Update: Joining in the festival fun

Well, it's all over for another year.

It was a weekend filled with music, fast food and camping in the country.

Among my highlights was watching Kaiser Chiefs last night - it got the crowd going in a way few other bands had managed over the weekend. The worst offenders that I saw were Arctic Monkeys, who failed to live up to their headline slot on Friday. Playing just a handful of their many well-known hits, they instead chose to focus on material from their new album released just four days previously. The set list might have gone down well with die-hard fans, but in the chilly Bramham Park night they needed to do more to keep the neutrals entertained.

Kaiser Chiefs, by comparison, gave a lesson in crowd-pleasing performances. They stormed through their radio-friendly hits to keep everyone singing, splitting the crowd in two to chant "Kaiser" and "Chiefs" at lead singer Ricky Wilson as he bounced around the stage. They lived up to every expectation I had and rounded off a great weekend.

Which brings me back to my previous post about taking full advantage of the free ticket. As predicted, I set out with the best intentions of sticking out the whole weekend, with perhaps a couple of trips home for a warm shower. By 11pm on Friday, my determination had all but blown away in the freezing wind coming across Bramham Park. Even insise the tent a few hours later I was struggling to keep warm (despite three jumpers and several pairs of socks, along with a three-season sleeping bag - I might contact Trading Standards...).

The weather deteriorated over the weekend and Sunday, particularly, was foul. We spent a great deal of time enduring some questionable comedy acts just because the stage was in the only tented area which still had standing room inside.

So do I feel I missed out by not spending the whole weekend on site and dropping out when it all got a bit too - well, festival-like?

No, not in the slightest. I had a great time and, to top it off, I stayed warm, I had clean hair every day and I didn't get stuck in a portable toilet.