For two days and two nights of the year, nestled in the midst of a wooded Wiltshire glade; Underhill Festival resides. This quaint festival is described as a social display of electronic and Balkan music and arts. The location of the festival couldn’t be better; the surrounding wooded hills give a sense of isolation and mystery – however it is far from easy to locate; more and clearer signs in future would be a huge improvement.
Upon a 4pm arrival at the festival, a sense of anxiety as well as anticipation was easily noticeable. The number of tents visible was more akin to a field trip than a festival. However as the afternoon progressed, more arrived – it quickly became apparent that whatever the festival lacks in size, it more than makes up for in atmosphere.
A brief early evening visit to the festival arena allowed us to scout the venue of our entertainment over the next two nights. There were 3 open tents, each packed with a considerable amount of volume, visuals and, over the coming nights, vibes. The Redline Stage is the first tent that we came across upon entering the arena. This was to be the location of the festival’s hidden gems. Acts such as ‘The Other Tribe’, a chaotic concoction of costumes, exotic instruments and great dance moves, stirred up atmospheres to rival the festival headliners. The Redline Stage was also to play host to all entertainment of the Balkan variety on the Saturday, which was perhaps not as prominent as it could have been; however my highlight of the Redline stage was probably the funky, jazz-influenced house set played by Park Ranger. The music and vibes within the tent brought more and more people inside, before long the tent had become a rhythmic paradise, a dance fest. Until one of the moving masses was evidently so moved that he stripped naked and took to the stage, surreal.
The second tent in the arena was the Volcano Stage. This played host to a number of fun acts on the Friday night, with Christophe & Joe 90 bringing in the best crowd. Saturday was the one for the Volcano Stage. The We Are Your Friends boys from Bournemouth hosted the tent all day and all night, and I have to say they provided the best vibes of the festival. From Maribou State’s brilliantly energetic hour and a half to OhMan!’s closing set, the atmosphere was unmatched. Honourable mentions to Stopmakingme, Audio Sleaze, Broke DJs and Tosh Ohta.
Finally we made our way to the far end of the arena to scout the Main Stage. The largest tent of the lot was to showcase the majority of Underhill Festival’s disproportionately large lineup. Friday night saw two intriguing and mesmerising sets from the talk of the moment DJ Julio Bashmore, and the Dutch dubstep master Martyn – who was performing his new, and quite hypnotising, live show. If Friday night at the main stage was intriguing then Saturday night was nothing short of spectacular. The lineup was much more hard-hitting and dance floor orientated, with the Swiss house dynamos Round Table Knights, German bass-machine Oliver $, the maestros Zombie Disco Squad, and the young electro supremo Alex Metric taking to the stage. Though the tent was unquestionably buzzing all night – all headliners with the crowd at their mercy – the performance of the night for me was the contribution of Biru and Marc aka Round Table Knights. These guys burst onto the scene with their dance floor classic “Calypso” (which unfortunately didn’t feature in their set), and have since seen releases on Mowgli’s Deadfish label as well as Jesse Rose’s Made to Play. Their hour-long set had every man, woman and child grooving for the duration, with tracks like ‘Stomper’ and their remix of ‘Coma Cat’ by Tensnake going down a treat. After their set I had the chance to chat with Biru…and to ask him a couple of questions:
Good to meet you, really enjoyed your set and it looks like everyone else did too. How did you enjoy your set?
Biru – I enjoyed it greatly. We normally play longer sets, usually 2 or 3 hours but it was fun to play out a couple of new remixes.
How have you found Underhill Festival so far?
Biru – I’ve enjoyed the experience, everyone here seems nice and the atmosphere is good. Though Marc and I aren’t feeling too great, not sure about those kebabs! I’ll be honest I enjoyed mine, must’ve gotten lucky. What’s new for RTK this year?
Biru – Our album came out in March time and it’s been getting a good response. We wanted the album to be well constructed - to tell a story, and we’re very happy with how it came out. We have a new EP towards the end of the year and a new remix for Yolanda Be Cool, who we are playing alongside in Bern tomorrow night.
The mention of kebabs, whether tainted or otherwise, brings me nicely to the food situation. Fast food on the festival site was available in the form of a ‘Bhatti Wraps’ stand (providing kebabs, burgers etc.), and a brilliant fresh pizza stand. This displays a lack of variety perhaps, but at a small festival such as Underhill the options provided were adequate – which is more than can be said for the portaloo situation, something that will certainly need to be rectified for next year! The main headliner of Saturday night and of the festival was unfortunately unable to play due to technical issues, and this brings me to one criticism. On several occasions it became apparent that the organisation of the festival was not very well handled, particularly with regards to artist liaison – the withdrawal of Erol Alkan being a direct result of this. The mistakes made were probably as a result of inexperience on the organisers’ part, and I have no doubt that these mistakes will provide valuable lessons ensuring that Underhill Festival 2012 really is one for the diary. However every cloud has a silver lining, and this particular lining came in the shape of a brilliant 2 hour set from Alex Metric – a perfect send-off for the festival weekend.
On the whole, Underhill Festival 2011 was a really enjoyable experience. The music was brilliant, the weather was great and the location was perfect. All of these things aside, the one aspect of Underhill that made it for me was the atmosphere. For the duration of the weekend I didn’t come across a single person I disliked. The mood was always a good one and everyone was up for a fun time. This is perhaps the main selling point of a smaller, more intimate festival. So there it is, Underhill Festival, a hidden gem of an event and a really great weekend.
Published on 04 August 2011 by PaulMalinPhotography
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