The Leeds Festival Diary - 25th to 28th August 05 (8/8) By Andy Knudsen Photographs Em Alexander, Steve Clappison and Sam Saunders

(1/8), (2/8), (3/8), (4/8), (5/8), (6/8), (7/8), (8/8).

Then I get a phonecall. It's Dave. We have the wrong pass in the car window and we're not being allowed to drive through the restricted area to drop off our equipment. We need the keys to the other car but Beccy has them and she could be anywhere. Oh shit. There's a mini panic when neither Em nor Beccy answer their phones but eventually we find them and everything runs smoothly. It's less a crisis, more a reflection of the fragility of our nerves.

We're preceded on the stage by Sheffield band The Harrisons for whom we spend the entire set backstage getting ready for our own set. And then it seems like an unusually long gap between their set and ours, during which time the crowd all but totally disperses. I look out from the stage and shit myself. Where is everyone? Didn't they listen to Baggot. "Go see The Favours" he said. So we hide backstage and don't check the crowd out again until we have to.

Alan Raw wanders onto the stage and has a few words to the crowd. Before he announces us, Martin has a false start and wanders out onto the stage. Dave, Sara and myself look at each other with confusion and restrained hysteria. We wait until he says "The Favours...!" and then we walk out and join our over eager bassist. I look at the crowd, well pleased that it has dramatically grown in size. And from there, the entire experience is a blur.

I look into the crowd and see faces I recognize and I'm pretty much playing on autopilot.

Suddenly I realise we've finished our set and it's time to pack the gear away. To be perfectly honest, that it was over caught me totally by surprise. We take everything back to the car and try not to overanalyse the show. I manage this by running straight to the Main Stage and avoiding talking to anyone in particular. Dave, Beccy, Em and I catch the last couple of songs by Kings Of Leon. I don't really pay attention, my head swimming in a draining bath. But then we bustle our way forwards for Foo Fighters. I've only ever seen these guys at festivals but I've seen them a few times and they always blow me away. It's not that they do anything particularly incredible with their live show.

Dave Grohl is obviously a living legend I suppose, but their songs just carry such force in a live setting, and none more so than the songs from the new album. It makes me nauseous that a band so good when it began simply gets better with age. There's a raucous power and energy to the entire show that doesn't come across when watching many bands. It's totally awe inspiring.

We take a while to get back into the backstage area. There's a dense flock of people trying to get in - some legitimately, others not so - but eventually we make it. We share a few drinks and a few words with a few people, but I'm too drained to hold out for long. It's a case of catching up with as many familiar faces as possible and reeling off my goodbyes.

That done, I meander back to my tent, a little dreamy, a little lost, and clamber back into the canvas bag that I have called 'home' for the last few days.

Maybe next year I'll come back. Maybe next year I'll have to buy a ticket. Maybe next year I'll be playing a bigger stage! Hmm...we'll see about that. But maybe next year, I'll stay in a B&B. Definitely maybe. I'd just like to thank everyone for making the Leeds Festival weekend so enjoyable. So, thanks go out to Paddy and all the guys in Last People On Earth, Andy, Bill, Chris and Digsy from 59 Violets, Simon Mr. Mojo's manager and all the lads from Mr. Mojo, Baggot, James, Presty and Rich from Turismo, all the lads from the Paddingtons, Jimbo and Greg from Freaks Union, Martin, Sara and Dave from The Favours, plus Beccy and Em, Katy Noone and Alan Raw from BBC Raw Talent and everyone else who showed up.

It was a great weekend and it highlighted what a great thing Hull has going on at the moment: the support for one another and the camaraderie that was apparent all weekend. Big thanks. It'll have to happen again.

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery

Photographs courtesy and Copyright © Em Alexander 2005 Em's Gallery 1, Em's Gallery 2.

Photographs courtesy and Copyright © Steve Clappison 2005 at (www.tallorders.org)

Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Adventures of Loki,	65 Days of Static,	Bam Bam Franks,
Cardboard Radio,	Ali Whitton,	Harrisons,
Circlesound,	Cardboard Cowboy ,	Lyca Sleep,
Deserves to Die.	Censored.	Sunday People.
Future Ex Wife,	Chicken Legs Weaver,	Mr Mojo.
Last Days of Vengeance.	Fifty-Nine Violets.	Mr Shiraz.
Friday People.	I Like Trains.	New Minds Eye.
Oh Farcas.	Saturday People.	Sunshine Underground.
Paris Man.	The Kiks.	The Favours.
Pilla.	Western Suburbs.	The Last People On Earth.
This Et Al.	Your Vegas.	Turismo.
Xenith Sound.		Voltage Union.

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