lurk Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 okay, i have written a full review... it's a bit of a monster and you may not find it so interesting if you don't know me(but it will waste some valuable work time!). but i'm posting it anyway, so there. a url to photos can be found at the bottom of the last party Okay.... full review time. best start at the beginning, i think. Fia & I drove up early Thursday evening, picking El Psyreviews up on the way; we arrived on site at about 8.30, and after about half an hour of queueing we got into the festival proper to be met by Wing Commander Five (Brown Group)and escorted to our camp; which was a lovely shady spot not too far from the main gate... perfect, cos we had about half a tonne of stuff with us. After setting up camp, we went for a wander around the site to try and get our barings (easier said than done when the moosamine had already been broken into!), sat about in the truly spectacular ID Spiral chill and got to bed at about 2am. Only to be woken up at 6 by our neighbours playing very loud drum n bass and shouting at the top of their voices. One was shouting over and over “I bet you lot are glad you have met me!”; i had my doubts; i hadn’t even made his aquiantance and I already wanted to strangle him. I managed to get back to sleep for a couple of hours, and woke up feeling worse than I would for the rest of the festival. A hearty self-made brekkie sorted that though, and by the time kick off came at noon, we were up for it. too bad our wonderful government’s health and saftey department weren’t. 12pm came and went, and there was no music anywhere; all the stages were still roped off because H & S hadn’t been round to clear them as being safe for the general public... a good example of the mindless beauracracy and red tape that has to be dealt with to put on something like this in our great land. The music did eventually start at about 12.45 on the main(Origin)stage with a dj set from Lox, which was ok, but nothing special. After him came Lucas who ratcheted it up a couple of notches and the place really started to jump, especially when he played X-Dream - Panic in Paradise. It was at this point that the esteemed Raja Ram appeared in front of me dancing. I looked around for Damion, cos i wanted to get one of his “another shit psytrance DJ” bumper stickers. I was intending to go up to Lord Ram,slap him heartily on the back (and attaching ‘forementioned sticker), saying “they don’t make them like this any more”. Sadly, Damion was nowhere to be seen, and a golden opportunity passed me by, probably forever. After Lucas came Silicon Sound, Jumanji & Commercial Hippies, all live and all very good... particularly Silicon Sound. At some point towards the end of Commercial Hippies we ambled over to the Liquid Connective stage to Catch the Unconscious Collective chill set; which was also very good despite not having 2 of the band members there, due to a car breakdown, for most of it. After that the next few hours became a bit of a blur, the next thing I really remember was going back to the Origin stage to find that the volume had been turned <right> down, so that you could hear the person next to you talking with no difficulty. To make it worse the sound system had been set up with 4 stacks, and had obviously been calibrated for a certain volume; when it was played that low, there was phasing inbetween the stacks as well as outside them. The lack of volume put an end to the psytrance for us for the rest of the night; there was no energy on the dancefloor, people were just going through the motions and every peak sounded like a damp firework going off. So instead we checked out Dreadzone in the main dance tent, who were good, but it would have probably been suited more to a warm sunday afternoon than late on friday night. After that we bumped into a friend, Dick, who’s israeli girlfriend (Annarchy) was opening the main tent the next day, he told us that she had had huge problems with immigration, which resulted in them telling her if they found out she had played (the terms of her visa forbids even voluntary work!) they would have her on the next flight back to israel and refuse her permission to return to the UK!!! So she wasn’t evensure if she wanted to play her set Next we staggered over to the chill and caught most of Kaya Project’s excellent set. well, I say we caught it, but I managed to overdo the horse tranq and ended up in a puddle on the floor for an hour and a half, after that it was time for bed Woke up on Saturday at about 10am, had a french shower (deoderant), brushed teeth (turned toothbrush brown), ate breakfast (half a cheese n ham baguette) and watched the sun move move slowly along Damion’s tent (where he was sleeping) like some sort of laser in a James Bond movie, until he emerged sweaty and looking sorry for himself to an appreciative audience After that me, Fia & Paul Red Five fooked off to the main dance tent to see what anna was going to do. If all the shenanigens onstage were designed to fool the immigration people, they were certainly good. there were 4 people on stage; Anna, Dick, an Anna look-a-like, and someone who could look vaguely like Dick from 100 meters. There was also a long blonde wig, several hats and pairs of sunglasses. The ensueing chaos and changeovers (all 4 ended up behind the decks, and Dick even ended up wearing the blonde wig lol) reminded me of something out of the Benny Hill show, and were so confusing that i forgot my own name after about 20 minutes! The music was good though The rest of the daytime was a bit of a disappointment; we had expected the music to be turned up again on the origin and liquid stages when they restarted, but sadly it wasn’t, resulting in the same lack of energy throughout the day. I’m not going to comment on the music on the origin stage, cos it would be unfair on the dj’s and artists involved given the circumstances and the fact i didn’t stay longer than 10 minutes for most of them; except to say hydrophonic and aphid moon sounded amazing, and it was a crying shame they couldn’t have been louder. We spent most of the afternoon at the Liquid stage, where L.S.D. (very appropriate given our condition records were hosting the proceedings and playing some lovely dub and slower psytrance, and also back at base camp, where we got to listen to a hysterical rant from Sketchy Steve and Red Five, involving some of the most politically incorrect jokes around, and their opinions on various subjects... hippies and psy-forum.co.uk being prominent. Something quite strange happened that afternoon too; those of you who have known me for a long time (mainly the dutch lot then) will know that I very rarely get angry... well; I actually met someone who made me angry not once,but twice in one day. The second time, I even told her where to go, in no uncertain terms, and all this while I was in an otherwise sunny mood. I was later told that seeing this was like watching an angry hamster take someones throat out... LOL! My good mood was quickly restored though by 2 things; first bumping into very old and very good friends, Ed & Olly, who I hadn’t seen for the best part of 9 years... this was worth the ticket price on it’s own Second, I got approached by 3 random guys who wanted some acid and had never done it before; the whole thing ended up with them all bear-hugging me saying I was very fluffy and cute and the nicest “travel agent” they had ever met lol. Dancing-wise, the day was redeemed by 2 live sets at the Liquid stage, from Tron & Psymettrix; both absolute stompers and had me kicking up some dust until it closed at 12.30. We were hoping the volume was going to be turned up for Hallucinogen, who was headlining the Origin stage, but if anything it was turned down even further... i could hear myself fart for fucks sake, when I shouldn’t even have been able to hear myself think. It was such a shame; but because we are going to be lucky enough to catch him at Sonica we decided to do something else instead; this being an injection of class; so off we trotted, with Damion, to the Pussy Parlure (a portable, circular wooden bar, with a dome top, mirrors on the walls and stained glass windows)for a gin and tonic and some more horse tranq (we decided we needed to bring some extra class to the place After that we headed over to the Sancho Panza house tent to wobble with attitude to some sleazy grooves... the best musical moment (and probably of the whole day) being a house rmx of The Killerz - Somebody Told Me (you had a boyfriend etc). After that it was 4am and time for bed again Woke up on sunday morning, repeated the 1st part of saturday morning and trotted off to the Liquid stage where Fromem_Ory was starting things off at midday... and horray, the volume was turned up! His set was one of the high points of the whole festie and perfect for the time of day... it sounded like protoculture should sound now if he hadn’t gone all eurotrance with the ‘orrible key changes, top stuff and really got my tired feet moving. After that, it was old timer, Mingin’ Mick Chaos, the heavyweight champion of Brighton, to show the whipper-snappers how things are done; and boy, did he do that. His set was absolute arsenkickened (a german phrase meaning ‘avin’ it learnt from a guidebook ); so full of energy and the whole place was bouncing. definitely the set of the festival for me. We made a brief trip back to the tent for more vodka, on the way back we passed the the breaksday tent, where they were playing the Beastie Boys- Fight For Your Right (to party), and then they followed it up with Rage Against the Machine – Fuck You... the whole crowd were singing along and the atmosphere was electric! Next up we passed by the main tent where the Eazy Star Allstars were doing their version of Dub Side of the Moon, which was also brilliant. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the Origin stage, (where the volume had also been turned up), where Son Kite was playing. We had heard them play in Germany a couple of weeks before at th Fusion Festival, and were surprised about how banging and full on they were; but this time it was a totally different set, and much more what we were expecting in the first place... really beautiful, groovy music for a baking hot, dusty afternoon. After that Peter Digital dj’d, and we got more of the same, perfect! Finally, it was time for Allaby’s live set, which I had been greatly looking forward to. The sun was going down behind the stage, the dancefloor rammed, the atmosphere was amazing, as was Allaby’s music. It’s the perfect marriage of full-on and progressive, and it was a superb bit of scheduling. He kept my anaethetised feet moving throughout, and finished off with the biggest tease of a track ending ever (is it coming back? oh, it is... no it isn’t... yes, it is, no it isn’t, yes it is)... 2nd best set of the festival for me and a wonderful way to finish. After that, it was pretty much bedtime as we had to get up at 5am, so I could be back at work by 9 :S Amazingly (and even more so for those that know me), that was exactly what happened... feck me, did i suffer though, but I have to say it was all worth it There were some downers; the volume on the main stage for half the festival being the main one; people having stuff pinched out of their tents being another. I don’t know why people are complaining about the toilets though (perhaps because they feel they have to); i thought there were enough of them, they were cleaned regularly; and compared to how i’ve seen them at other festivals (namely Boom & Samothraki) they were 5 star. Sure, food and booze were over-priced, but food is the not the fault of the organisers, and nor, really is the booze... they have to cover the cost of the wages, the booze itself, and mostly the cost of the license for selling it, which is astronomical in this country, and still make enough money to live off. The thing that made it for me though, as with every good festival, was the people I met and hung out with. huge shouts, massive big up’s, nuff ‘spect and large ones to the most lovely Fia, Damion “Jafi Jaffa” Psyreviews, Wing Commander Red Five & Niki Stix, Andy Morph, Wicki the Wicked Wiking, Sion, Bekki, Jon “Jedi Munchkin” Kenowbi & Carmel, Will Dogon, Mick, TC, Ali & Rob @ Chaos HQ, Vinny & Sandra, Robin Triskele, Liquid Ross, Jonny J, Ian Hudbot, Lord Elko of Spazzlington, Sean Shift, oOoEmmaoOo & Tang, Rob Urk, Nigel, Sketchy Steve & Jo Space Kitty... and special thanks to Ans & the rest of the Glade/Nano crew for making it all happen. You can find photos here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathPosture Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 Great read there... Sounds like a smashing festival despite the low soundlevel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unikos Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 i wrote some words about the festival when i came back but here's my brief account: First of all, i hold a rather blurred memory from the glade... i travelled there from athens on thursday and came back on monday, doing some driving on the english roads so after adding the extreme partying... its been a strong experience. It feels more like one large day than 3 days... I didnt spend all my time on the psytrance stages, far from it... my best impressions where from son kite and tristan(esp. first half) but i missed a lot both at liquid and origin.. id spiral was excellent and i was there every day and on sunday night when people where playing drums, etc.. i also became entrapped in the main and little big tents for several hours! Personally i think this is were the more interesting music was played.. Instead of (low volume)hallucinogen i was in the main stage where squarepusher and afx simply gave us more psychedelia than we were aksing for.. its like a new genre in the making.. from what i heard autechre play similar stuff as well! Especially enjoyed squarepusher playing his bass guitar and using it for a bassline.. Wicked night! I did not dare enter the pussy parlure (maybe just because of the silly name), i only briefly looked into the interior of sancho panza and for some reason never went too close to the open mic tent. ;D I did spend a lot of time in the camp with my friends.. lying down on the grass and watching the stars at night is just unbeatable! Other impressions: the volume thing sucked majorly... no comments the toilets sucked just as much.. Lurk said that in samothraki they were dirtier.. Well yes, but at least you had the option to simply not go. Just walk in the forest and find a spot offering light breeze and excellent view. That was certainly better than being inside a telephone box sized toilet that was filling with nasty nasty stuff in a fast pace... well, i had a car so i ventured to a nice welcoming pub a couple of times... alcohol: as planned i got my bottles of 40proof raki, the others brought vodka and beer, so we didnt have to pay 3pound for a beercan... food and stalls: well as i said in another thread you could practically buy furniture in there.. the herbal high store(van) was a huge success... especially those laughing gas ballons.. i remember they put a sign reading "we do sell other stuff" lol! food stalls were plenty and had countless veggie options so i was happy even if i ate very very little... the people: well... an excellent crowd.. cross-genre but the "creme de la creme" of britains partying lunatics!! its just so nice to escape certain crowds here that throw bottles, fight, etc to be chilling with 10,000 (or so?) friendly people.... MUSIC: as i said, i heard amazing music from the idm-ish producers.. really really enjoyed that.. I believe all stages were solid.. my only grievance is that psytrance now makes me wanna dance like crazy less than the music played by squarepusher and aphex twin.. still, the crowd in the psytrance areas was the most enthusiastic and danced like crazy all the time!! ; ) All in all it was magnificent to have all these stages in the same place, at the same time.. never felt like this before, its a state of luxury.. "what do i choose? Hallucinogen or Apheks Twin?" i wish life was all abolut these dilemmas.. next year? Oh yeah! Had a wonderful time.. apart from my description above i had a really nice time with the people i went with as well.. this has already made it special.. i will finish this short sort-of-a-review by saying that both me and nick who was with me came back to athens with big (huge) smiles. I'm still wearing the bracelet ; ) We already have started the “persuation game” to have friends join us on some other festival this summer. If u started at glade, you want more!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts