parklife verses franti....

hey ho daddios... shagga and i and a few others doubled up and went to parklife and spearhead within a week of each other and the differences were huge. in fact so much so that they are worth writing about...
i think the only word to describe the emotion we felt was "shock" when we hit parklife which was at the riverstage. first of all everyone was just so young... i mean really, really young and there was such a difference in the attitude to the festivals of old. first of all in the fixers day we were concerned with not being concerned if i can speak for all? it was almost like we tried to look like we didn't care (even though we did). at parklife everyone was almost overly concerned with their look. the lads were all short haired, waxed, buffed and bare chested wearing bubble gum coloured clothes (aka corey worthington) and the ladies matched the look dressed to the kilt as well. there also lacked a real vibe, a roar if you like and there was a general lack of common decency that bonds everyone in the various lines you stand in that are par for the course at all festies. the actual act line up was good but the performaces were very ordinary. goldfrapp looked tired and flat, 2 many djs sound was too low, soulwax played exactly the same set as at the v festival and diplo had an mc that wouldnt shut up. all in all i walked away thinking that one question that haunts every festie goer at some point or another...... AM I TOO OLD? are festies like the byron bay blues, woodford, pyramid and peats ridge that last bastions of solid choice festivals... it also made me think of producing "bring back FEAR" t-shirts and handing out to all that know.
fast forward a week of pondering and we found ourselves at spearhead who played at the tivoli. well i tell you what; this team have never disappointed and i dont expect they ever will. michael franti gives a 100% to everyhting he does and right from the word go he had the crowd jumping. i dont think there was a person who didnt leave with a soaked t-shirt and for the first time in ages i only drank a single beer because the performace was better than than the need to queue for a drink (i know.. i know)...
so i was lifted by the fact that one performance negated the other and at the end of the day i will only remember the one i enjoyed.. but it still begs the questions - am i too old? do i now need to be selective in choice and not choose a festie just because of its line up?
one thing that i have realised is that there is an urgent and dire need to:

BRING BACK FEAR!!