Saturday In The Park

As a result of obtaining a friends spare ticket at the last minute, I found myself attending Radio 2 In The Park in Preston this afternoon and evening. I listened to the opening act - Travis - whilst driving to Lancaster to get the train to Preston. By the time I’d walked from the station to Moor Park, Shaznay Lewis was halfway through her set, which seemed to be just her doing All Saints songs from what I could hear.
Pixie Lott and Craig David followed, neither of whom tempted me near enough to the stage to get into the crush. The alternative entertainment (I use the word loosely) was the Radio 2 DJ tent. Nice enough mix of music but I had no wish to join the throngs jumping up and down and waving their hands about.
Things improved when Kim Wilde took to the stage - she still has a great voice. Though it probably wasn’t the best idea to have a photo of her from the 1980s as a backdrop - comparisons were inevitably made…
Snow Patrol were superb - a good mix of old and new numbers. Just a shame it was such a short set. I’d have been more than happy for them go on twice as long and miss out Sugababes. Which is what I did, electing to take time out for something to eat and drink and have a bit of a rest before the headline act.
Sting was excellent and worth the ticket price on his own. Performing as a rock power trio (sound familiar?) we were treated to an hour and a bit of Police and solo numbers. It was noticeable that the Police numbers had been reworked slightly to bring them more in line with his solo stuff. Amazing to think that the last time I saw him play live was with The Police in 1980! And he finished with the song that had just hit the charts when I saw The Police for the first time in 1979 - Roxanne. It felt like a bit of a “full circle” moment. As I’m sure there will be many other photos of the event flying around, I’ve gone for this arty looking shot. Wasn’t intentional, don’t know how it happened but I look the look of it!
So that was my first “festival.” Positives were that it was very well organised - no problems getting in or out and all acts started dead on time. Plenty of catering, etc if you needed it. Negatives - not keen on standing around in the mud with thousands of other people, listening to acts I wasn’t interested in. And the acts I did enjoy weren’t on for long, but that’s the nature of the event.
So, will I go to something similar in the future? I think the jury is still out on that one.