for the amnesia......as for the belly dancing, no contest...spent alot of money in preperation for that moment!