Parklife Weekend in Manchester

The beginning of what appears to be a very rainy festival season saw Manchester doing what it does best, putting on a bloody good show. It’s hard to know where to even start when reviewing Parklife. So I’ll start with an easy one, the weather.
As Saturday began all us eager festival goers popped our head out the window to see old Manchester’s fave trick of a mahoosive hail storm. I’m not exaggerating either; the hale was the size of ten pence pieces! (I know this after catching a few, I love hail!) This was soon forgotten when Sally sunshine showed her weary head from then on providing a glorious first day. Unfortunately I wasn’t attending the first day, and am green with envy when hearing of everyone’s rave reviews; the weather was glorious and all bands were on form.

On to Sunday.
By the morning I’d got myself so excited to bask in the delights of Platt fields very own festival and let me tell you, I was definitely not disappointed.
When we arrived it was overwhelming with how much there was to explore, for a “small” festival, boy did they deliver. With 6 stages, Silent disco, chill areas, food places…It was amazing. We took a little peek around, which then took ages as there was so much fun to see! We were soon enticed into the Desperados beer tent where free t-shirts and inflatable bottles were dished out and games were a plenty… our group kept hold of one of the inflatable bottles for most of the day but lost it to the mud crowds!!
There were areas I didn’t even get chance to explore, the silent disco for example was one gutted as it was holding a two day silent disco marathon and many of my friendlies have said for them it was one of their highlights. It seemed like the Parklife organisers really wanted everyone to be involved and that was really felt too. Smart phone techies and tweet freaks were kept interested in some free giveaways, such as Superdry clothing, over both days. Thus meaning swarms of hopefuls were running from tent to tent in true treasure hunting fashion. There was also a live feed photo on FaceyBee showing the main stage crowd throughout the day if you were missing out and wanted to watch out for your mates online! I checked this out when I was jealously watching from my home on Saturday… It was giggletastic!
On to the music..
The main stage took centre spot in the middle of the festival and was always busy throughout the day, testament to the amazing line up. Annie Mac played a brilliant set, tailored to the audience superbly with a good mix of current popular music. Similar can be said for Mark Ronson and Nero.. whom we caught a sneak peek of in the Artist Area, totally got star struck and sat shyly watching them interviewed by Parklife’s finest. While some of the die hard fans seemed disappointed the music was tamer than expected, it was shown on the thousands of happy faces enjoying the music that this was a right move for the Deejays. I caught Darwin Deez; whom yet again never fail to disappoint and even hung out with the boys backstage to catch a backstage view of the brilliant Mystery Jets close the night and they gave us all the classics ensuring tents was packed and the mood was high. The variety of music means no mater what you’re into, there’s a place for you at Parklife!
The Sunday weather was unfortunately not as glorious as the first, drenching us for several hours and making it very sloppy. But Parklife was not disheartened, HELL NO we were not, the macs came out, the music stayed brilliant, spirits stayed high (and consumed), and even a few embraced a spot of mud wrestling. If you don’t believe me check Parklife’s Facebook page, and trust me, it was even funnier in real life! The popular opinion on this page too was that Sunday was the most enjoyable and I could see why, the crowd were such a good bunch with a really good festival spirit.

For us drinkers it should be noted that prices for booze were pretty typical, being around three quid for a pint. There’s plenty, and I mean a shizzle loads of bars to buy from with only moderate queues. If you think you could be clever and pop out for a few sneaky drinks, no such luck, as there was an enforced no exit once inside rule! A rule I think may be a little unnecessary as there were bag checks on the way in that really would have done the job.
Music and wrestling continued into the night and before we even knew it the festival was over and it was time to leave (big sad face). If there’s one recommendation this lowly report could pass on it would be to go for both of the days and get yer tickets in proper early! There was so much to enjoy, and two days was defiantly needed to see it all. When I left I felt not only elated, but disappointed that I hadn’t seen and done more!!! DAMN you Parklife for making me totally and utterly addicted and wanting Parklife 2012 here now!!
After the event Parklife carried on pleasing the people, selling all the left over merchandise for a killer price online, meaning you didn’t have to be loaded to have a souvenir from the weekend. The clear up was swiftly carried out and the beautiful park soon showed little sign of the amazing event that had occurred there.

So Parklife let me say a massive thank you for a brilliant weekend, you did Manchester proud. Roll on Parklife 2012 cos one things for sure: Manchester knows how to throw a PART-EH. SCATTAH!