Bloom Festival 2007

United Kingdom | by Henry Norman | 15 August 2007

Nominated for 'Best New Festival' by this very website last year, Bloom has since moved to a new site, the stunning Dyrham Park situated between Bristol and Bath, to offer some joy, at last, to local party people after the washouts at Glastonbury and Ashton Court.

The first thing that strikes you upon entering is the beauty, and strangeness, of the location. The actual stately home remains open for the weekend and we have to drive through an array of pensioners and scouts to get to the grounds. Once inside the clientele changes somewhat. Fortunately there are no chavved up gurners, everyone is up for it from the off and the lack of hard dance acts on the bill have placed the emphasis on a friendly vibe.

Making my way to see the Soul II Soul Soundsystem I'm immediately distracted by the MC and beatbox duo in the Funk Bar. Being one of those people who views beatboxing as an interesting diversion, I'm surprised when a stomping mosh pit breaks out for their rendition of the White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’, a performance which sets the tone for the entire weekend as bouncing punters lap up a constant diet of party favourites and club classics.

A rather bored looking Jazzy B continues this ethos with a set that ranges from Snap to James Brown via Nirvana. The White Stripes are once again at the fore as the bootleg of the aforementioned track crosses with Public Enemy’s ‘Bring the Noise’, sending the team of burlesque dancers behind me gyrating wildly. A great party set it is but the fact it's billed as a live performance makes it slightly disappointing that Jazzy is restricted to deck duties. However, the appearance of a female vocalist for ‘Keep on Moving’ and closing tune ‘Back to Life’ almost atones for the big man’s less than enthusiastic demeanour, especially after accidentally stopping the CD player at one point.

Rather more animated are Pendulum during their awesome DJ set in the Breaks Bubble. Kicking off with an array of their own tunes spliced with Prodigy bootlegs (there seems to be some unwritten law that every DJ must play at least one tune by the rave pioneers at some stage) the breaks and drum'n'bass keeps things pounding. By the time they’ve got through ‘X Ray’ by Sub Focus (who has strangely disappeared from the bill) and finish on their own ‘Slam’, the only concern is that the whole festival may have peaked too early.

However, a trip back to the Funk Bar sees the Dub Pistols pick up the baton with a breaks heavy DJ set, and by the time I find myself staggering around to ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials and ‘Street Tuff’ by the Rebel MC it isn’t quite clear whether it's still them or Bugz in the Attic at the helm. I spot Phil Hartnoll dancing to a remix of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ but after that it all goes a bit hazy…

Returning on Sunday with a slightly clearer head, the site has emptied somewhat, though those who remain are determined to squeeze every last drop out of the weekend. A late afternoon DJ set by Altern-8 sees the Breaks Bubble go from bare to banging in 60 seconds. Instead of sticking strictly to rave, he plays a superbly varied dance retrospective that takes in New Order, Orbital and even Gary Numan without ever straying too far from the likes of Bizarre Inc and SL2. The gloriously silly vibe is personified by that man dressed as a giant banana grooving, shouting and occasionally performing press-ups on stage.

Ed209 capitalises on the large crowd who’ve assembled and takes things up a notch with some more bass-heavy breaks, with opening track Pendulum’s ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’ making up the minds of any who have considered leaving after the exit of the rave legend. The MC (who strangely resembles a
chaved up Dr. Fox) ups the ante a few more notches and I finally stagger out across a floor littered with nitrous oxide canisters and spent balloons with a big a smile on my face.

My weekend at Bloom ends with a visit to the main stage to see Phil Hartnoll’s new project, Long Range. Something of a departure for the ex-Orbital man, the live outfit features three synth operators backed by a live drummer. However, the most notable aspect of their sound is the heavy reliance on sampled female vocals that become a tad overbearing during the early tracks. But as the sun sets they respond to shouts of '666”', not with a rendition of ‘Satan’, but of the equally classic ‘Brown Album’ staple ‘Remind’. Some guitar heavy breaks finish the set off in style and even inspire some admirable Russian dancing from a nearby punter.

Despite a couple of minor reservations – the main stage is deserted for large periods before dark and one friend who attended all three days complained there was little to do during the day – this budding new festival has to go down as nothing short of a huge success. You can’t buy a good atmosphere at a festival, but the organisers certainly helped to engender one by providing a thoroughly unpretentious music policy that seemed to bring the best out in people. As everyone I spoke to expressed an intention to return next year, Bloom is one event that looks certain to grow and grow.