Hi:Fi North 2006

Photographer:Bob Rose

27 May 2006

Rain, sleet and storms can't dampen the spirits of thousands of festival fans congregating for the first ever Hi:Fi North - Ian Brown, Dirty Pretty Things, Maximo Park and more helping keep the crowd warm...

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For the last few years, the start of the festival season for many was marked by the giddy telephone marathon that was the Glastonbury ticket rush. Without the Pilton big-hitter this year, we’ve had to wait a little longer to get excited about grassy slopes strewn with music stages and drunken revelers. But newcomer Hi:Fi has taken up the mantle and kicks off 2006’s ever growing line-up of outdoor musical debauchery.

Run by the people behind Global Gathering, Hi:Fi’s aim is to be effortlessly all encompassing, marrying long line-ups of live indie acts with a plethora of DJ sets. While sister event Hi:Fi South is set in Homelands’ old venue, the Matterly Bowl near Winchester, Hi:Fi North takes over the grounds of the Matfen Estate near Corbridge, just outside Newcastle - surprisingly the first festival for the North East.

So it’s firsts all round then, which makes it all the more unfortunate that such a pioneering spirit is dented slightly by reservations from the locals leading up to the event and the collapse of the second live stage (only a day before) due to strong winds.

After this inauspicious beginning, the festival still braves ahead. After a quick taxi ride or long-awaited shuttle bus ride from the city centre, punters find themselves on a wide, flat expanse of green encircled by four dance tents and the remaining live stage. Dotted about are the obligatory fun fairs and climbing walls and a sparse smattering of recognisable stalls and food vans.

The welcome all music policy is clearly reflected in the crowds - with huddles of band t-shirt sporting fans and lads cradling beer cans filing past scantily-clad fashionistas and already bouncing dance kids. The comfortable, well worn atmosphere gives an air of confidence that’s surprisingly for such a green event that rubs off on the punters, everyone seems to be so grateful for the experience that they’ve already taken it to heart. Everyone makes themselves comfortable with the spread out geography of the various tents, before heading to various beer tents.