The Wickerman Festival 2010
Yesterday we attended the Wickerman Festival at East Kirkcarswell Farm near Kirkcudbright, a journey that took us 3 hours and 15 minutes. Leaving the house just after 9am, we arrived at the venue shortly after midday, myself kitted out with ripped leggings, a studded skull tshirt, my fetish boots and cat ears. What can I say? Fashion comes first!
Mum and I had both put bags of wine in the bottom of our own bags in attempt to sneak them into the venue. We had previously thought of crazy ideas, such as wearing a massive bra and putting a bag in each cup but we decided just to try the old fashion method. As we approached the entrance gate, we noticed the security guards were doing bag searches on everybody upon entry and at this point I was beginning to panic because I had 3 litres of wine stuffed at the bottom of my Neko Kitty bag. Although I opened my bag slightly while queueing, I was able to sneak past the woman who was searching someone elses bag, the same as my Mum so we both made it into the venue with all our drink while everyone else at the gate got theirs removed.
The early morning munchies had set in so we wandered over to the food wagons to investigate. My Dad and brother went to find a burger van while Mum and I attempted to find something healthier. Being defeated I opted for the cheapest option, a tray of chips costing £2.50! The boys came back to explain that 2 burgers and 2 portions of chips just cost them £15, what a rip off!
We took a donder around the stalls just left of the main stage but we quickly realized how repetitive each stall was. It was like they were all selling the exact same merchandise, almost every stall selling ridicliously tacky socks, legwarmers, hats, wigs and masks for crazy prices. Although there was a few Hell Bunny dresses that I simply loved, I couldn’t afford it with my budget and I wasn’t keen for carrying a dress around for the entire day.
After investigating we headed over to the Scooter Tent, a massive circus sized tent located next to this ball bungee ride costing £15 per person. My parents offered to pay it if Josh and I got on it as they thought it would of made good video material but after discovering the price, we decided against it. Mum and I realized we needed a cup to pour our drink in so we had to go down to a stall to convert our money into tokens which would be used at the bar. 2 tokens was equal to one drink but those 2 tokens cost £4 each making it, like everything else, an utter rip off.
Heading into the beer tent, we ordered a vodka and lemonade (for myself) and a red wine for Mum. I was quite horrified to learn that they used the cheapest of the cheap lemonade and granted I just paid £4 for it, I was expecting it to be a bit higher quality. Nonetheless, I got my drink which was drunk within seconds and I treasured the paper cup which was intended to last the entire day.
Taking refuge at the side of the tent, Mum and I discretely opened our bags to decant the wine into our cups. Turns out I’m not discrete about anything and just whipped out the huge silver bag onto my knees and started pouring regardless of everyone looking at me. We just sat on the grass for a bit while Mum smoked a cigarette and every so often a group of guys would wander over in our direction to ‘pet’ me, calling me a ‘pretty kitty’ or just comment politely on my outfit. It’s good that my fashion was appreaciated for once because back in Fife I’m constantly getting harassed for it.
After topping up our cups with wine again we headed into the tent to support a band called The Famous Class. I’ve never heard of them before, in fact, I hadn’t heard of any of the bands playing at The Wickerman besides The Saw Doctors so everything was new to me. I grabbed my camera and went up to the barrier to try and get a few shots and some videos, looking like an obsessed fangirl. Being fairly early in the afternoon the audience was stiff, nobody dancing, moving or interacting; just standing there with blank expressions on their faces. It’s times like that where I feel kinda bad for the band because it must be awkward playing to a crowd who have little interest.
The next band that followed was called MetalTech and I may of orgasamed when they came on stage. I have a massive fetish for masks, genuinely obsessed with the concept so when I saw that the band had two members that wore masks and the lead vocalist who had a painted face along with a bondage top, I fell in love. I was only able to get a few photos because I was too busy enjoying myself in the audience but if you view my Flickr account via the sidebar, you’ll be able to see the photos that I captured.
After a few more drinks, we saw The Amphetameanies who also performed in the Scooter Tent, a Scottish ska band who had every one on their feet dancing. It was ultimate feel good music and everyone just loved them, ourselves included. I only managed to get one photo as I wasn’t close enough to the stage to get any closeups but I managed to get a few videos which I may upload at a later date.
As the set ended we got ushered out of the tent into the pouring rain to where Mum declared she needed to use the toilet facilities. Unfortunatly the toilets were situated at the other side of the venue and I wasn’t keen for walking so I took refuge in a tented area next to a food wagon while she went off. I got chatting to a group of girls who, like me, where trying to get out of the rain. I managed to get a few more drinks down my throat and eventually my Mum found me as we just sat and chilled until the rain subsided.
Sons and Daughters were due to be playing on the main stage, followed by The Saw Doctors so after walking in the opposite direction to find a stall to buy camera batteries, we walked down to the mainstage where I quickly popped into the beer tent to get Mum another cup of wine. Although the queues were pretty long, the bartender insisted I came to the front claiming that ‘cats don’t queue’. Oh the joys of being a cat girl.
By this point I was really needing the toilet but after inspecting them a few hours previous, I really wasn’t keen. Mum went through the crowd to the toilet area while I remained stubborn and waited with Dad and Josh until I couldn’t even take a sip of wine without dancing about on the spot (needing a pee, not proper dancing). To the left of us was a urinal area for the guys, a long tray for the boys to piss in basically. I noticed the corner was blackend out so I took me chances and walked into the urinals, all the guys glaring at me as I walked past them all peeing. I crouched in the corner to do what I had to do and told them not to look. After explaining to them that the portaloos where literally overflowing with shit, piss and vomit they understood why I’d rather pee with them and they all high-fived me, some offering to buy me a drink to which I politely said ‘no’. I’m a clever kitty and never accept drink from strangers.
Mum disappeared for about an hour, claiming she had lost all sense of time. This caused a debate and my Dad, who was going to be driving us home as he wasn’t drinking, gave the car keys to me and stormed off with my brother claiming they were going to walk the 300 odd miles back home. At this point my Mum wandered off into the crowd leaving me by myself trying to find her and after realizing I was completely abandonded, broke down in tears just as the only band I wanted to see that night came on stage.
A woman came up to me claiming she had seen me around the festival all day due to my recognisable outfit and cat ears. She said that she knew what my parents looked like and had previously seen my Mum but couldn’t find her after we tried looking. I tried phoning her but since we were in the middle of nowhere, phone signal is almost non-existant and her phone was on silent so she wouldn’t of heard it anyway. The woman recommended that since I’ve got the car keys I should go back to the car and wait as nobody would be able to leave the event without me.
Feeling sick and being lost, I slowly made my way across the massive field towards the exit still trying to keep an eye out for my family. As I left onto the camping site, one of the security guards enquired to see if I was alright to which I answered honestly, no. He began to panic because he didn’t know what to do either, again recommending that I go back to the car and if they weren’t there, I should go back and try and find him. He was really nice and gave me a hug.
It took me forever to get back to the carpark and wearing platform fetish shoes and being wasted didn’t help either. I kept stumbling on the rocks and I must of looked like a drunken idiot to anyone who walked in the opposite direction. I recognised a lot of the landmarks from when we had come in earlier and eventually managed to find our car, empty, in the carpark.
I hopped into the car, locking it from the inside to protect myself and kept trying to phone my Mum in hope of her answering. I took a nap thinking that everyone would retreat back to the car and was woken up a few hours later by my brother tapping on the window claiming that Dad had sent him to come find me as they had found my Mum, quite drunk and unwilling to come back with us.
Regardless of looking a mess, I stumbled out the car and walked with my brother all the way back into the arena, limping all the way. It took us a while to find our parents but eventually managed to spot them in the busy crowd. I was successful in managing to bribe my Mum to eat some noodles to sober up, spending £15 on food and drink for her and my brother. Things had calmed down and although I was fit to drop, they insisted on going to see The Undertones who were playing in the Scooter Tent as one of the ‘closing’ performances. Being a big name band, we had to queue outside the Tent for ages and when we finally got in, it was packed and we were unable to move, pressed up against drunken smelly people. By this time I had sobered up the 3 litres of wine that I had drunk so I was very much aware of my dire surroundings and was so eager to leave.
Thankfully I managed to persuade my family to leave before the band finished, allowing us to get out the carpark early before everyone else had the same idea meaning we’d be stuck in traffic for ages. It was a privilage getting back to the car and being able to rest my exhausted and sore feet and being able to sleep for the 3 hour journey back home.
All and all it was a fantastic day out but next time I think there will be a lot less alcohol involved. I just wish we got to see more of the event and I wish I took more photos and videos. I’m still trying to get used to the fact that I’ve got my own camera.
