Yes I know it's not the best picture in the world but you can't zoom in with the iPhone and anyway it's the thought that counts. The man on the big screen to the right is Simon Le Bon, who I brushed past when I was backstage earlier on in the day. Backstage Niki? Why was that? Were you performing as Duran Duran's support act? Had you in fact organised the whole of the Lovebox Weekender? No. However the reason I was there and had an access all areas status was down to the real headliner of the weekend which was of course Dynamo's Rhythm Aces
For some reason Lovebox never quite get their name right and according to the programme they were playing on Sunday but who cares - I caught their set, drank their pear cider, used their meal vouchers, hugged them and took one of their CDs and in return they got a batch of raspberry topped cupcakes and a sort of saddo obsessive fan in the form of me. Anyway very much looking forward to seeing them again at some point over the summer.
As for Duran Duran, it was good to see them and hearing all the hits was fab but there was something lacking - there wasn't much energy on stage. The boys looked pretty good but they didn't grab me really- musically or literally. Their version of White Lies was excellent but I could have done without Mark 'Emporer's New Clothes' Ronson being on stage with them. Although, having said that, A View To A Kill was pretty exciting. Yasmin Le Bon was in the crowd a few people away from me and she looked phenomenal.
Being backstage, especially on my own was a strange experience. There were times in my youth that I did a lot of blagging (not blogging) to get backstage at various things and in recent years I have had more opportunities to be involved in these things but of course on Saturday, after the Dynamos had gone back to Bristol and once I had realised that I was never going to catch up with my mates due to the fact that none of our phones worked (that's what they said anyway) I had time to wander and take in the goings on of the VIP areas. Like many things, as a very good friend said to me only yesterday, anticipation is often the most exciting part. At the end of the day backstage is just the other side of a fence where the only real exciting thing is that the loos have no queue and they flush. Not there a golden paved trackway to musical heroes, sparkling champagne and continual partying, instead a catering tent full of wilted baguettes, a bar full of wannabes, crew and council staff. Nearby a buggy waits to rush anyone resembling a pop or rock star as far away from E9 as is possible.....
Other highlights were Florence and the Machine - always good to see a redhead on stage and she was amazing. It was chucking it down during their set and it was a trifle tricky to see the stage through the sea of umbrellas but all in all a lovely free day in the park
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