Anyway, once we'd queued for a ridiculous amount of time, we got in and headed straight to the VIP area for our wristbands. Guess where mine was! (see right ->).
The VIP area wasn't large or have that much more in it but what it did provide was seats and shorter bar queues, something which was most appreciated during bands and at the end of the night. There were slighty posher toilets as well although the queue for the blokes always seemed to be longer than the womens (something I thought I'd never see) and so a trip to the open air 'peeing-station' was called for. It's a bit odd peeing into a plastic trough while the crowd just walks past (there was a thin fence around it) but when you gotta go, you gotta go :D
Band-wise we missed Inner Sound System (who?) and just caught the tail-end of The Bravery. Enter Shikari were next up and although they're not to my taste they were loud and seemed to have plenty of fans in there. They were certainly encouraging the mosh pits and circles, something which probably didn't go down too well with the at-times overly zealous security officials. Up next were N.E.R.D. and they played a really good set. I'm not well up on their tracks but they were pretty good from what I heard. They also took crowd participant to the next level by inviting half a dozen ladies or so from the crowd up onto the stage. It was funny to see some of them still with cameras in hand trying to take a photo of Pharell Williams as he danced with them. Although fair play to him, he actually took the camera off one of the ladies to pose with her and take a picture of them both together. This was being shown on the large screens at the time and brought a massive round of appreciative applause from the crowd!
to be continued.... (bedtime now!)