Parklife 2019 - My Experience

Well, my first ever experience at Parklife Festival in Manchester was one to remember for many reasons!!!

Let’s start off with the day itself. I was really looking forward to being reunited with some of my best friends after finally all moving back home from University for the summer. It was the first time I had seen some of them for a couple of months so I loved just being back with my girls!!

You’d think that the beginning of June would be bright and sunny like last years was. Well look outside now and you will know the answer; that it definitely isn’t in June 2019. How disappointing.

I think I might have jinxed the weather to be honest. As soon as the day came on the weather forecast app I checked it at least three times a day. Two weeks prior it was saying that it was beautiful sunshine and 21 degrees. Well it lied.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so gutted in my life waking up on that Saturday morning and opening my curtains to the ugly view of rain and cloud. Considering that this day was basically replacing a girls’ holiday for the year as we couldn’t find a time we were all available, the weather was far from ideal in many ways.

Like every girl, I had spent money on a brand new festival look to wear and it wasn’t cheap in my opinion if you add up all the different items. Little did I know that no one was going to get to see my outfit because I was going to have to wear a massive purple poncho over it for the entirety of the day. I did wear in anyhow, even though it was an outfit meant for 25-degree weather as my Mum said, but I wasn’t letting the money nor the outfit go to waste.

I guess it’s not all about the outfits though, but everyone did look pretty banging! I love the confidence of everyone at festivals expressing who they are through their outfits; it’s like a big celebration of every individual there!
We didn’t let the rain dampen out day (well we did, because we were pretty wet at the start but you know what I mean) and we managed to arrive at Spoons without getting too sodden. The rain had slightly calmed down as we stocked up on food and a bit of alcohol whilst staying warm and dry inside, before heading off to the park.

A bit of a storm caught us off-guard as we walked up the field to the entrance of the festival, which was just our luck. We made our way to an extremely cramped and sweaty tent of techno music, but it was definitely better than being out in the rain – until a muddy poncho was chucked in the air and landed right on my shoulder, staining my white playsuit – great!

One thing I can say – the pizza stall near the big wheel was AMAZING! Yes, festival food is extremely overpriced but you can’t go all day without food, well, I definitely can’t. It was just a locally established business and everything was freshly made, and with a backed up queue it was definitely the most popular stall.

I am not your typical festival goer, and think I bought two drinks the entire day I was there, but alcohol doesn’t make your experience, the music and the people you’re with does. We saw amazing sets of the likes of Disclosure, Yxng Bane, Dave, AJ Tracey and even more. There is absolutely nothing better than singing along to your favourite tracks, live with your best mates. I even bumped into my house mate from uni – literally don’t know how that happened in such a big field!

We were lucky too, after the first set we watched in the tent, it stopped raining!!! I wasn’t even that cold, which also was extremely lucky, although no one saw my outfit really because I had my poncho on all day for extra warmth and shelter from the rain earlier.

I have already booked my ticket for Parklife 2020, and I cannot wait. My fingers and toes are crossed for a nicer weekend of weather! I do have a couple of tips for anyone who have bought or are planning to buy tickets this year:

• Don’t arrive too early – the day before, a set list, times and stages are released for the artists. I would recommend getting there not too long before the first act you want to see starts, because otherwise you end up wandering around and on your feet for longer than necessary. There is nowhere to sit and you’re stood up long enough in the day!
• Eat before you go – make sure you eat as close as you can to arriving, whether that be on the train or stopping in the centre for food. It is so much cheaper than inside the festival. Even though I know you will have to buy some sort of food in the festival, eating before will save you buying more food than you need to.
• Pre drinks – it’s a great idea to have a few drinks before you go on the train or whatever your method of transport is – drinks are so expensive inside.
• Use the Parklife buses provided – for £5 a day or £10 for the weekend, you can get bus transport to and from the festival right from the centre of Manchester next to the train station. This is the cheapest and easiest method of travel by far, as it is way too busy for any other cars to get anywhere near the park
• Take a bag, even boys – it isn’t worth the risk of putting belongings in pockets. Make sure you take a bag that goes around your waist or over your body that you can see at all times to protect your belongings.

Roll on June 2020!

Thanks for reading! Keep smiling and have a great day! Liv xxx

Here are the links for what I wore:

https://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/tall-zip-detail-ecru-denim-playsuit-8727523

 https://www.beautybay.com/p/festival-face/chunky-glitter/emerald/