Tuesday 31 May 2016

Solemn Liverpool Blues


After months and months of anticipation and sheer excitement, the time had finally come for me and one of my favourite gig buddies to head off to Liverpool for the annual Sound City Festival on Bramley Moore Docks. Fuelled by cider and a longing to be reunited with Van McCann once more, I packed my Docs and fishnets and we hit the the road. Soon, after a long drive, I was finally at one again in my beloved Liverpool and not long after arriving we were putting on our hippest vintage shirts and ripped shorts as of course the indie stereotypes that we are and got ready to make our way to the festival. Unfortunately, the festival didn't turn out to be as grand as we had expected; for one, the taxi there ended up costing half of my wages and the cider and pizza at the festival further cost the rest of my wages *slight exaggeration for dramatic effect*.

With having no choice but to arrive at supposedly the last entry at 4:00pm, we were then forced to sit around for 7 hours until Catfish and the Bottlemen headlined at 11:00pm. Whilst being left with no choice but to wait around for my favourite band, I was further forced to remain sober for this entire ordeal as there was no chance I was paying £5 every time I wanted a shitty 250ml bottle of Bulmers. So, hungry, sober and poor, we decided that there was no chance we could put ourselves through that all night so at about 6:00pm we decided to jack that shit in and head in to the City Centre; on the way selling my wristband to some 40 odd year old raver with a tenner at the back of a pub.



Despite the festival which was an absolute disaster; with dead crowds, live drawers of naked men and a shitty VIP section; I also forgot to mention that Palma Violets were cancelled days before which absolutely killed me although, I probably wouldn’t have stuck around to see them anyway because we could just not cope with the atmosphere that was equivalent to having a filling without anaesthesia. *I digress* Nonetheless I still had an absolutely great time in a great city which allowed me to escape the stressful horrors of exam season for a short while.




After ditching the festival, which is better left unspoken about and of which we also didnt return to the next day, we spent our days exploring Liverpool instead. We headed to the Albert Docks and picked up some ice cream to refuel our happy vibes and just sat for a while, appreciating how nice it is to just do nothing and watch time go by aimlessly. We engulfed ourselves in the city, exploring its culture and history, indulging ourselves with good food, good music and overall good vibes. One of the highlights to my weekend was visiting Tate Liverpool; I'm an absolute sucker for art galleries and museums in general and after already visiting this art gallery a few years back, I just couldn't wait to return and I felt like there was no opportune moment like the present. We roamed around for hours appreciating the fine work of Francis Bacon, Franz Kline, Picasso and then eventually headed to the high street to do what I do best... spending all of my money on things that I do not need. 

I am now broke whilst also being the proud owner of some new Doc Martens and many other things that have left my bank account very empty (My Liverpool purchases may be featuring on my blog very soon!). But, I can honestly say despite my now lack of money and the regret of not getting to see Van McCann and Pete Doherty. I have still had an absolutely incredible weekend and am now suffering solemn blues after arriving back in Telford. 

Above, are all the images from my adventures over the weekend and I definitely recommend anyone who has not had the joys of going to Liverpool, to hop on a train, bus, coach or any other form of transport and just hit the road Jack.

The Clueless Blogger