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Features
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Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! |
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Global Gathering 2006 Day Two
Reported by Adam Symbiosis
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Submitted 09-08-06 19:57
The sounds of the fair woke me up around the 11 mark. I was confused as to why the repeating callings of a Dutch guy telling how the dodgems were “amazing fun” and an Irish guy telling me to get on the Frisbee now (“yippee, yippee”) was in any way supposed to actually get me on rather than drive me screaming from the campsite. Again the sun was beating down and turning what used to be into a tent into what now could have passed quite easily as an oven. Emerging into the sunlight it was time to get ourselves moving, but it was slow going. It was day two at Global Gathering 2006.
Finally dragging ourselves out into the morning sun was hard enough, now we had to find something to eat. A quick foray to the food stalls resulted in a baguette not much drier than the surface of the moon filled with cheese that could have been radioactive the way it glowed at me. Deciding not to turn my stomach into any more of a science lab than it already was we walked off and found a smoothie place. So had everyone else. Before us of course and the queue was round the block. Spying in the distance some tepees we made our way over and found them to be doing a good line in juice, tea and comfortable, quiet surroundings; time for a nap.
After an hour or so laid out in the tepee it was time to get back to the action. It’s all change for day two of the action, with last night’s tents being renamed and redecorated. Saturday saw host to Bedrock, Defected, Accelerated Culture, Carl Cox and Friends, Polysexual and of course Godskitchen. There’s also a lap dancing club in operation where the comedy arena was for those chaps needing a bit of a rub.
First port of call was to Ed Real in the Polysexual tent. Playing it hard and fast, the pumping bass lines of remixes like ‘Synthesia’, ‘Feeling Kinda Strange’ and ‘Straight Out Of Clapham’ was getting the slowly building crowd of cyberkids moving.
Over in the Godskitchen Tent Matt Harwick was playing the tune of the moment, ‘Ordinary Moment’. Played by every man and his dog it has to be said this is a tune of the highest order and I’m pleased to have heard it yet again. Through the crowd a guy walked holding aloft a Where’s Wally cut out and the irony wasn’t lost on this reviewer.
I stay chatting in the tent for some time with a chap from Rotterdam. We talk of music and Holland and festivals and it’s refreshing to find people so friendly and up for a chat. As we talk the djs change over to Above & Beyond, two of my favourite producers. Their subtle, progressive trance washes over me and makes me chilled and feel like floating away, especially when they drop ‘Touch Me’.
I bid my new friend goodbye and go off around the site for a wander. Stopping off quickly at the Contagious Clubwear stage for some Ilogik, who was whipping the crowd into a frenzy with some great hard trance, I move on to find the Gurn bus. I always thought the cool thing about the Gurn bus was that it just drove up, they popped open the roof and there was the party. Now they had a stage. Did this make it more cheesy? Did it make it any more effective? Well they more than made up for it with the fantastic classic trance they were pumping out. You name it, they played it, especially Agnelli & Nelson’s ‘Everyday’.
It was 20:00 and time for Judge Jules’ live show from the Godskitchen tent. Fresh from his live Radio 1 backstage show from the VIP area, he was gracing the decks and playing to 10–12,000 people in this tent and who knows how many millions of people over the airwaves and broadband lines via Radio 1 and the BBC website, a truly global event and I was linking up with people back home telling them to get the radio on so they could listen with me. Kicking off with a samba style track that was blended in with Blue Monday’s ‘Confusion’, the weirdest thing I found about the set was the radio voice overs that we could hear as well. It was almost as if they had just plugged a radio into the amp and gone for tea. Obviously this wasn’t the case but my imagination was running away with me as I got down with thousands if not millions of other people and luckily enough we didn’t get to hear all the rung in shout outs as well! I thought it must have been my imagination as well but there seemed to be no lighting, I expected more. Moving through the set and Jules drops in a techy version of 4 Strings — ‘Take Me Away’ and later on Dumonde’s ‘Tomorrow’. I’m pretty impressed all the way through and am constantly on the phone texting “Tune!!”
You can catch up with this show as well as it streams from the Radio 1 site:
Judge Jules on Radio 1
A walk over to see Fatboy Slim was now in order as I had seen Ferry Corsten a few weeks before at Cream (check out the Radio 1 link below to hear the set anyway). I trudged through the light rain and tried to gain access to the beach, though it was rammed. The raised area to the side was even worse and so I decided to go and get a drink instead. An interview with Armin Van Buuren was quickly approaching and after a quick jaunt back to the tent to pick up a dictaphone that wasn’t even working we finally got back to do the interview. The night was quickly starting to unravel for us and the rain which was now coming down thick and fast wasn’t helping either. We made it as far as the main tent for Armin’s set but trying to fit 15,000 people into a tent designed for 12.000 isn’t a particularly good idea. Air conditioning might have been a good idea as would have been free umbrellas. The heat and humidity of the night outside only served to make it even more hot and humid inside and while it rained from the clouds outside, it rained sweat inside, urgh!
Time for another walk around the camp by which time had turned into a mud bath; those people still left outside were slipping, sliding, swerving and stacking in the mess while evil smells from the portaloos roamed around on the night air and I decided it was probably safer inside one of the tents. It took me around half an hour but I managed to find myself a spot right at the front of the main tent right in front of Armin. I was most impressed by his energy behind the decks and by his last track — ‘For An Angel’ by Paul Van Dyk. I was not impressed however by the next dj. Due to family problems Paul Van Dyk had to pull out, but they replaced him with Eddie Halliwell! Seeing as it had taken me so long to get to the front I thought I’d give him a chance and while he did play a more grown up set by all accounts, there must have been other djs available to replace such a legend and he did get harder about an hour into the set so I left to find myself a seat.
It seemed like hours had passed, plenty had been talked about but nothing had been discussed, no decisions had been made. Was it still raining? Was there still a festival going on? I chanced my arm and found they hadn’t packed up and gone home without me. Back I went for more of Judge Jules. I got back just in time and stood amazed. From midway in the tent the lighting show really started to hit home. Two massive lasers sat either side of the dj. The lighting rig pulsated, flashed, rippled. The lights weaved and danced, moved and twisted with the music. The visuals pumped out by the VJ should be a lesson to all clubs that try and add this extra dimension. The visuals ebbed and flowed in time with the music. The Godskitchen logo, cartoon animals dancing, outlines of dancers twirling, clubbers having it and more. Could it have been better? The clubbers could have been captured live but this is a pinching criticism. The visual show was all encompassing and made me forget to take notes. I was too busy from 3.30 till 6.00 watching, listening, experiencing. This is how it should be, this is how all clubs should be, a spectacle, an experience.
At one point something blew, a power cable? A fuse box? A light in parallel? Did the meter run out? Whatever, but everything stopped. No music, lights or anything. For a moment no body noticed, then a chap turned to me and asked, “Who’s this playing now?” “No-one obviously!” I replied. It took him a moment to realise the implications of what he’d just asked. The music returned five minutes later and I got back to being stunned.
At about half 5 some dancers came onto the stage and wriggled away for the last bit but I was still too impressed by the lights to really care for any flesh action. With the stroke of 6 came the end of the last song and the end of the night. No one more track, no argument in fact and I stood there as people quickly filed out desperate to get to their cars and out of there and when you’ve got the prospect of a 2 hour queue to get out I don’t blame them. Slowly I turned and met up with my fellow clubber who had ‘retired’ earlier to the Polysexual tent and we made our way back to our tent for more music via (of course) the balloon stall — I think we’ll have to take our own next time (gas that is, though one stall did actually run out of balloons about 2am Saturday and were asking people if they had their own balloons!).
On the downside to the festival, there were a number of advertised attractions that were notable in their absence (other than PvD). The flower drop (though there was an aerobatics display on Saturday), the washing facilities (we got taps that pumped out water that was white??), the roller disco (eh??), the food tents in the camping areas and the beer gardens (at least some benches here and there would have been nice), some stocked up ATMs that worked (a good idea you’d think), some portaloos that actually worked past the first night of the festival, some proper roads around the site!!!!
Copyright D-Z Studios. Not to be reproduced without permission
In all though I had a fantastic time and heard some great music across the 2 days I was there and it is still by far my favourite festival. If you haven’t managed to get yourself down Global it is an experience not to be missed only enhanced by the camping. Make sure you are there next year.
Adam Symbiosis
Photos courtesy of chrisnico, MadaO and Symbiosis. Not to be reproduced without permission.
For more Radio 1 madness click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/summer06/global/index.shtml
For the main Global site click here: http://www.globalgathering.co.uk Share this :: : : :
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Other Features By Adam Symbiosis: Godskitchen Xmas Party: Reviewed The Big Chill: Reviewed Tiësto at Victoria Park: Reviewed Lilly Allen: Reviewed Digital Society May 2009: Reviewed
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Crimson - Crazy Fool on 9th Aug 2006 21:37.48 Good review Adam! Day 2 was filled with drama of all sorts.. Hope next year Pvd will play!! GG07 here we come
From: Claire99 on 11th Aug 2006 07:30.57 again wicked read ..as I was reading it I wished I was there. Great photos too x
From: sexyminx on 15th Aug 2006 17:24.59 Nice one Adam. Hope to make to GG one day. Have heard loads of good things
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