Dubcamp
I haven't really been to any festivals, living in Scotchland isn't geographically blessed to attend the type of festival i would enjoy.

T-in the park can fuck off and die.

Until that is the prospect of Dubcamp arrived...it promised to be everything i imagined a good festival consisted of. A huge dub-reggae soundsystem in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. There were lots of facilites as it was bona-fide campsite complete with iron age roundhouse, spring fed hot tub, suckling pig and about 150 people.

This was a few years ago now and there seemed to be a LOT of mdma crystals going round...very high quality i may add. So, the venue was arrived at, tent pitched and sound system wallowed in. The trees gave rise to some very interesting echo-ing, and the bass was overpowering yet still crisp. We lazed about enjoying the laid back vibe and smoked ourselves into a crystalline fug.

Darkness fell and so did the rain, not heavy but very very steady. I had come prepared so the elements weren't a problem. However, the intense darkness, was.

You forget just how dark it can get in the middle of a forest at night, unfamiliar surrounding, a hotch potch of similar tents, no reference points to speak of. I had a small mathmos light ball that lit up my stumbling path with very little vigour, but crucially it gave enough definition for me to find my tent, eventually.

As i gently made my way i passed a guy, standing completely still in amongst some tents, totally silent. i didn't see him until i was almost at him. He was completely muntered and had obviously no idea of where he was, where he was going or how to get there. I asked if he was ok but he just stared at me as if I was an apparition, bathed in a soft blue light. I got to me tent and got what i needed.

I headed back ad the guy was in the exact same position, unable to move, completely frozen with confusion. I know, because it took all of my concentration to navigate the searing darkness, several times i had to stop and restore my meagre bearings.

I passed him and the darkness swallowed him after about 6 feet, he has on his own, again. I had the feeling that he was simply gonna stand there until it got light enough for him to see where he was going, or until someone arrived, with a bright torch and led him to safety.

Overall it was an amazing set up in an amazing location, but the relentless dubstep eventually bored the tits off of me. A sound system of that calibre, in those surroundings deserved a more varied diet of styles.

i really would like to try out Bangface or the Bloc weekender, and of course Dour in Belgium. One day i will hopefully amass enough spare braincells to attend one of them.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 10:37, 6 replies)

BLOC
BLOC was amazing. Funktion One's every where and the widest variety of ear fodder anyone could ask for. And you didn't stay in tents
(phe, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 11:08, closed)

Dubcamp sounded ace
until you said that it was just Dubstep. I can barely listen to 5 minutes of it, let alone a whole weekend's worth.
( Moey, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 12:51, closed)

well
it was only for one night....but that was enough
they played a load of dub reggae and stuff earlier, but as darkness fell
the grinding dubstep took over, with its constant bpm's and irritating monotony.

don't get me wrong, i am a huge bass head, but fuck me, it sent me to bed when i was ready to dance for hours on end.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 13:21, closed)

That's not so bad then.
There really is no need for that much dubstep (if any at all); it's as though someone took the best parts of dub, threw them away, put slowed down drum and bass beats beneath what was left behind and then repeated the same bit over and over and over until I want to hit people with things.
( Moey, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 13:46, closed)

I really want to do BangFest, it looks absolutely mental. Few mates have been and said it knocks the spots off any other festival
( Risk It For A Biscuit has a helicopter and lives in space, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 13:21, closed)

Bangfest?
Sounds like some sort of orgy...
(RVD420 has his world coming down on, Thu 11 Jun 2009, 9:41, closed)