LANCASTER-BASED poet Byron Vincent last week rubbed shoulders with the stars at Reading and Leeds festivals. Performing live on the festivals' Alternative Stage, Byron joined a festival bill that included The Killers, Rage Against The Machine and Manic Street Preachers.
Clad in trademark badge-emblazonned blazer and jaunty cap, Byron arrived on stage to an appreciative afternoon crowd who'd also gathered to see sets by punk poet John Cooper Clarke and comedian Michael McIntyre.And the heaving throng weren't disappointed.
Despite having a bad cold, the charming Chorley chappie soldiered on, treating the masses to a jovial jaunt through some of his most popular ditties.
Speaking just days after the event, Bryon said: "Leeds was my third festival in three days (he also played Shambala festival) so like everyone else, I was a bit sleep deprived and discombobulated by that point.
"The bigger festivals are kind of surreal. You'll be sat eating your lunch and someone from Bloc Party or Rage Against The Machine will ask you to pass the ketchup.
"For a lowly poet like myself standing in front of thousands of people is really exciting but walking on stage knowing that the majority of the audience may have negative associations with regards to poetry can be a little bit intimidating. My dressing room was adjacent to John Cooper Clarke's, so chatting to him backstage was a real highlight for me, as well as being a rock and roll icon he's a really lovely man."
* For details go to
www.myspace.com/byron_vincent.
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