HOP FARM.

I've returned home from Hop Farm, having not showered in 4 days, smelling like a hobo, with scratches, grazes & rashes all over my body. Despite all of this, it was a great weekend, the highlight being Iggy & the Stooges' performance. We were at the front row, hanging over the barriers on both Friday & Saturday so we were lucky enough to experience the music to the maximum. Iggy turned it into a real 70's concert experience, getting all the crowd going & inviting everyone on stage (if it wasn't for security not allowing more than 10 people on there, I would've been up there with him, aaaaah). 10CC gave an amazing performance, along with the Eagles, Brandon Flowers & Newton Faulkner, Patti Smith poured her heart & soul into it and preached to the crowd about freedom & peace. Bryan Ferry was sexy as ever, providing a whole show featuring burlesque dancers. The only let down was Lou Reed, everyone was expecting him to sing some of his greatest hits from Transformer and some Velvet Underground classics too, but he seemed to not care at all about being there, didn't communicate with the audience once, made no eye contact & no effort and the only songs I recognised were Sweet Jane & Sunday Morning. He was the only artist to get even remotely boo-ed throughout the whole weekend. I feel proud of the fact I can now say I've seen Prince performing Purple Rain, the Eagles performing Hotel California and Iggy Pop performing Search & Destroy. As for the festival, it was chilled out, relaxed, not fussy & better than expected. Definitely going next year!