As a sidenote, I'm currently on my comedown which consists almost entirely of
i) me being socially terrible
ii) me battling narcolepsy
iii) everyone suffering
which is essentially my lifestyle all year round, but now with added tinnitus.
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Katie. My favourite chica in the world. Anyone who brings you falafel in bed, comes to watch every band you mention and puts up with your idiocy for nine whole days is worth an asterik.
Gratuitous picture of Katie and I by the portaloos. Hello boys.
* Parc Guell aka potentially the most enchanting place in the world. I could've stayed there forever but Katie's feet hurt (a recurring theme). There's musicians in the caves too! Paid for music for the first time in a while when I gave several Euros to the guys playing the most incongruously jolly version of Eleanor Rigby I've ever heard. The psychedelic didgeridoo guy was even better. Psychedelic. didgeridoo. Imagine. There's a video I made somewhere but unfortunately it lingers on some woman's arse too long so you really will just have to imagine.
* dance off during Numbers Showcase! Not that I remember it at all but apparently I had an hour-long dance off with some Spanish guy during. See also: Obits, where I unknowingly challenged a Spanish chica with my ass-shaking sass. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS HAVING A DANCE OFF. Anyway, I hope I served the homeland well. Gibraltar could depend on this.
* Benga! Disclaimer: Benga is fucking terrible and I would never listen to him on CD ever BUT when it's 4am and you're merry with mirth and you're dancing at the top of the hill while some guy as ridiculous as Benga storms the stage he becomes your favourite person in the world. I love Benga. and Marlene. and trying to go "higher higher" (Benga's only lyric) when you're already at the top of a hill (a challenge).
* Aeroplane. I don't really know what he did but I was having the best time to it.
* Singing Hero on the beach, in the taxi, between bands. Singing our homemade Katie song. Singing Hero. Hero. Celine Dion. Some Jackson 5 when the mood hit. Hero.
* I Break Horses aka the loudest dream I ever had. They were perfect. Suggestion: let's see them in an indoor venue and dance 'til our ears break.
* Taking a cable car to a fairground on top of a mountain only to find... it was closed. Except it wasn't. It was full of people, but if you wanted to go on a ride you had a selection of three and you had to go and get a person to operate it (fraught not least because nobody speaks English). It was kind of eerie, kind of charming but it did offer lovely views of Barcelona so...
* the castle. We went to the castle by accident. It was a good castle. Not really sure what else I can say about a castle.
* getting our picture taken for TWO fashion blogs. That they would choose Katie makes perfect sense but ME?! Convinced the "blog" is actually called Shit English Fashion and is just a slideshow of my Facebook pictures (confession: it's my Facebook and I took them myself).
* eating tapas for two on the regular. No regrets.
* beach chatter!
* sleepovers <3
* On a more general note, the food in Spain is predictably delicious. Pan con tomate, mushroom toast, chorizo, gazpacho, as much olive oil as you can gurgle. There was an excellent falafel place where we lived too. For a consummate carnivore, I really do rate falafel.
* bonding with Mancunians over the ONE TIME I went to Manchester. Can't quite believe I managed to squeeze so many conversations out of it but that'll be my verbal diahrrea doing its thing. Also managed to end up grooving right next to someone who'd been at the tiny Japandroids gig in Manchester before - at the Japandroids show. Kismet.
* the time where we lost our hostel.
Speaking of the hostel. No really, this was actually it.
* Matty aka the one. Poor guy thought he'd sit next to us for a bit to have a look at our program and quite literally did not leave our side til around 48 hours later. And now we might not see him again. So it goes. EVERY TIME.
* Thee Oh Sees! I spent most of the set narrowly eschewing brain damage, just as planned. They ended so I left but then Sleep cancelled so they returned and I essentially turned into the cheerleader for all the people on the bleachers.
* The Cure. Oh sweet fuzzy Jesus, the Cure. I had this ridiculous moment at the beginning where I cried, open-mouthed, through all of Plainsong and most of Pictures of You and I wasn't even in the crowd at that point, so it was basically me having a breakdown while everyone around me chats in a language I don't understand (English) and gets stoned. STORY OF MY LIFE. Anyway, like a trooper I pulled through, disappeared into the crowd and went on to intermittently mope and groove for the following 3 hours. Seriously, it was like a musical equivalent of Return of the King: kept you wanting more despite the odd duff bit and (joyously) endless endings. I spent the set following some old guys around because they knew the words. It probably did creep them out but that's what I do. Then I paid 10 euros for a portable beer while they were playing Let's Go To Bed.
The good: Bananafishbones! They played it. Infact, they played lots off the Top which was a pleasant surprise. Also, Wrong Number. Robert: "lime green / lime green and tangerine" *green and orange lights*. I was probably just being deliriously delighted or something, but it was hilarious to me at the time.
The bad: No Fascination Street or Killing an Arab!
The ugly: They played Fight. Fight! The worst song. Robert introduced it by saying they hadn't played it since 1987. Yeah Rob, I think you should have left it there.
* The Big Book of Sex Scandals. What else can I say.
* falling in love with Dirty Beaches, the sleazy psycho. HOT DAMN. Katie and I never agree on guys (she likes preppy guys with bad shoes; I like slightly hairy metrosexuals) but whoa.We're already working on our characteristically juvenile banner for Bestival.
* the children's playground at Parc del Forum. Trying to fit my arse into a baby swing was a highlight. Katie liked the slide.
* Chromatics and their excellent decision to open with an abridged Tick of the Clock. Alas, no Ryan Gosling.
* Unintentional holiday soundtrack. I didn't take my iPod so this consisted of Katie and I's heartbreaking renedition of Hero and Spanish radio. Spanish DJs really love Gold by Spandau Ballet and Adele. The taxi back was the best though. I'm convinced we weren't listening to the radio but a mix designed to sound like the radio to pre-empt our departure lounge melancholy. 'Don't Stop Me Now' followed by 'Yesterday' was far too felicitous.
* people's attempts to guess where we were from. Katie got Arab, Spanish. I got (deep breath): Russian, Polish, Icelandic, Chinese (!), Swedish, Finnish. Secret: we're actually just sexy nomads.
* playing shag marry kill with the Primavera program. I married Grimes. Every time.
* the Weeknd's cover of Dirty Diana. Perfect in so many ways it's unreal. We spent about 10 minutes trying to make a video before we realised he was on to a different song.
* possessing the mystical (in?)ability to be able to find the beach from any spot in Barcelona, yet never find our way back.
* The disappearing bar we called "hot man bar", despite the conspicuous absense of any hot men whatsoever.
* The time we lost our hostel.
* The time we thought someone's garden was Parc Guell.
* Grooving to Grimes in the sun. Oblivion was like Gang Gang Dance doing First Communion at Green Man a few years ago: just mad euphoria. She had loads of sound problems at the start but she was so bloody adorable about it and ack, she's my favourite. Really would marry.
* Watching Katie watch Iceage.
* Mad Italians! They were Katie's best friends and I only got to meet them once but they were hilarious and all the words in the world won't do them justice.
This. YO BITCH AND STUFF.
THE HMMS
* Saki! Saki is a 26 year old "promoter" who "owns" a bar where he doesn't know any of the drinks they sell. Things Saki likes: Celine Dion, trying to marry Katie. Things Saki dislikes: Becca's face, Becca's arms, men, when Becca walks two feet away to ring Katie to get her away from Saki in the least stealthy of all the actions. And it started so well. Oh dear. Saki is the personification of hmm.
* Being the drunkest I've ever been - as in, I don't know when day happened - and subsequently attempting to kip on a bench, on the street, by some policemen. Was finally dragged on to the Metro where I passed out standing up and then resorted to mildly pikey-like behaviour. I've put it in the hmms but it's probably a nadir.
* finding a bottle of Absolut on the beach and actually concluding that it would be a good idea to drink it later on in the week. Bears no relation to the point above. None at all.
* The Spanish and their love of PDAs. As someone who struggles with mere DAs, it's most disconcerting to watch people make out on the metro, at a crossing, RIGHT INFRONT OF YOU WHILE THE CURE PLAY 'TRUST'. I mean, whatever works and all, but personally odes to gut eating despair don't do much for me.
* Mean (if exquisitely chiselled) Spanish bar staff. It only happened twice, but really, standing at the front of a bar for entire sets is not what I envisaged when I booked my ticket.
* The juicy revelation that the beach beer sellers hide their beer in the sewage system! Katie embarked on a righteous mission to inform our fellow tourists, which basically consisted of yelling "SEWAGE" every time the beer guys walked past. In the week's least surprising news, they fucking despised us.
* The questionable pick-up artistry of Spanish guys. Genuinely wish to conduct a study into how many times standing in a girl's way, going "sexy! sexy!" has resulted in intercourse. Or even a response.
* buying 7.6% "beer" which turned out to be (disgusting) lemon shandy that was simply named 7.6. At least it was cheap.
* being in the portaloo for It's Real and Wonder Years during Real Estate's set! I was in the crowd for a blissful renedition of Municipality though. Big mercies.
THE LOWS
* Gargantuan nationalist douchebag who went on some massive fuck-off rant about how we should be at Sonar and how the Chameleons are the only band worth seeing at Primavera. Right. He had a really cool Scottish friend though so I just chatted to him while Katie and Matty battled it out. Ever the pacifist, me.
* the bit where the Men didn't play Animal.
* not buying the amazing Japandroids t-shirt.
This isn't even the half of it. Gah. Not that I expect anyone will read this but I plan to carry on rambling regardless from tomorrow. Until then, adios amigos! (and te amo xxxxx if you actually read this)
