Lisarocket said:
74 pages
??? It was only about 30 when I last checked ... and that was only Tuesday this week .... I only had time to barely skim it then ...
Leeds Festival!
- Thread starter Fried_chicken
- Start date
74 pages
??? It was only about 30 when I last checked ... and that was only Tuesday this week .... I only had time to barely skim it then ...Ok, I've only read 20 pages. I've got to say, I love urban75. The posting is much better... less spammy...
When it came down to it, security in my opinion from what I observed caused the riot to escalate way out of control.
My night - I had just finished seeing the Foo Fighters. Great stuff. I was heading back to my tent to change into some warmer clothes for the night. Along the way, I stopped off at the supermarket to get some stuff as they were going buy one, get one free.
I went back to my tent, along the way, I saw the first fires had started up. Gas cans and the like going in. People who wanted to stay away, went away. People who were too close for comfort moved.
I was on the top of the hill at yellow valley looking over the site with friends. We noticed security had just started to appear. They went down one of the paths and stopped halfway. Reason, unknown, but they were there for a long time.
The fire engine follows and goes right past ALL the fires with security escorting it. They were wearing red glowsticks and had full on gear.
The engine comes back, at this point, I move down as the fires are drying up - people were running out of gas cans - two of the fires had died naturally. As the fire engine started coming back, some of the lights were getting pulled down.
The fire engine went to the far corner of the site and put out those fires. It did not put out the ones on the hills. When the fire engine went to clear up fires, people backed away, gave security a nod and let them get on with it. Odd bottle of plastic but nothing serious.
The fire engine circles back to get the last fire not on a hill (only two are on a hill in red). It was a restart of an earlier one and was happening because the fuel was the first of the poles pulled out.
Along the way, a drunk person lies on the path. He's unconscious and I move to help him. I can't get him awake and the guy is really heavy. Thinking security will move him, I step off and wait. Security comes along and kicks him gently and shout at him to move. He doesn't, so they kick harder. They then smacked him in the head. Blood is coming out. They arrested him and held him by the truck.
I moved to ask what they were doing. I was told "Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off" and have a large torch waved in front of my face. I couldn't get a name or a reason for the person,
At this point - the fire engine is just about to reach that fire and people are now actually pretty pissed off.
I head off back towards the cider tent. I see they are playing 'on the hill'.
In the past, people would roll down it in bins, Niagra Falls style. Now, they did it with a wheelie bin. The cider tent is playing music, people are having a nice time. The music stops so people burn the bin contents when it is at the bottom of the hill about 20 metres clear of any tents.
Shop owners then come out, I talked to them, they say they are insured and thought this was fun and interesting (that would change!)
Sourced from one in particular called Becky who was at leeds last year and reading for the two years before.
People are adding to the fire and doing the gas cans. I head back to the tents, catch my friends, Oxfam stewards and other campers are putting out the fires on the hill. They are much smaller as fuel died down.
With only one fire in a big open place, everyone heads down there. We're adding to the fire and the first efforts are made to take down the pole near there (it never came down as the area was so crowded, people were holding it up actually!)
The shop owners get scared, seal up, fences up. The lunching benches outside of the shop are burnt, so are the tables. A pole is dragged in from further afield and used as a see-saw over the fire.
The Carling plastic is ripped off the tent. The windows are not broken, no one is attacking the shops.
One guy puts in a HUGE orange cooking gas thing. He's bent down carrying it with both hands. People see it's huge and back off an extra 20 or more metres in fear. The pole near the fire is abandoned as people move away but for a couple who are trying to dig and get it free.
As people back off, security see it as a chance to move in, clear the area.
Just as they approach, the can goes off - the explosion is huge. The lunch benches and tables are blown off and nearly land on two of the security. Lucky timing or they'd be dead imo.
Security move in slowly, secure the area. People are standing around at the fringes of where tents begin, the path ends.
Some people are already leaving back to their tents.
this was the critical time
But the security decided it needed the area clear, fast. They charge at people from two sides on the path - the only way to escape them is up the hill.
Tents are trampled, people inside are hurt - security keep going up the hill and are beating people. I see many people wiped out by shield blows and baton hits.
This is the first time I notice security have removed the red glowsticks.
People are now fucking pissed off, bottling gets heavy, some people are picking up stones from the path to throw at them. A single cherry bomb is used to disperse the cops and they fall back.
The fire is still going despite 4 whole extinguishers being wasted to try and put it out. The original bin blown off by the explosion is used for drumming. The fire builds up. More efforts made on the pole. The first stones are used to break glass on the Carling Hut. Someone tried to burn the Cider tent but it's flameproof.
As the police fall back, the people charge in and rip down the metal fences there to protect the back of shops.
More security pile in, pushing people away from the fences but end up trampling more tents in the yellow area. I see one person have a broken nose coming out of his tent. A girl has been beaten to the floor. One man is knocked unconscious. There are even more injuries.
People are very angry - people start picking up metal poles from the fences ripped down earlier and security back off - outnumbered and almost outgunned.
Over time, people move back to the fire. The fences pulled down are put back up. It's too late to keep it calm now. People are going after the shops. The Carling is hit first, a crate if lifted from inside. The only one.
Security move around the back of the huts behind the fences to keep watch and protect what is there.
The flaming pole used earlier as a see saw is used as a battering ram to push security right back, previously fallen fences are used to enclose the security. Bottles, rocks and a few simple cherry bombs are thrown over.
Security leave the shops. People go into them - they see 4 lorries and a van there. 3 of them have beer, they are looted. The van has windows smashed.
As people move off with the beer, they head towards where security were. Big mistake. Security are nicking people. One shop owner picks up a metal pole and hammered a kid with a crate to the ground, his head hitting a concrete block. He is dragged off seemingly unable to move.
Someone called Pirate Kyle comes back, he's been milling around security and it turns out he is just rinsing them for information. He sends out a big warning to everyone about security nicking people who have crates of beer. Legitimate or not. He tells them to shoot up the hill to get away with beer.
Pirate Kyle seems interesting, so I followed him around - as he goes back to security to get more info, a security guy says they have a witness (standing back, undercover security or a shop owner) who points out what Pirate Kyle has been doing. Pirate Kyle is young and nimble and gets the fuck out of there while Robocops run after. I see Pirate Kyle later, differently dressed, different hair trying to keep a low profile overlooking things and in the train station. I say with jealousy as he was getting plenty of female attention for saving so many from being nicked.
About 50 are nicked for the beer stuff. At first, security forces them to the ground, face into it, hands behind head. Later, they are sitting.
As the beer is nicked and people move away back to tents to drink it, the riot dies down.
There are some more details I could add. I'm at work you know!
When it came down to it, security in my opinion from what I observed caused the riot to escalate way out of control.
My night - I had just finished seeing the Foo Fighters. Great stuff. I was heading back to my tent to change into some warmer clothes for the night. Along the way, I stopped off at the supermarket to get some stuff as they were going buy one, get one free.
I went back to my tent, along the way, I saw the first fires had started up. Gas cans and the like going in. People who wanted to stay away, went away. People who were too close for comfort moved.
I was on the top of the hill at yellow valley looking over the site with friends. We noticed security had just started to appear. They went down one of the paths and stopped halfway. Reason, unknown, but they were there for a long time.
The fire engine follows and goes right past ALL the fires with security escorting it. They were wearing red glowsticks and had full on gear.
The engine comes back, at this point, I move down as the fires are drying up - people were running out of gas cans - two of the fires had died naturally. As the fire engine started coming back, some of the lights were getting pulled down.
The fire engine went to the far corner of the site and put out those fires. It did not put out the ones on the hills. When the fire engine went to clear up fires, people backed away, gave security a nod and let them get on with it. Odd bottle of plastic but nothing serious.
The fire engine circles back to get the last fire not on a hill (only two are on a hill in red). It was a restart of an earlier one and was happening because the fuel was the first of the poles pulled out.
Along the way, a drunk person lies on the path. He's unconscious and I move to help him. I can't get him awake and the guy is really heavy. Thinking security will move him, I step off and wait. Security comes along and kicks him gently and shout at him to move. He doesn't, so they kick harder. They then smacked him in the head. Blood is coming out. They arrested him and held him by the truck.
I moved to ask what they were doing. I was told "Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off" and have a large torch waved in front of my face. I couldn't get a name or a reason for the person,
At this point - the fire engine is just about to reach that fire and people are now actually pretty pissed off.
I head off back towards the cider tent. I see they are playing 'on the hill'.
In the past, people would roll down it in bins, Niagra Falls style. Now, they did it with a wheelie bin. The cider tent is playing music, people are having a nice time. The music stops so people burn the bin contents when it is at the bottom of the hill about 20 metres clear of any tents.
Shop owners then come out, I talked to them, they say they are insured and thought this was fun and interesting (that would change!)
Sourced from one in particular called Becky who was at leeds last year and reading for the two years before.
People are adding to the fire and doing the gas cans. I head back to the tents, catch my friends, Oxfam stewards and other campers are putting out the fires on the hill. They are much smaller as fuel died down.
With only one fire in a big open place, everyone heads down there. We're adding to the fire and the first efforts are made to take down the pole near there (it never came down as the area was so crowded, people were holding it up actually!)
The shop owners get scared, seal up, fences up. The lunching benches outside of the shop are burnt, so are the tables. A pole is dragged in from further afield and used as a see-saw over the fire.
The Carling plastic is ripped off the tent. The windows are not broken, no one is attacking the shops.
One guy puts in a HUGE orange cooking gas thing. He's bent down carrying it with both hands. People see it's huge and back off an extra 20 or more metres in fear. The pole near the fire is abandoned as people move away but for a couple who are trying to dig and get it free.
As people back off, security see it as a chance to move in, clear the area.
Just as they approach, the can goes off - the explosion is huge. The lunch benches and tables are blown off and nearly land on two of the security. Lucky timing or they'd be dead imo.
Security move in slowly, secure the area. People are standing around at the fringes of where tents begin, the path ends.
Some people are already leaving back to their tents.
this was the critical time
But the security decided it needed the area clear, fast. They charge at people from two sides on the path - the only way to escape them is up the hill.
Tents are trampled, people inside are hurt - security keep going up the hill and are beating people. I see many people wiped out by shield blows and baton hits.
This is the first time I notice security have removed the red glowsticks.
People are now fucking pissed off, bottling gets heavy, some people are picking up stones from the path to throw at them. A single cherry bomb is used to disperse the cops and they fall back.
The fire is still going despite 4 whole extinguishers being wasted to try and put it out. The original bin blown off by the explosion is used for drumming. The fire builds up. More efforts made on the pole. The first stones are used to break glass on the Carling Hut. Someone tried to burn the Cider tent but it's flameproof.
As the police fall back, the people charge in and rip down the metal fences there to protect the back of shops.
More security pile in, pushing people away from the fences but end up trampling more tents in the yellow area. I see one person have a broken nose coming out of his tent. A girl has been beaten to the floor. One man is knocked unconscious. There are even more injuries.
People are very angry - people start picking up metal poles from the fences ripped down earlier and security back off - outnumbered and almost outgunned.
Over time, people move back to the fire. The fences pulled down are put back up. It's too late to keep it calm now. People are going after the shops. The Carling is hit first, a crate if lifted from inside. The only one.
Security move around the back of the huts behind the fences to keep watch and protect what is there.
The flaming pole used earlier as a see saw is used as a battering ram to push security right back, previously fallen fences are used to enclose the security. Bottles, rocks and a few simple cherry bombs are thrown over.
Security leave the shops. People go into them - they see 4 lorries and a van there. 3 of them have beer, they are looted. The van has windows smashed.
As people move off with the beer, they head towards where security were. Big mistake. Security are nicking people. One shop owner picks up a metal pole and hammered a kid with a crate to the ground, his head hitting a concrete block. He is dragged off seemingly unable to move.
Someone called Pirate Kyle comes back, he's been milling around security and it turns out he is just rinsing them for information. He sends out a big warning to everyone about security nicking people who have crates of beer. Legitimate or not. He tells them to shoot up the hill to get away with beer.
Pirate Kyle seems interesting, so I followed him around - as he goes back to security to get more info, a security guy says they have a witness (standing back, undercover security or a shop owner) who points out what Pirate Kyle has been doing. Pirate Kyle is young and nimble and gets the fuck out of there while Robocops run after. I see Pirate Kyle later, differently dressed, different hair trying to keep a low profile overlooking things and in the train station. I say with jealousy as he was getting plenty of female attention for saving so many from being nicked.
About 50 are nicked for the beer stuff. At first, security forces them to the ground, face into it, hands behind head. Later, they are sitting.
As the beer is nicked and people move away back to tents to drink it, the riot dies down.
There are some more details I could add. I'm at work you know!
Cakes said:Yours and Mentalchick's posts sound like hell. I went to Leeds in 2002 or 2003 and hated it because of the violent atmosphere and nasty fires. After reading these reports I will never go back!!
mentalchick was writing about reading... anyway, I missed out the nice bits of leeds. There were many
The B, you should cut and paste that account onto EFestivals** (you may need to register). It reads pretty graphic, and horrifying in fact 
If you have problems registering there, I'll C and P it for you, would have to be before the end of tonight though, as I'm off for the weekend tomorrow.
(I know you say there were good bits, but if I went to a festival and all that kicked off, I'm pretty sure I'd conclude that I hated it, and that I wasn't going to go back EVER)
**except perhaps for the first sentence!
If you have problems registering there, I'll C and P it for you, would have to be before the end of tonight though, as I'm off for the weekend tomorrow.
(I know you say there were good bits, but if I went to a festival and all that kicked off, I'm pretty sure I'd conclude that I hated it, and that I wasn't going to go back EVER)
**except perhaps for the first sentence!
Fried_chicken
Gypsy Rose........
I was camped at yellow on the path straight down from the aftershock tent, bout half way down, if anyone ever saw a guy called johhny being right eccentric i was camped next to him lol, and from where i was i only saw about 3 massive fires, and a load of ppl gathered near the pole tryina get it down, but it was still there in the morning lol. I didnt see any real violence at all, but it fucking sounds nasty, ecpsecially Mentalchick's post about the fire shrapnell.
In both respects its the rioters faults just as much as the security, and after having read quite a lot of accounts of violence and rioting, i can still say that, if its on, then next year i will go again, there were no people being that stupid where i was so therefore nobody go hurt where i was, simple as that, i mean it was quite funny when people started pulling down the poles, and we had a small camp-fire going, but where you got fucking idiots throwin massive propane cannisters onto a out of control fire, and metal chair posts flying in all directions. thats just fukcing stupid and it ruins it for everyone else and its why leeds probably wont go ahead next year
In both respects its the rioters faults just as much as the security, and after having read quite a lot of accounts of violence and rioting, i can still say that, if its on, then next year i will go again, there were no people being that stupid where i was so therefore nobody go hurt where i was, simple as that, i mean it was quite funny when people started pulling down the poles, and we had a small camp-fire going, but where you got fucking idiots throwin massive propane cannisters onto a out of control fire, and metal chair posts flying in all directions. thats just fukcing stupid and it ruins it for everyone else and its why leeds probably wont go ahead next year
William of Walworth said:The B, you should cut and paste that account onto EFestivals** (you may need to register). It reads pretty graphic, and horrifying in fact
If you have problems registering there, I'll C and P it for you, would have to be before the end of tonight though, as I'm off for the weekend tomorrow.
(I know you say there were good bits, but if I went to a festival and all that kicked off, I'm pretty sure I'd conclude that I hated it, and that I wasn't going to go back EVER)
**except perhaps for the first sentence!
I'll get round to it... I just don't like efestivals because it's full of people who type without consideration.
Fried_chicken said:
Thing is, the normal gas can do not actually release any sharpnel when they 'go' - it's more about things next to the gas like tent poles which are a risk if the placing is unfortunate or the rush of gas that big.
When they blow up, out comes a cloud of hot gas rushing out of the top of the can - you can see the cloud moving along if there are enough hot paper particles nearby.
This is what happened with the massive orange tank that blew off those two table/bench assemblies (which in turn, pushing off that bin that later became a drum - a drum with a tap dancer on top of it actually
)this sort of shit is inevitable. kick people - pissed, overexcited, whatever - out of the arena with all the entertainments over by - what, midnight? - and shit will happen. i wouldn't go to Reading or Leeds any more if you paid me, but i went from every one from 1989 to 1999. and it was always building up to this.
there's blame on both sides, but the whole concept of a festival which just grinds to a halt at midnight is fucked.
there's blame on both sides, but the whole concept of a festival which just grinds to a halt at midnight is fucked.
Dubversion said:
Agree with your analysis there Dub.
All the main stage stuff finished at 11pm and people wanted to keep on having fun. On the last night, the fair ride type things, aftershock tent, cider tent shut down really early. The only distraction was the film going from 12am to 3am and no one really wanted to go see Dodgeball...
Fried_chicken
Gypsy Rose........
Yer but to be honest, i wasnt particularly surprised they closed early, if i owned a shop i'd want to get money counted and be out of there soon as possible before it got looted, or worse burnt down
the B said:
Fair enough, EFests is far better in the Glasto , Beautiful Days and Other Festivals areas though.
Posted by 'somo', an off duty Policeman, in the Leeds forum at EFests :
somo said:
Sounds horrendous! More later ...
Fried_chicken said:
it's more a question of failing to provide any entertainment of a substantial kind, not shopping opportunities. even Phoenix had some attempts at late night stuff i believe. but without a proper all-night provision - beyond some crappy and undersized nonsense in the Rivermead centre, as at Reading, people will get bored. and pissed, bored people can be dangerous en masse
I was told by a lawyer at the time that the police wouldn't get called in because it would force security to stand down - such is the way things are when anyone asks for the police.
I suspect there probably weren't enough police nearby to deal with the situation anyway. The Leeds festival site is nowhere near Leeds or any real population centre where there would be a serious number of cops.
I suspect there probably weren't enough police nearby to deal with the situation anyway. The Leeds festival site is nowhere near Leeds or any real population centre where there would be a serious number of cops.
Stuart Security have a bad rep ... even at Glasto, where there is very little bother nowadays, there's some less than good stories about SOME of the SS staff -- mainly the TX teams, some of the ordinary Security bods are OK though.
Sounds to me that at Leeds, lagered up festie going twats, acting like twats, plus hyped up Security, were an explosive mix ...
Sounds to me that at Leeds, lagered up festie going twats, acting like twats, plus hyped up Security, were an explosive mix ...
I agree with Dub as well though -- the absence of any nighttime entertainment/diversion, doesn't help ....
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Why I'll never go to Reading/Leeds, neatly summed up in one sad thread
Fried_chicken
Gypsy Rose........
Seems like that Somo police guy had the right idea, arrest the security!! they should have got ordinary leeds police on the jobby, they've got more sense and dignity than stewarts and probably know how to control a riot, stewarts are a fucking joke, like if they had the crowd at fire pretty much dispersed, why trample through the campers, like a bunch of fukcing twats..... Meh
Throughout history, the SS have been cunts ....
Supine said:
Well, I was there - it was exciting and I'm not averse to a riot...
And I wouldn't place blame on the crowd for it escalating as far as it did. Far from it. Small fires were started in the main arena every night and people were really chilled out when no one tried to put them out. The time an Oxfam steward tried to put it out, he failed, but we decided to just let it die down.
When SS did it we started it back up again... already and especially now SS have got such a bad rep people will actively do whatever they can to fuck 'em over.
My belief is that if security had not come out in riot whack and been so immediately violent, the night would have passed without anything like as much trouble.
William, if you could post it up for me on efests, that be great. Be interested to see what other people make of it too. Thanks
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
wading through the 2 massive leeds threads on efests, spotted this:
and don't forget [email protected]
and don't forget [email protected]
How very sad if all this is true. I went to Reading from 91 to 93 - first one when I was 16. I was saying to my now 15-year-old sister last night that she would enjoy Leeds or Reading - she lives nearer Leeds. Seems a lot has changed since I last went.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this if my mum asks me whether or not she should give permission for my sis to go next year. What a shame. I had such a great time as a teenager at festies. I'd never go now - tastes have changed - but at the time somewhere like Reading was an eye-opener for me. And I met my future husband there...
I'm not sure I'd recommend this if my mum asks me whether or not she should give permission for my sis to go next year. What a shame. I had such a great time as a teenager at festies. I'd never go now - tastes have changed - but at the time somewhere like Reading was an eye-opener for me. And I met my future husband there...
LJo said:How very sad if all this is true. I went to Reading from 91 to 93 - first one when I was 16. I was saying to my now 15-year-old sister last night that she would enjoy Leeds or Reading - she lives nearer Leeds. Seems a lot has changed since I last went.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this if my mum asks me whether or not she should give permission for my sis to go next year. What a shame. I had such a great time as a teenager at festies. I'd never go now - tastes have changed - but at the time somewhere like Reading was an eye-opener for me. And I met my future husband there...
Thing is, I had a wonderful time at Leeds away from a lot of the night time activity as it were. Met loads of cool people from across the country. Some of them have even tried to call me and send text messages well after the festival. The nutters!
Festivals will always have the good side to them, it's just that now, it seems to have developed a pretty ugly one too.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
scrub that, it was from last year 
I know you're right that there's always good stuff, the B, and I've seen some pretty ugly things at festivals over the years too, but I don't think my younger sister would enjoy the spectacle of the riots as much as you seemed to...
Sometimes things happen on the ugly side that pretty much put paid to enjoyment, like my mate who got his face smashed in by tent looters on the first night of Glastonbury 97.
Sometimes things happen on the ugly side that pretty much put paid to enjoyment, like my mate who got his face smashed in by tent looters on the first night of Glastonbury 97.
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