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| GetLoaded in the Park |
Date: Sunday 28th August 2005
Address:
Clapham Common, London
Occurrence: Annual
Hours: 12noon – 9pm
Ticket Price: £25
Genre: Various
Dress Code: Don't be silly!
Capacity: 20,000 |
So, it was back again to Clapham Common for the second instalment of the Bank Holiday Weekender, following hot on the heels from yesterdays excellent SW4 festival. Today was the turn of Get Loaded in the Park, and the sun was already splitting the skies when we arrived. An added bonus was the absence of any queue to get in, despite the event selling out for the 2nd consecutive year. Such a better start to the day than yesterday, and I couldn’t wait!
Once inside it got even better. We were in the VIP area and got free food and drink all day! Sorry to gloat, but it was lovely and the toilets were rather posh too!
Today was more band orientated than yesterday, but still DJ orientated too, if you get what I mean? Probably not, but Armand Van Helden and Fatboy Slim were in the Southern Fried Chicken tent, Oaky was on the main stage and bands both old and new were playing on the Main Stage and the Get Loaded tent. There were also rare DJ sets from Snow Patrol and Elbow plus others like Mani (ex-Stone Roses now Primal Scream) and Clint Boon (ex-Inspiral Carpets). On top of all this, The Happy Mondays were headlining the Main Stage, so there was definitely a bit of a Madchester theme going on!
Oh No! Back down to earth with a bang as I noticed that Oaky was scheduled for only half an hour! Not happy! Never mind, definitely better than not having him there at all; better make the most of it!
It looked like the whole of the 20,000 strong crowd had gathered in front of the main stage as Oaky came on at 15.40 pm. As ever he was full of theatre, playing some dance remixes of old Indie tunes (I think?) plus a few big summer tunes like Martin Solveig’s Everybody, The Bodyrockers and UNKLE’s Reign. The setting and the atmosphere was perfect, his set was building nicely and then it was time for him to come off!
We then went to the very busy Southern Fried Chicken Tent where we saw Annie Mac from Radio 1 play some nice upbeat tunes. I hadn’t heard of some of the guys that followed her, but there was a good variety of music to keep everyone entertained. I love the tents at festivals, even more so than the man stage, as the atmosphere is always electric, although it does get very hot!
We left the tent for a bit, did the customary tour, taking advantage of the free Strongbow and Lipton Ice Tea on offer, and then we made our way back in plenty of time for Armand Van Helden; or so we thought! Oh…….. My…….. God………..!!!! You couldn’t get within 20 yards of the entrance, it was literally gridlocked. We somehow sneaked in through the outdoor, as Touche was finishing, and the tent was already jumping. There was a slight delay to the start of Armand’s set due to the large crowd, but Song 2 got everyone going again, and he proceeded to give the best set of the day, while sporting a very nice tank top that your granny might have knitted! There were lots of energetic big bass house and remixes of popular rock tunes, like AC/DC’s Highway to Hell and Nirvana’s Teen Spirit, plus his own Into My Eyes. His mixing was exceptional, and one moment where he briefly dropped in the riff from Eye of the Tiger was amazing.
At 18.45, the dude came back on the mic to announce that Fatboy Slim would now be playing on the Main Stage… in 5 minutes! Quick! They had to cut Fatboy Slim and The Happy Mondays sets short by about half an hour each, but for safety reasons it made perfect sense.
Yesterday, we got flowing seamless mixing from the likes of Sasha and Digweed, but nothing to set your pants on fire. Today, we had Norman Cook, who gave an excellent demo in rocking a crowd. He does mostly short mixes, focusing solely on entertainment and the music. He plays just about anything and everything, has a big smile on his face and is always animated, drawing huge cheers from the appreciative crowd. Now surely that’s what a DJ is supposed to do? Tunes that I remember were Basement Jaxx - Do Your Thing and his own Star 69.
The Mondays then came on last, in front of a massive crowd, as the heat from the sun began to fade. Not sure what to say really? They were alright. We couldn’t hear Sean Ryder very well, as they played some new songs amidst their old favourites and for some reason they played Step On half an hour before the end. Their songs are mainly cool indie anthems, not exactly showstoppers; perhaps it would have been better with Mr Cook headlining? However, it was good to see them again, they are still clearly very popular and we hope that there new songs can match up to the glory days of Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches.
Much preferred today to yesterday. More of a party vibe and good fun, plus the music wasn’t as serious or underground. Director Danny Newman sums it up well by saying that Get Loaded was about having fun, and seeing lots of smiley faces around the site. Can back him up 100% on that one! It was also quite a pioneering event, with very well known bands giving rare DJ performances alongside some superstar DJs.
To finish, an unexpected highlight then awaited me as I inadvertently met my DJ hero: Paul Oakenfold! Wow!!! Now that is major for me, and I often pondered what I’d say if I ever got the chance. Whatever I had dreamt up didn’t really come out, as I mumbled a few incomprehensible words, but he was very nice and happily gave me a picture and autograph. Cheers Oaky! A perfect end to a great day.
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Venue: 9
Music: 8
Crowd: 10
Sound System: 8
Total: 35 / 40
Rating: Gold Award |
| Review written by:
Kevin Boyle |
kevin@uk-cl.co.uk |
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