Summer… America… music festival… life with no name

horse

Imagine….

* There was no money, no Bitcoin or shit, or time, or whatever currency

* There were no schedules or pension payments

* You had a to-be-hired motorbike on call… a really cool motorbike

* You never looked at the time, just noted the sundial at appropriate times

* You didn’t worry about mortgages and school fees

* You didn’t care about your work projects

* You woke up when you wanted to, not when your wife, or son, did

* And your constant insomnia had nothing to do with you not cycling or not doing tai chi, it just crept in because your head was a screen, the machines were abrading you, via spreadsheets or software, but they were now definitely the masters…

… and you woke up one morning in the Uk, or whatever, and saw this:

http://flagpole.com/blogs/homedrone/posts/the-strokes-neutral-milk-hotel-wilco-pixies-to-play-shaky-knees-2015

* Around the same time that your boxset-binge jumped its inevitable shark

* And you thought to yourself

* As much as I love my my home, my girl and our boy

* I might just fuck off and see this

* It might take £5K out of the family budget, money that might be ‘better spent’ on a new sofa or garden addition, maybe something designed out of chrome

* A place to go where you’re unlikely to meet anybody, however random, who might do you a business deal that might cover the £5K for the trip and cover the dosh for your happiness

* And, let’s be honest, it’s not SXSW… or Austin

* But look, there’s Neutral Milk Hotel

* There’s the Strokes

* There’s even that English wannabe Neil Young that used to be in Oasis

* Lo, not LOL, lo, there’s the Old Crow Medicine Show, last seen live in North London

* Hang on, Wilco, seen early at the Hammersmith Apollo in 1999 before they were famous, and way before they dissed Tom Waits’ pro-Semitic song Road to Peace on BBC Radio 6

* Fuck, the Pixies as well

* Jesus, Tame Impala, those Perth dudes that are like Floyd when they were touring Mother around the Marquee in the 1960s

* Even James Blake, he’s interesting… and English

* And the rest of the bands that you’ve never heard of, but might just discover on the rubbish stage on the first afternoon of the festival, not pissed enough, no way of finding vitamins for at least 12 hours, and knackered from riding the bike to the show

Would you think that this might just be the best festival you’ve ever seen and a red-hot poker up your sagging, middle-aged, middle class, middle-waisted arse, even if Atlanta reminded you of Ted Turner, CNN, Coca-Cola, the Masters and Tiger Woods…

… would you contemplate saying, fuck it, I’m going?

And would you, shock-horror, post it on your blog, WITHOUT SEO, WITHOUT tags, WITHOUT categories or that really annoying ‘Meta description’ bit that should be the intro…

… and you didn’t post it to those six/seven ‘sharey’ sites that you constantly do with your other stuff.

Would you?

Yeah, baby, fuck I would.

Monty (709 Posts)

Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.


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About Monty

Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.