The Big Reunion 2013 (Weekend 2)

Another excellent adventure

After a nice weeks stay at Butlins following weekend 1 and another awesome Thursday night warm up party, it was time! The weekend had landed and the madness was about to begin anew. Throughout Friday day coach/car loads of people had flooded into the once quiet and tranquil site, all with one single thought in their minds. “PAARRRTTYYYY!!!!” In the Jellyfish bar DJs were dropping some fresh beats, setting the mood, whilst the reps hosted the resort meet ups for all those 18-30s who had holidayed with Butlins throughout 2013.

7:30pm arrived and with it came the mighty Majestic and his posse of scantily clad fairies along with what appeared to be some dude riding an ostrich. It’s an odd thing to see, especially after a few drinks but it was pretty cool to see him moving his way, rather awkwardly, through the crowd as everyone hit the dance floor in the main arena, bouncing and skanking out to the tunes. Following Majestic, we were treated to another wonderful set from Duke. What talent!!! We have seen these guys 3 times now (twice in 1 week) and still can’t get over how good they are. Their covers of ‘Blurred lines’ and ‘Talk dirty to me’ top the originals by far in our opinions. Mistajam came next and true to his name his name sake, by the end of his set of old/new school sounds, everyone was ‘jammin’ hard. Finally on the main stage was Wretch 32. As we mentioned in the weekend 1 review, urban rap music isn’t really our thing but WOW! Wretch put on a superb show from beginning to end and when the main stage closed the crowds were going wild and raring for more….

There was now a choice of 2 arenas. Do we head to the house arena (Reds) or the urban arena (Centre stage)? Recalling the stupendous sound system, that had literally made Reds shake last weekend we followed the torrents of obvious house lovers into the crammed full arena. A humungous crowd partied hard in here all night, raving and jumping to such acts as Gorgon City, Hannah Jacques, Danny Howard and Duke Dumont. Madness!! Like total Mayhem. It was Brilliant! An eccentric mix of house music from throughtout the ages  mixed by some top DJs. What more could we ask for as long standing fans of house.........Well maybe, just maybe Jaguar Skills like they had for weekend 1. Amazing night anyway, but Jag, we missed you and your huge ninja masks mate. Where were you?

"But im not a massive fan of house" i hear you say. Well. Fear not my friends. Whilst we were bouncing around Reds like lunatics, amazings things were occuring over at centre stage. Urban legends Devlin and Lethal Bizzle, supported by K Koke, DJ Cameo, Dj Cable and many more terrific artists were causing a storm of equal magnitude to that in Reds. According to people we spoke to you could barely move in the arena for peope jumping, screaming, moving closer to the front (respect!!). We were informed of the joy of the crowds as they got to sing along to their favourite tunes and cheer on the artists they came  to see.

6am came all to soon and as the sun broke above the clouds, the now dispersed crowds had returned to their accomodation to carry on the parties for the most part, judging by the sounds of things from our temporary crib. For us the night had to draw to a close. After all you cant review Saturday night if you end up sleeping through it after enjoying Friday to much. So we mastered our urges to join the chalet parties and got some much needed shut eye.

So we wake up at about midday, not in a sweaty tent or a caravan like most festivals. Oh no!! Here we woke up to a lovely warm double bed each, central heating, A KITCHEN??? And most importantly of all a nice clean shower that didnt involve a lengthy wait in line followed by a usage fee. So after a quick freshen up and some bacon sarnies we headed to the pool parties. Obviously the pool party idea at festivals has been a long time thing, with festivals such as 'HTID/Innovation in the sun' doing them everyday, every year but i still think whoever first had the idea should be given a Nobel prize in party science. This is not only the single best way to get rid off a hangover we've ever seen but also hilariously funny watching people trying to rave on giant inflatables (not easy by the way). Fresh beats and re-freshing swimming pool. Lovely combo and the perfect set up for the afternoon/evening.

Another quick shower to be rid of the chlorine and a few warm up drinks in the jellyfish bar listening to Toby Jones followed by Lloyd Jones and then at 7:30pm the wonder that is Rawkus Noise opened the main stage for the evening. Once again madness in the main arena, more fairies and Mr Ostrich was back for more, this time with some indian tribesman looking types. Good laugh. It was as if they were hunting the ostrich. Next up, Micky slim. Waaayy Haaaay!! Then The wideboys before finally on the main stage Example backed up by DJ Wire. This is one of the best combinations of main stage acts ever. Loved every minute of it. For about 3 hours we didnt even leave the dance floor for a drink. To fixated on the musical talent presented to us. 

11pm seemed to appear from nowhere and hyped up from all the dancing we headed to Reds to see Majestic before at midnight we ventured to Centre stage (live arena at this point) to watch The Other Tribe. We have seen these before at 'The Porthleven Masked ball' in Cornwall and couldnt resist going to see them again. These guys play LIVE techno!! Wicked. Highly recommend peeps to check these out. Then back to Reds for Rudimental. WAIT!!! DJ set? We we told Rudimental were playing, not just a DJ set, nevertheless it was still a good set and the crowds didnt seem to care about the lack of Rudimental themselves. Then to the garage arena (Centre stage transformed after the live acts) to catch the end of Artful Dodgers set and see Matt Jam Lamont. Being house fans we have never really given garage music a proper chance and to be fair we had a really good time in here. Finally back to Reds to see the end of Monstas set and let Varski blast the last remnants of our energy from us as we skanked ourselves to the bitter end in the bass arena. A lot of mooching around between arenas tonight and that meant plenty of opportunity to talk to people from all age groups and there for all different types of music. Everyone happy and having a good time. Real friendly, vibrant atmosphere. Was a really cool night and as we hadnt got to work Monday we joined a few people for the afterparties as. Some people just carried on through until the 10am check out time (Thanks for the 2pm VIP checkout for us Butlins. NEEDED!!)

So all in all we can definitely say this is a really, really cool festival. Something a bit different than than we're used to. We also caught up with our old friend from weekend one who had this to say:

"The big reunion is an amazing all round festival with something for everyone, from hardcore ravers to first time festival goers. One of the best value for money festivals in the country. Cant wait for next year. Make sure your there. Why wouldn't you come?

Gotta say we kind of agree with him.