As thousands of fans took their trip and left their houses behind, Global Gathering provided good comfort as people travelled from all around the UK. The place looked epic, the tents massive and the crowd well; they were ready to tear up the fields, the stalls, the food and anything else that they could for the glorious sound of Drum and Bass, Trance, Techno, House and Dubstep.
Global Gatherings’ gates peered down at us as we crept through the car park in Paul’s Saxo with the blue boot. We got there pretty late as we got caught in a large amount of traffic, but by 5.30 we were pitched and raring to go. The campsite was lively, very much so actually, I think that many had already made the walk, but still. Whilst we asked about every kind of Marshall, got 3 responses in the wrong direction and eventually found the press tent. I may add, that maybe they should all have known a little better about the areas and arenas but, I suppose we had to understand. We managed to catch the last of Jaguar Skills with a fruity mix of spiced up records that defiantly awoke my eardrums.
As the first evening approached, the anticipation for acts like Pendulum, Underworld, Eric Prydz and Beardyman was all too much. The press area proved to be an inviting place after about an hour searching for it! The free beer, water and red bull only made my smile get bigger as Pendulum took a seat for their interview, by this point; we had given up caring and felt like we had been dealt some pretty decent cards.
The hype for Steve Angello was immense due to iconic status as one of the biggest names in dance music today. As thousands packed to the main stage, he showed exactly why Swedish House Mafia made such a big name for themselves. He spun and spun to the entertained crowd proving a viable host for house at Global, establishing himself as connoisseur of the more fruity variety of beats and bars.
The choice of food at festivals is always amazing, from ostrich burgers to something from the Caribbean grill, Global Gathering was no different. The group therapy tent was nothing but spectacular as we immersed ourselves in the sound and visuals of Gabriel & Dresden. Their quirky lines written on the huge projector behind them definitely sparked the crowd in uncontrollable rave. Others to play Group Therapy were Above & Beyond and Sander Van Doorn tearing the tent to shreds with completely fresh tunes and ultimate drip drops.
After food we headed to the Electric Arena and managed to get a glimpse Heidi showing to be a firm favourite in with the techno and underground house.
The atmosphere was euphoric as Pendulum took to the stage with thousands waiting for tunes like “Hold Your Colour”, “Slam” and “Watercolour”. Not only did they perform, they tranced the stage with their presence, creating a crowd of several thousand to sing, jump and shout at the top of their lungs in honour of their musical talents. The eruption of sound would have made anybody listening fanatical about bass, guitar, drums and a damn good host; the melodic, rock derived drum n bass deserved the entire appraisal.
Micky Slim opened Mainstage at 12; however, we only got time to see his last third of the set but were genuinely quite happy we did so. Gathering our cameras and the likes, we got time to see B-Complex absolutely rip up hospitality, with his random spill of beats, bars and samples he was not worth forgetting, closely following by the submissive and influential Brookes Brothers. We had time to go and see Alex Metric as he played to a bear field unfortunately with respect to him, motivation must have been low.
The VIP woods were definitely a triumph for many of this year’s VIP crowd. The custom built wooden shacks made it a perfect venue for a before or after party consisting of various DJ’s and live drummers. The upstairs more of a chill out area with tables and chairs and huge beanbags making it a nice spot to chill at, whilst the woods were lit up with several thousand fairy lights, hammocks and a nicely placed burger van...just in case.
As we approached the hospitality tent, DJ Marky was pumping the crowd with his jump-up mixed dnb tracks. I was annoyed I didn’t catch the rest of his set actually, because he definitely gave it his all, banging. Netsky took the stage, not faulting, the bass followed. Netsky’s set echoed through the tent playing to a full tent of very appreciating fans, some fairly ruined others not so. His set was epic mixing only the finest liquid drum and bass of our time, sometimes you wonder how a brainchild with such a signature sound can be heard, but he was. The crowd facilitated the energy, Netsky dealt the tunes and the rest, was history.
The hospitality tent, all day was heaving. The huge line up of some of the most influential Drum n Bass artists and producers of 2011, were set to explode. The lighting around the stage was fairly well suited and when bass lines dropped there was nothing more than a show of light and sound. The perfect mix actually. High Contrast also performed a tasteful set, dropping a collectively impressive consolidation of current and old tunes. Others to hit up the Hospitality tent were the likes of Danny Byrd, Camo+Krooked, London Electricity’s Tony Colman, Andy C, Brooked Brothers and Nu:Tone featuring Nat Williams not to mention a blissful set of stylish samples and beats from B-Complex’s early set. All in all, Hospitality did nothing other than tear up bringing Drum n Bass to yet another level.
From the campsite, we heard the likes of Axwell coordinating a field party on the main stage with tracks like “I Found You” and “Nothing But Love”. Axel Hedfors definitely upheld his name and his music The same evening was also blessed with the likes of Labrinth playing a live set, Tinie Tempah, Dirty South and Yasmin, all playing their part in main stage takeover.
That evening we had the chance to see Chase & Status play to a packed tent with their assortment of songs like “Pieces” and “End Credits”. Their set was phenomenal playing tracks from their breakthrough albums as they ride high with their new wave of critical acclaim. Nero, Sub Focus and Borgore were set to finish the end of the evening in style, which they achieved like a hole in the head, congrats lads. Unfortunately we did not have time to go to the Bedrock Arena however, talking with some very enthusiastic punters, James Zabiela and Hernan Cattaneo absolutely ripped up.
Arena 3 also gave its highlights to the newly names Godkitchen, providing illumination with visuals that blew you away. Ferry Corsten showed thousands what he could do as a trance heavyweight, engulfing the crowd like a chemical reaction that surged wildly. Others included the likes of Eddie Halliwell, Markus Schulz and Marco V, all playing their part in creating an atmospheric tent among the crowd.
As we started to pick up our bags, fold and attempt to role the tent into a respectable lump, we head for the gates. On the way through, VIP looked relatively sound, the odd smashed chair, beer can, nothing unusual. Looking for the car took rather a long time, our own fault respectfully, yet the traffic caused an excessive amount of 4 hours cueing, literally moving roughly 100 yards. You would think that there would be apparently an easy way to get thousands of people through 1 gate, apparently not. In the end we got fed up, sat for a bit and jumped on the bandwagon of cars heading round the back of the festival. Fair play to most, as some carried on the rave with their doors open but most were getting really annoyed. The Mexican wave of car horns also has to be repeated as it travels across the fields.
Overall I think that the festival was banging. The people there were great including the guys and gals we met along the way. Fair play to all who were working there though as I know some of the punters were not the nicest of sorts, yet they cracked on and got the job done. The only bit of the festival that I hated was not the music varieties that I didn’t like, but more the 4 Hour car park wait, which was absolutely ludicrous that it should have taken that long considering we left the campsite at 10. The acts however were superb and the place, arenas and all, were damn right awesome. I may see you there next year. Cheers Global.
Published on 03 August 2011 by julianc
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