Liam Gallagher live at Finsbury Park
29th June | Finsbury Park London
I absolutely love Liam Gallagher. I was so excited to see Liam Gallagher in Finsbury Park this year. It was something my now ex, and I were going to do together – both huge fans. So, it was doubly sad when we split and then spent months speculating what to do with the tickets. We couldn’t get a refund, so the only option was to go together or sell them. Unfortunately, he said he couldn’t make it, so we decided to sell them last minute.
Trying to sell gig tickets
What followed was a logistical nightmare. I had spent weeks, if not months trying to intercept the tickets being sent to my previous address by Ticketmaster. That didn’t work. I was told that someone could collect them on the door if they had a picture ID and a letter from me (v. last-minute plea for help), but that was never going to work. People only want physical tickets in their hands if they are going to buy them from someone they don’t know. After a last dash to get them (which cost me a £60 train ticket!) I found that they had finally been sent to my new address the day before. Yep, seriously.
Luckily, after finally retrieving them (incurring even more costs!), I managed to sell one of my tickets to a lovely bloke called Matthew via Facebook. I met him at Finsbury Park and handed over the goods. After messaging someone else for hours, who didn’t respond, I hung around the station, hoping to be able to sell the remaining ticket to someone else. The touts, however were initially selling tickets for £10, then nothing at all.
Liam wasn’t the only one going solo.
So after a big heart-to-heart with myself and a drink later, I decided there was no way I would waste all that money. It was a bittersweet moment as going to the festival solo didn’t feel right since it was supposed to have been a romantic jolly together. However, after the trauma of the week trying to retrieve them, it didn’t seem right that I would just waste the ticket.
What happened next…
So, I decided to go alone. Despite being nervous, I felt quite free as soon as I hit the festival. Unfortunately, the queues for drinks meant I couldn’t get a drink at all, which wasn’t great. So I just headed straight to the stage where The Verve was playing. I didn’t leave the spot on the left-hand side of the stage for the duration of the gig.
Some people are just amazing!
OK, I did feel a bit weird by myself at first. However, it wasn’t long before I started speaking to this awesome girl with pink hair, who I was to find out was called ‘Cate’. Unbeknownst to me, she didn’t know the two guys beside us either. Once they had established, I was on my own – they all told me they were going to look after me all night! Even the guy I had sold my ticket to was messaging to say he would look after me if I came alone. Aw. Unfortunately, I didn’t get those messages until after the festival ended. You’ve gotta love festival mobile coverage! The experience restored my faith in people being absolutely lovely to xxx
The Verve
No one knew Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft would unofficially be on the bill. I walked in just as he started performing his cult indie classic ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. I had no idea they were going to play tonight, but there was Ashcroft singing, “The drugs don’t work”. Richard Ashcroft was more stylised and embellished than I have ever seen him before.
Liam Gallagher
Gallagher was electric and opened the show with the anthem Rock’n’Roll Star. I don’t think I have ever felt like I have been to such an amazing festival. Liam interchanged Oasis classics with those from his solo album ‘As You Were’.
The crowd was buzzing. Everywhere people of all ages singing along to OASIS classics. Slide Away, Live Forever, Rock N Roll Star, Wonderwall…JUST AMAZING.
Liam rating: 5/5
Liam was just Rock N Roll. Best performance ever. It seems he thought so too.
Festival rating: 3/5
Liam was amazing. The crowd was just amazing. The downside was the actual festival organisation. I loved the atmosphere, but the queues were so long I didn’t get a drink all night. What was worse was the fight to get out of the festival. Luckily one of the guys we were with shielded me and saved me from being crushed trying to get out the gates. The exit was bottlenecked, with the crowd all trying to get out at the same time. However, when I heard screams of “Don’t push” right in front of me when we couldn’t move and were boxed in – I freaked. I have worked in events, going to so many festivals/events, but never have I felt so close to being crushed to the point that it could have ended in a tragedy. Not great 🙁
