T4 on the Beach 2012

Yesterday, myself and my friend Sophie attended the well-known pop festival, T4 on the Beach. Having seen the line-up beforehand, I was highly doubtful of expecting a joyous time (you’d expect it to have been a little better with it being the 10th anniversary, wouldn’t you?!), but surprisingly I rather did. When I first bought tickets to the event, I was hoping for One Direction to be there, but sadly they were never confirmed but a handful of other artists I had never listened to were. Regardless, like the last time I went to T4OTB back in 2010, these new artists soon became my new current obsessions.

Since we live in a small-town in the North of England, traveling to this event was a pain in the bottom. We both had to set off from our homes at half past 4 in the morning for a 40 minute drive down to the Sheffield Interchange, where we were to catch the coach provided by the National Express to take us further down to Weston-Super-Mare. Due to heavy traffic just outside the location for the festival, we arrived an hour late which means our whole journey there was 6 hours. By the time we finally arrived, we were both already quite tired, and the day had yet to begin.

We both met-up with our other friend, Megan, just along the road next to the beach as we headed down to the entrance for T4 on the Beach. Along the way, we could hear music blaring from the stage but as the singing was so bad, we thought it would have been a comedy band or something. It wasn’t. It was The Wanted. Oops! I’m sort of gutted to have missed them as I have always had a wee crush on Nathan Sykes, never been a fan of their music though so not totally gutted by it. However, they were ultimately my least favorite act of the day purely because of the fact we missed them.

Moving on.. we soon made our way past the gates on into the crowd just in time to see the 2nd act of the day to perform. The female boss of pop came onto the stage just as we joined the crowd and sang some of her old hits from N-Dubz. The presenters then came on and (I think) made the crowd sing happy Birthday to her? I’m not actually sure if it was to her as her birthday is on the 13th (thanks, Wikipedia) but Happy Birthday anyway! Tulisa then sang her solo debut “Young”.

Cover Drive were the next act to perform. I hadn’t really listened to their music prior to seeing them live but nonetheless I enjoyed their performance and “Twilight” has been in my head the whole time as I write this blog. I am definitely a fan of this group now and will be sure to download their music. I then noticed Little Lix come on stage and, of course, booed them. With them, though, was the T4 presenters and Conor Maynard and some other males (they were singers too but I can’t remember who they were!). This then lead to a ball game with the crowd. Due to my personal hatred towards Little Mix, I was thrilled when the boys won.

Three more acts then performed though their music didn’t really engage my interest. According to Wikipedia these were Maverick Sabre, Stooshe and Wretch 32. An act worthy of my attention soon came on however and picked up the atmosphere from the crowd. Alexandra Burke sure got everyone dancing. Must admit, I’m not really a fan of her latest 2 songs as I think they’re very generic pop songs and she is capable of much better, but “Let It Go” was great to dance to, so in this sense, I enjoyed it.

Gradually, our little group of friends were sneaking past our way closer to the stage just in time for the act I was most excited for - Conor Maynard. He sang his newest single “Vegas Girl” before singing is huge hit debut, “Can’t Say No”. By this point I couldn’t stop waving my arms about and singing directly into the camera above us, hoping for a chance on air. It was hot, he was hot and the atmosphere was incredible.

It soon got a little um, less exciting once he had left the stage in time for this year’s Britain’s Got Talent winners perform. I love dogs, I’m a huge animal lover - but not for this dog. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen more talented dogs before. Pudsey is ridiculously overrated, proven by the fact I heard very little cheers coming from the crowd during and after their little act. I think the reason is because it’s not a musical act so you really need to be able to see it to be able to appreciate it. It looked better on television when I watched it back, got to admit, but when you’re there expecting music, it wasn’t great.

Taio Cruz then came on stage and lifted the mood a bit singing a couple of his songs. I’m not really a fan of his myself but his performances weren’t bad. Anyway, DJ Fresh came on afterwards and sang their huge hit “Louder”. This was a highlight of the day, because, not only is it a great song, I was shown on live television during this performance. If you sky plus’d it, I am seen at 98 minutes in with a blue Nikon camera in my face. My nose (unfortunately) was unmissable.

Joining them on stage just before their last song was Rita Ora who sang “Hot Right Now” with them. Rita later stayed on stage and did a little speech about her hit single with Tinie Tempah only a year ago, suggesting an applause for him, which I thought was appropriate as he was my favorite act from T4OTB 2010. She then performed her no. 1 single “R.I.P”. I hadn’t really been a fan of this song before, it is extremely overplayed, but I was impressed by her singing during this performance, not by her outfit choice, though. Just like what happened with Tinie Tempah, after seeing her live, I would now definitely call myself a fan of hers.

Next up on stage was the very annoying Professor Green. I thought his performances sucked. After this torture, he soon left and the presenters then came on stage, followed by Hollie-Jay Bowes (Michaela McQueen), Ashley Margolis (Ricky Campbell) and Matt Littler & Darren Jeffries (Max and O.B.) from the cast of Hollyoaks. They played against the cast of Made in Chelsea where they had to pop as many balls as possible. I couldn’t really see much of this and I’m unsure who won but, with being a self-confessed addict to the show, I hope it was Hollyoaks that won.

Marina and the Diamonds was the next act on stage who sang her greatest “Primadonna”. After this performance, me and my friends decided to leave the crowd to go and get something to eat. We went to a nearby burger van where my friends paid £5 each for a burger. Ridiculous! Being the cheapo I am, I settled for just a tray of hardly cooked chips for £3. We then made our way across the steps on into the next section of the event where there were fair rides and the sessions stage. We stayed in this section for the rest of the event and missed the rest of the acts on the made stage. The only act that bothered me missing was Dappy, I love him! Oh well..

The sessions stage soon got more crowded than the main stage once it was announced that The Midnight Beast were to perform. We waited at least 20 minutes for them to come up on stage after the presenter lied and said it would only be in a “few moments time”. Anyway, it was well worth the wait. I hadn’t been a fan of theirs prior to this so didn’t know any of the words to their songs. Thy choruses are so catchy, though, I soon caught on and sang my way through the whole of their set. This was honestly the best part of the whole day and I have been reminiscent of seeing them live since. They were brilliant!

All-in-all, it was an awesome day. The sun was out for the duration of the event which was an added bonus! I now have a really bad sunburn on my face though. Ouch! The festival was a lot better than I initially expected it to be and a day later I am still amazed at The Midnight Beast’s performances. They were outstanding!

[All images are my own]