Sunday brought a ridculous amount of rain and even stronger winds... we lay in bed watching other vans pack up and the site empty quite noticably. We wondered if the rest of the festival was cancelled.
We couldn't get internet down in the van... we were parked in a dip - great spot, relatively flat, sheltered and right next to the fence, but all signals fairly haphazard. I had to ring my daughter for weather updates... not promising... (weather not daughter - shes as good as it gets) and updates on Solfest site. The crazy weather left us with little enthusiasm to even walk up to the arena entrance - eventually she rang to say the main stage would open later and The Wailers would play ay 9.00. They are the only band I wanted to see so I was relieved and excited....
We put as many clothes as we could layer and still move in and headed up to the arena. The rain had stopped but the winds were still crazy.... the main stage was empty! No lights, no people, no Wailers!!!!
Turns out the stage was deemed safe but ground wasnt so all the acts were moved to the bar tent and this turned out to be grand. We caught the end of the Alabama 3 and somehow ended up leaning on the barrier in front of the stage.
Watching the crew set up and do sound check was like being a teenager again... that thud of the bass drum in your gut knowing its going to be very loud - probably the reason I'm so deaf now - leaning on the rail waiting for the band - (head practically in speakers) it made me think about the first festival I ever went to - Reading 1974/5? Did I imagine 50 years later I would be wallowing in mud and hanging out still enthusiastic for the next band....
The Wailers were brilliant. They were worth all the rain and the mud and the leaky van... playing in the bar stage was a much smaller and made it a cosy venue - and of course we had a prime location to see the band and they were just excellent. They were celebrating 40 years of 'Legend' which is of course the ultimate collection of the Wailers and they played every timeless track and I loved every bit... and we had a great night.
Then we went off to the Palais de Phonix where there was a couple of DJs that were okay - they were interesting enough and eventually about four o'clock in the morning we went back to the van and in the absence of a dirty kebab we ate pie and peas 🤣🤣🤣so it really was just like being a teenager again. Mind you, I paid for on Monday morning... it wasn't so much hungover as it used to be but just 'over indulged' 😵💫.
So that's Solfest for another year... definitely the wettest muddiest we've ever done. I don't think it will be our last, it seems to be a bit habit forming, but we'll see. We had a great weekend and in the end the van did what it needed to do and just as an edit we're getting it all fixed up and the windows will be fine next time we take it out. .mind you it toom some cleaning.. all that mud... Dr Fred at his happiest sweeping😁😂😁