Awkward Pose

Now we’re living the dream. Caught in traffic en route from Hamburg to Hurricane, the buses got separated. Apparently a horse truck had been overturned on the highway- so Old World! One bus got directed the right way, straight to the grounds, and our bus got diverted. For hours. Unknowingly we were trying to enter the festival from the wrong end. The end that would never ever let us through. Before we figured this out we tried many things, including driving straight through festy central. Hoards of drunk walkers who never seemed to notice the giant bus until it was right behind them. And then they’d stumble out of the way, fists pounding the windows, hollering in German. Very 28 Days Later, without all the dying. Every worker we asked for directions told us the opposite of the last guy. My favourite was the dude who yelled “ask the yellow man!!” They were all wearing yellow. Anyhow, definitely not the end of the world. We made it in eventually and still had many many hours to kill.

Highlight: Converge. I’d only seen snippets of live shows before, so this time I got good and close (sidestage- there’s no way I’d put myself in the pit at this point!) SO GOOD! Jacob Bannon is incredible to watch, like a metal head ballerina/puppet/conductor. Movements wide and fast, hand motions to get the crowd up, then stop sign for the math break, mic scream, then twirl the mic in lasso fashion, repeat. And banter like “This song is about karma!” “This song is about love!” “This song is about loss, more importantly it’s about survival, never give up!! (RRAAAAAAAAUUU!) Holy smokes this band is good, and sincere, and highly entertaining. 

Second highlight: Portishead! Actually never seen Portishead before, ever. So a total reliving of being 16. The crazy thing about Portishead is that all that incredibly fuzzy, heavy bad ass sound is made live. They actually sound like their records onstage, pretty impressive. Also, that sad sad voice of Beth Gibbons is for real. She’s got sad eyes to match. Not to say she’s not actually a happy person- I don’t know her at all. But her stage demeanor matches her voice. And they played Wandering Star without the beat. Ballsy!!! 

Then there was our show, which was really fun actually. You’d think that a giant muddy field filled with people who have been drunk since noon, getting rained on in their spots might be really tired and NOT into it. But they were great! Totally game. So we all got along, playing hard for them, them rocking out for us. A good symbiotic relationship. And a word about German crowds: they are not the most expressive. So at this point I’ve come to expect the German crowd to stand their nodding impassively. At first this was disconcerting, then over the years I’ve gotten to know the different cultural personalities of crowds. And the German and Dutch crowds do not react intensely outwardly, as do say, the Spanish. No problem. So the crowd at Hurricane was pretty expressive. Good job guys. What was not impressive was the lack of serious raving for the Chemical Brothers set. Richie and I decided to be explorers, seeking out the late night hard core German ravers. Another throw-back to my 90’s self. Chemical brothers AND Portishead. Wow. So we dove into the back of the crowd and found only drunk people swaying, not paying attention to the Block Rocking BEATS! Nice robot visuals, no robot dancing. And no glow sticks! Aaaaah, rave is dead. I mean, I knew that. But you’d think that it would revive itself at 2 am in a German field for The Chemical Brothers. Who the security guard that wouldn’t let us on side stage (because of the lasers?!) referred to as “Shemyqual Boys” HAA! So no satisfying late night rave pictures for this blog today. But perhaps tonight at Southside Festival, things will be different. Same bands, same country, different field. How will THESE paprika chips fall??

And yesterday’s yoga practice doesn’t get much of this page today because it was hotel room yoga. Too posh of a practice to get into. All the elements are controlled. Tinarwen blaring out of laptop speakers. Room temperature adjusted. I will say though, a large carpeted room with no-one else in it is a great place to fall out of inversions. I’ve hit a strange place in my pincha mayurasana practice. That is, my fore-arm balance is sucking. Sometimes the more you learn about something, the harder it is. So now I just fall out of it repeatedly, alone and laughing. 

And that pretty much sums my time with Hurricane Festival. One down, many others like it to go.

xo Sarah.