You know what’s easier than following around your fave pop stars, day in, day out, to see what they’re up to right that minute? Asking them. This month, LIZZIE ESAU lets us in on what she’s up to as she plays the Dork stage at this year’s 110 Above presents OTHR festival.

9:00AM → Wake up nice and early (I appreciate this isn’t that early, but it is for me, the queen of lying in). We get into the car and head straight to the festival, which is a good couple of hours from Newcastle!

11:00AM → Briefly stopping at services is always a highlight of these trips for me, treating myself to a sushi meal deal (posh, I know). We take a few different vehicles to this festival, so meeting up with other band members along the journey is always fun too!

1:00PM → By this time, the meal deal is fully devoured, and after resisting the urge to stop for a quick Greggs, we arrive at the festival! We had the honour of playing this festival last year, too, and it was possibly one of the hottest days I’ve ever experienced. This year isn’t too far off, although a few degrees cooler, which is very much appreciated, haha! The atmosphere, though, is incredible as always, the staff lovely and welcoming, and the audience raring to go.

3:00PM → A few hours of unloading gear, drinking beer and chatting with other artists and lovely crew have gone by, and now we’re warming up and preparing to go on. 

4:50PM → We walk onto the Gopsall Inn stage, which is a nice big open barn. Already slightly sweating from being out and about around the festival, we make sure to give the set full energy as usual, feeding off the incredible crowd. They’re all so up for it, and it’s so amazing to be back; so nice to see familiar faces too.

5:20PM → The set is finished, and we’re covered in an additional layer of sweat from another scorching show at 110! It’s so lovely to chat with so many people afterwards who enjoyed the show, too, many of them also coming to see us on our November headline tour! We’re now packing down all the gear very fast, too, for the quick festival changeovers, which always have me in a panic, haha, but it’s all running smoothly so far.

6:30AM → All the gear is packed away back in cars so we can go around and enjoy the festival a bit before heading off on another long drive. Swim School have just started, who we all love, so we know we’re going to have the best time finally being able to catch them live here! So far, the set is full of empowering energy, and I’m anticipating it all to kick off any second now; see you in the mosh pit!

8:00PM → Another lovely day spent at 110, all the bands we managed to catch were incredible, and by now, we’ve all had many bowls of the chilli and dahl they were serving us. We’re so sad to be leaving but feeling optimistic this festival will become a new yearly tradition for us! We say our goodbyes and head on our way further down the country to Bristol before we make the journey all the way to Cornwall the next day for Boardmasters.

10:00PM → We arrive in Bristol after another good few hours of driving; the urge to get a Greggs was just too strong on this journey, so we made a few additional food stops along the way. We’re staying at my manager’s house, who is very kindly putting us up! All of her wonderful family, along with the full band, girlfriends and my parents, try to get in as many hours of sleep as possible before we head down to Cornwall VERY early tomorrow morning for the festival and a full family trip! As I said, early mornings aren’t my strong point, so wish me luck, and I’ll see you at Boardmasters.

Taken from the October 2023 edition of Dork.