If you're not from the UK then you might not know but recently, the weather in England, (London especially) has been hot, sunny and... summery! This is rare for England so, to make the most of it my family decided that as my Australian Uncle was over, we would go to Hyde Park to have a relaxing picnic and listen to some music.
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| Chilled with my two uncles and Georgia |
Barclaycard hosted day festivals (
British Summertime) over July from the 5th-14th, acts included Rolling Stones, The Vaccines, Temper Trap, Tom Odell, Jake Bugg, The Horrors, Elvis Costello, Lucy Rose, Ray Davies, The Beach Boys, Chic and The Kaiser Chiefs. A wide range of musicians meant that there was something for everyone and cracking open the Pimm's only meant that it was the perfect recipe for a summer's day out!
When I say I 'kind of' saw The Rolling Stones.. I mean that we couldn't afford tickets to go into the actual arena. Yep.. the one fault was how expensive the tickets were, of course the Stones were going to ask for a ridiculous price and I personally think they should have done it for free like it would've been in 1969 but Jagger's order's are Jagger's order's right?
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Our attempt at peaking through
the gates! |
As Hyde Park is massive, the event wasn't going to take up the whole park and as my Dad is a massive Stones maniac he wasn't going to say no to our suggestion of going up there to sit outside the gates to see if we could at least hear them. As one of the few teenagers that is still in love with 60s and 70s music, all I've ever wanted is to see/hear one of the iconic bands from that time live as I unfortunately wasn't alive in their heyday.. So when this opportunity arose I knew I would be there in a flash! It was also a bonus that me and Georgia heard the Temper Trap (
another great band!) as we were strolling through the park.
When it was time for the Stones, Georgia and I braced ourselves and stood outside the gates for where people with tickets (lucky sods!) were going in but were pleasantly surprised as we could see the screen and the stage where Jagger was strutting his stuff as Keith played the iconic riff to Start Me Up! More and more people gathered round but by going on my tip toes and dodging in between people's heads being in the way I was delighted to be seeing the Stones and not from my TV!
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| I was a little excited... |
We managed to see them play Start Me Up and It's Only Rock and Roll before the staff decided to close the gates, of course that was followed by a collective boo from all of us without tickets (I think that was really stingy of them) but never the less, it didn't spoil our evening as we returned to our spot and continued to be merry and dance the night away!
It was a wonderful evening and as we made our way back, Stones songs were being sung from all sides of the park, it was such a buzzing atmosphere and one of those days where you couldn't stop smiling.
Me and Georgia enjoyed it so much that we decided to return the following Saturday to stay and watch Jake Bugg and Tom Odell in the day, unfortunately Tom Odell had a cough infection and so he didn't turn up (
get well soon!) but Jake Bugg was still brilliant and as we were sat nearer the gates under a shady tree, we could hear him crystal clear whilst we munched on oreos!
Overall, I think there needs to be a round of applause to Barclaycard and the artists (also the weather was a big help!) for this great event, it was the picture perfect British summertime! (but next time, lower your ticket prices please!)
Hannah Jolley
