Music

Sunday, 2 November, 2014 - 09:33

Leeds Festival

by RosemaryM

This summer I attended my first music festival with my boyfriend. Unlike the majority of festival-goers we didn't buy tickets. Instead, we volunteered as festival stewards for Oxfam. We each worked 3 shifts - each shift was 8 hours long - in exchange for a free ticket to the festival. Oxfam is a huge international charity; volunteering for them means they receive money which they can use to help people around the world.

Leeds Festival is a large music festival which takes place at Branham Park, a country estate just outside of Leeds. It takes place towards the end of August, and thousands of people attend each year. There were several different stages, each catering for a different music taste: rock, pop, alternative and dance, to name a few. As well as the incredible music on offer, there were also funfair rides, food outlets and a silent disco, amongst other things. I love silent discos: everyone has a set of headphones with two channels and music is played through the headphones. As a result, people can be dancing and singing along to completely different songs!

When we weren't working, we were free to enjoy the festival. We saw a wide variety of artists across the weekend. My favourite day was the Sunday - in my opinion this had, by far, the best line-up. I really enjoyed seeing Imagine Dragons, Vampire Weekend and, of course, Arctic Monkeys.

Although it was August, I couldn't believe how cold it was at night! We camped for five nights - a bit longer than the general public - and it was freezing every night! That aside, we had a really nice campsite. People who work at festivals stay in a different campsite to the general public. Our campsite was smaller, quieter and a lot cleaner! 

I had a great time and will definitely be returning next year!

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