Fun In The Rain
25th June 2011
“Carol says we’ll be unlucky if we get caught in a shower” Dennis tells me on the phone.
“Ok, well I’m going to pack my waterproof anyway” I inform her.
“I’ll bring a golf brolly, just in case.”
“I won’t, because I haven’t got one.”
The Carol Dennis is referring to is the Carol who does the weather on the BBC. So, a reliable source then. Fast forward 24 hours and you’ll find Dennis and I standing in Hyde Park, waterproofs on, hats up and sheltering under a brolly.
We weren’t just standing in the middle of Hyde Park for no reason, you understand. We were there to see The Killers who were headlining at the Hard Rock Calling festival. The added bonus for us was the news that James were playing. Their Best Of album was one of our soundtracks when we were travelling Europe with the MotoGP, so we were very excited. As James told us all to Sit Down, the hoods went up and a light shower ensued.
It didn’t last long, so on Carol’s scale of luck; I guess we were a 1 or 2. We didn’t dwell on it and managed to jig, sing-a-long and admire Tim Booth’s dancing for the rest of James' set without any weather incidents.
It didn't stay rain free for long though, oh no. It appears that the earlier shower, was just the warm up act. The real rain started as we were sitting on our plastic bags waiting for the Kaiser Chiefs and it didn’t stop. We couldn’t shelter under the brolly because of the abuse we were getting from fellow festival goers, so we had to make do with our hoods and the hope that taller people would soak up the rain before it got to us.
They didn't.
Even though we’d definitely score a 10 on Carol’s unlucky chart, our pre-gig planning paid dividends. We stayed dry (thanks to Berghaus) and warm (thanks to North Face) and The Killers were far from a washout. They looked and sounded fantastic. We sang along, oohed at the fireworks (you can’t beat a good firework) and were generally amazed at how much fun you can have standing in the rain in Hyde Park for 3 hours.
All in all it was a great day. It started with a rendez-vous in Selfridges where I browsed the photography books, and moved onto Ping Pong for Dennis to refuel on dumplings and dim sum before hitting Hyde Park. Plans are now afoot for Glastonbury in 2013.
“Ok, well I’m going to pack my waterproof anyway” I inform her.
“I’ll bring a golf brolly, just in case.”
“I won’t, because I haven’t got one.”
The Carol Dennis is referring to is the Carol who does the weather on the BBC. So, a reliable source then. Fast forward 24 hours and you’ll find Dennis and I standing in Hyde Park, waterproofs on, hats up and sheltering under a brolly.
We weren’t just standing in the middle of Hyde Park for no reason, you understand. We were there to see The Killers who were headlining at the Hard Rock Calling festival. The added bonus for us was the news that James were playing. Their Best Of album was one of our soundtracks when we were travelling Europe with the MotoGP, so we were very excited. As James told us all to Sit Down, the hoods went up and a light shower ensued.
It didn’t last long, so on Carol’s scale of luck; I guess we were a 1 or 2. We didn’t dwell on it and managed to jig, sing-a-long and admire Tim Booth’s dancing for the rest of James' set without any weather incidents.
It didn't stay rain free for long though, oh no. It appears that the earlier shower, was just the warm up act. The real rain started as we were sitting on our plastic bags waiting for the Kaiser Chiefs and it didn’t stop. We couldn’t shelter under the brolly because of the abuse we were getting from fellow festival goers, so we had to make do with our hoods and the hope that taller people would soak up the rain before it got to us.
They didn't.
Even though we’d definitely score a 10 on Carol’s unlucky chart, our pre-gig planning paid dividends. We stayed dry (thanks to Berghaus) and warm (thanks to North Face) and The Killers were far from a washout. They looked and sounded fantastic. We sang along, oohed at the fireworks (you can’t beat a good firework) and were generally amazed at how much fun you can have standing in the rain in Hyde Park for 3 hours.
All in all it was a great day. It started with a rendez-vous in Selfridges where I browsed the photography books, and moved onto Ping Pong for Dennis to refuel on dumplings and dim sum before hitting Hyde Park. Plans are now afoot for Glastonbury in 2013.