Global Gathering 2007

United Kingdom | | 01 August 2007

It’s a place where the whole of the campsite has a laugh at two girls’ collapsed tent and gives them props to make it last just a little bit longer, revellers at the front offer the best view in the field to fellow ravers behind them and helpful hedonistics guide you through the mud to your lost mates. Despite the weather, the costumes came out and dotted around the airfield were thirty-something tutu wearers, men donning security jackets and girls in cybergear.

The festival wasn’t without a few hitches but what more could you want from a festival that’s only recently unfolded into a two dayer.  It’s a shame some acts such as Switch and Annie Mac were cut, because like most, I assumed they would put back the set times only to get to the stages, ready to rave and find they had not. So, as the gates swung back and the stewards ushered everyone into the Main Arena at 7 pm, it seemed apt to listen to Pete Tong kick off the event. What was weird was listening to Pete Tong broadcasting his show and thinking someone was listening to the show in the quiet of their room; I think they missed out on a good night. It was a dead cert that Pete would play the best commercial dance tunes of the moment, making it easy for the crowd to dance away – the energy hadn’t left us yet as Groove Armada, Fedde Le Grand and Roisin Murphy lyrics slipped off the tongue.

We all know how irritatingly catchy 'Acceptable In The 80s' is and that it was really Kylie who created disco, but despite this thousands could be seen merrymaking at Calvin Harris’ place on Friday night. The hate club formed on the Global Gathering forum was nowhere in sight but my guess is that this charismatic Scot converted them.

Later that night Global discovered that Erol Alkan really does keep kids dancing. From Herve to the Gossip, Dusty the kid to Justice, festival goers who probably never would have been Indie kids at Trash, were throwing shapes in the Modular tent, in an airfield. The crowd also poured into the Strongbow Cider House when Kissy took to the decks. I’m not really sure how there was enough room for all of us to get involved in the 2 hour dance marathon that was about to occur. Kissy Sell Out has an impressive festival rota under his belt, probably because his sets contain indie, unexpected old school garage, electro and dance mash ups to name but a few, that keep the whole audience pleased. Don’t you love it when DJs dance during their set? He had to be the dancer of the weekend since he ended his set by doing the Bethnal Green shuffle in front of the DJ booth. The paparazzi went mad with their clicks and flashes as the crowd hoped some of his steps would rub off on them.

It’s easy to feel bad for enjoying electro house and d ‘n’ b when you’re at a dance festival, so with that in mind I thought it best to scrap the Modular and Strongbow tent for Saturday. With proceedings kicking off at 2pm and knowing you have to, or rather you should, last until 6am a lot of maths goes into planning how to pace yourself. For example Zombie Disco Squad are playing at 2pm. Should you give them a miss so that you can see the night through? Should you just drink continuously or spread it out over the night? Should you go on the Dodgems on a diet of greasy takeaways?

If the Main stage just blasted out David Guetta's 'Love Is Gone' and Axwell's 'I Found You', I don’t think the crowd would get annoyed. Everytime these songs were dropped it felt like the first time. I couldn’t help but join in with those around me and belt out the misheard lyrics until my vocal cords became sore. After David Guetta’s blinding set, Carl Cox and Morrillo offered the punters some harder house, whilst the rain pelted down for over eight hours.

Basement Jaxx burst onto stage with a retouched version of 'Red Alert'. Everyone knows being right at the front by the barriers is not the best place to be when a headliner comes on; I was reminded of that during the intro of songs from Crazy Itch Radio, 'Rooty' and 'Kish Kash'. It felt like everytime a song was sung Basement Jaxx had traveled to another country, decade and genre and the singers' outfit change for each song kept the audience enthralled. ‘I don't need no tv, I don't need no news, all I need is a bumpin beat to bump away my blues ...’

Now we can’t complain about the sticky mud because Glade and Glasto saw far worse, but the persistent rain proved to be a problem for most. I’m not sure how many people used the Powder room at night (a magical caravan where you can straighten, style and wash your hair - oh and even look in a mirror for £2) but everyone had the same idea of finding shelter in one of the music tents after the Jaxx had finished. A key indicator of a good night or at least a blinding DJ set is when you wake up a two or three days later head humming a song you never even knew existed. For me I woke up on Tuesday with the refrain: ‘What I did was wack, but you don’t get your man back like that’, over a liquid drum'n'bass beat. I figured this was the track DJ Marky dropped, which everyone anticipated would be 'Barcelona' purely because the rest of the night in that tent was a blur. It's only slowly coming back to me. The likes of Friction, TC and MC’s Shabba and Skibadee maintained the harmonious mood and we were happy to ‘ave it’ all night long.

We’re definitely up for Global Gathering 2008; next time we’ll do it right, a decent sized tent, a huge crew and hopefully the waterproofs will stay at home. If you ever see a hoodie with the slogan ‘follow me to global gathering’, I suggest you drop your bags and follow.

article by: Lauren Hamilton