That thing we did at Haigh last week

With my mind all abuzz about how brilliantly it went, I planned to write about this year's Haigh Fest from the moment I woke up last Monday morning.

In fact, I actually started writing about it, then stopped half-way through and noted that my words were a little overly-sentimental; as though I were penning an ode to a final embrace from a beautiful woman rather than talking about some kick-ass bands rocking a field in the middle of nowhere.

So I gave up on that attempt, blamed the emotions on the fact that I hadn't had enough sleep, and returned to that field in the middle of nowhere. Once there, I continued to not get enough sleep and instead ran around working whilst acts like N-Dubz and Ronan Keating did their thing on the stage.

Alas, all that is now in the past and, with the benefit of hindsight and a few more hours in bed, I can write about that Haigh Fest 2010 from a much more rational perspective.

And you know what? I still say it was pretty bloody special.

Eleven bands, many of them playing the biggest show of their careers to date, were beyond brilliant, looking completely at home as they delighted several thousand music fans with the same outstanding stuff that impressed the selection panel back in May (man, that seems like a lifetime ago!).

The thing that made me smile as much, if not perhaps a little bit more, than their on-stage performances, was something that not many of those thousands of fans would have seen on the day.

Some of the bands, like Social Icons, I've known for years, some I became acquainted with to varying degrees in the weeks (Element) and months (Chaos theory) leading up to July 4th 2010 and a few (such as E.C.D) I only met on the day itself, but most of them (sadly I didn't manage to catch up with two of the bands) made me feel more than a little bit chuffed to have been there last Sunday.

There was just something about the way they'd take their nervous, pre-show excitement onto the stage, transform into the ultimate Gods of Rock over the course of half an hour, and return backstage carrying guitars and some of the biggest smiles you've ever seen, elated in a kind of holy shit! That was amazing! kind of way. It was, I have to say, a lot of fun to be involved in, even if it was only as That Random Bloke Backstage.

Anyway, Wigan's annual celebration of unsigned music eventually came to an end with a very entertaining show from the mighty 'Hicks and was swiftly replaced by something called the Tuned-In Concerts, which as well as th'endubs and Ronan, saw Alesha Dixon, The Saturdays, McFly and Katherine Jenkins perform.

I was there too for most of those mainly running about interviewing folks and running a live report via Twitter for The LINC, but also generally getting stuck in with whatever was asked of me (from box-lugging to wristband-giving and all sorts in between).

As tiring as it all was, I really enjoyed that thing we did at Haigh last week. I spent my time doing some genuinely interesting and exciting work and meeting some brilliant people. What more could you ask for in a week's work?