Festival Traditions

People do some strange things at festivals, and if you dont know whats going on, it can be pretty un-nerving. The first time I heard the mass shouting of what I later discovered to be"BOLLOCKS!!!", I thought we were gonna get caught in the biggest rumble since operation desert storm. Traditions are a valuable part of anyones festival experience, so get reading and get learning. If you noticed any new traditions this year, do email us and let us know.

" BOLLOCKS !!! "
Between 1998 - 2000, Bollocks was king of the campsite, but from 2000 up until 2002 it was a bit of a dying trend. Unfortunately, there were hardly any bollocks in '01. Timmy! (see below) was the fashionable call, as were other random shouts. However, festival goers are a fickle lot, and our message must have got out, because Bollocks made something of a comeback in '02, and in the glorious debut of Bramham park last year ('03), Bollocks was once again crowned king. Huzzah!!
If your confused, this is what im talking about. At some point during the first day someone will get all of their crew to shout "Bollocks!!" at the top of their lungs, this will then echo across the site as various groups take it in turn to be the loudest group. Sometimes these shouts will fizzle out after a minute or two, and sometimes Bollocks will echo around the field for half an hour or more. This one understandably scared me the first time i went to Leeds, but now you have read this, you will have nothing to worry about but your vocal chords.

" Timmy!/"Other Shouts"
Timmy! is now just a distant memory, like the hazy walks over the hill to the main stage at Temple Newsham, or the mass trudge over pooh bridge on the first day, or our finest moment when daphne and celeste were bottled off stage. Basically, in 2001, the name of wheelchair bound, vocabulary challenged South Park character Timmy! was the fashionable thing to shout. There were a few Timmy! fools trying to rekindle the shout in '02, but it never took off, and in '03 the final nail was in the coffin. HaHa!! Although there were other new skool chants tried this year, they didnt really have the impact of a good old bollocks.

Fireworks
Another tradition you will encounter is that of fireworks. You may be excused for crapping your pants the first time one goes off, but it seems to be the trend to get a massive repeater, and let it off, hoping to get a huge cheer after every bang. The trick is to get a medium sized repeater, maybe 100 shots, because last year someone lit Operation Shock and Awe, and after the 2000th bang nobody really cared and just wanted it to shut up. The first one of the weekend is always the most appreciated, and the buzz dies down with every one.

The fireworks were back in style this year, with a good few cool repeaters which entertained the masses and lit up the night sky.

Burning of the pants
Now, Im not sure if this is a major festival tradition, or if its just us and anyone that is unfortunate enough to bump into us, but on the last night we tend to burn our pants. No one is excluded from this, and get your M+S y-fronts on 'cos we take no prisoners and Calvin Kleins will be toasted. If this isn't a widespread tradition then lets make it one. Make sure you burn all your crews pants, and take a picture of the results because we want to see 'em.

So, did anyone burn any pants and get pics of it in 2003? Is it now a legitamate festy tradition? Email us now chris@leedsfesty.net to let us know.

The Riot / Toilet burning
For the uninitiated, the Leeds festival has been marred with trouble in the past, where a few mindless idiots acted like hooligans and put everyone at the festival in danger, by causing mass fires and running battles with riot police. Hopefully, next year I can delete this tradition, as 2003 passed without any serious trouble, and we saw nothing of the stupidity acted out in 2001/2. I think the slightly more hard handed than usual security helped to keep things under control, I know a lot of people have complained about this, but the old adage rings true, "act like kids, get treated like kids". I for one prefered the atmos on the last night, and until we can guarantee that no-one will act like a dickhead and smash/burn something, those guys are gonna have to be there for everyones safety.

Your Traditions

These are the traditions you guys perform every year, or just things you've noticed that have become a tradition or things that you WANT to become a tradition. Either way, if its tradition related, its here. If you'd like to add your very own traditions, please email them to me at supair@hotmail.com and ill stick them up, for all the world to see!

STD's [Jonathan Bailey]
A large group of people wandering about at night shouting "whats your favourite... whats your favourite... whats your favourite STD... whats your favourite STD?!!!" then they suddenly approach a random stranger for an answer. When they said their personal favourite std's name, the group shouts "waaayyyy!!!" but if the say aids, they shot "booo/oooooh"

Random Names [David Laurence]
Yeah along with Bollocks and Timmy (Timmy was alive and kicking in yellow camp site btw) there was "Random E list celebraties" which is the most
hilarious one of all, basically someone (about 3am) shouts a name like "Dave Benson Phillips", someone will retort with e.g "Scott Gemmil" amidts the
sporadic laughter more emerge, "Cliver Anderson", "Zippy", "Edwina Curry", "Pat Sharp" etc....it was very funny and you can never run out of cheesey or virtually unknown celebs or ex footballers who were shit, to shout at the top of your lungs.

Random shouts and singin' [Arianne Brown - Nottingham]
Hi there!
It's Arianne Brown from Nottingham. Just thought you may want to know about the traditions we attempted (emphasise attempted) to begin...
Random cries. e.g. Humus, green olives, monkey, many more, plus the old faves Timmy and Bollocks!
Also singing 'the 12 days of christmas'. I am v. proud to say that caught on!

Made up news [Jimbo]
Of course there is the old tradition of making up rubbish news, (I.e. Cilia Black being killed in a plane crash etc…)
Being at a festival you are quite distanced from real word, with no telly or radio, no newspapers.

For added Hilarity add someone's number to your mobile under the name “NEWS ALERTS” etc…

What new ones will we have this year?