Godskitchen Global Gathering (Festivals in general)

Member Name: CIDDJO

Product:	Festivals in general
Date:	05/08/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: top DJs, fantastic atmosphere, good range of music

Disadvantages: paying for a play list, open to the elements chill out tent

GODSKITCHEN GLOBAL GATHERING@LONG MARSTON AIRFIELD 28/07/01

Godskitchen, the renowned dance club pioneers collaborated with top names Sidewinder (Garage), Helter Skelter (Drum'n'Bass), Tidy Trax (Hard House) amongst others to make the Global Gathering a dance extravaganza to go down in festival history. The flyer promised 15 hours of live DJs in 6 arenas, 25 000 people, hair raising fair ground rides, and plenty of visual stimulation - we got all that and loads more.

It started at 4pm on a gloriously sunny Saturday and in the traffic queue for car parking i could see and hear the fest kicking off in the distance,
tempting me with sound and smells of a fantastic night ahead. I had that
excited knot of festival anticipation in my stomach that made me want to
selfishly beat my way out of that greenhouse on wheels and race like a
greyhound on amphetamines down the road to get inside and become part of the atmosphere. Thousands of steaming, sweaty bodies united with glow sticks and horns pulsing together like an army, paying homage to the euphoric, heart altering beats and basslines that are the rave culture.

Being up for a bit of everything, i homed in on personal favourite, Helter
Skelter's 'Accelerated Culture' Drum'n'Bass tent. Catching the end of DJ
Zinc's set and most of Bad Company's i started to feel the vibe and became
rooted as i surrendered my body and soul to the music. The experimental
videos that were showing on massive screens above our heads combined with the beats and sent me into a crazy psychedelic trance, another world of vivid colours and indistinguishable shapes that provided way to much inspiration for me to process all at once. I was dragged kicking and screaming (not to be mistaken for my unique dancing style of course!) back out into the blindingly bright daylight to experience the thrill of being dropped 100ft on a freefall fair ride, and was de
lighted to find that someone had vomited in my sensibly abandoned trainers (a shoe flying through the air from 100ft could hit someone with the weight of a brick) - how attractive.

With my foot resting in a spiky bed of grass i headed for the Strongbow
Loafing Lounge that was playing chilled out house and latin beats to the
hoards that were feeding on free Strongbow. I felt like a celeb at a film
launch as i pranced past security and up the over-lit steps and found a photo opportunity in front of a bubbling glass tube...well i thought i was amusing anyway!

I shimmied my way into the Tidy Trax Hard House tent to find diva DJs Lisa Lashes and Anne Savage battling it out back to back proudly holding up the female front and giving it LARGE. I was overwhelmed by the whole atmosphere, loads of people all loving it and giving it stacks. Next, back to Accelerated Culture to watch Mampi Swift bang it out followed by Roni Size who played a blinding past, present, and future set. Other sets from the night to remember were Fergie in the Godskitchen arena who packed it out completely, those who couldn't get inside were going for it outside instead, and Ray Keith who looked way too fresh to have been up all night, giving a grand finale in the Accelerated Culture tent, ripping it out with an Old Skool set.

There were loads of food stands selling all varieties of cuisine at
reasonable prices, i indulged myself midway through the mayhem with some tomato soup and a veggie wrap all for £4 - nay bad eh!?! The chill-out tent was a rather small and open to the elements affair - blinking chandeliers powered by a dodgy generator drove everyone mad as they desperately tried to cram in a doze before venturing back out into the steaming pits that were the dance tents. Blanket and cushion hire was a necessary novelty for clubbers scantily clad in hotpants and skimpy bikini tops, especially as the layers of sweat chilled them to the bone on t
he torturous journeys between the tents and the toilets (which might i add were pretty clean and FLUSHED...OH MI GOSH!!).

Official merchandise was on the expensive side, a souvenir programme that hung round the neck was a face slapping £6 and it was the ONLY way to know who was playing, where and when....a clever money making scheme on their behalf but a bit of a cheek considering the tickets cost a gruesome £39.50 plus booking fee.

The 3 hour wait to get out of the car park was the only downer of the
festival but armed with massive bags of munches we were well prepared to sit it out. Considering The wide variety of dance music genres on offer and the top name DJs that played, the tickets were pretty good value for money although i think that the ticket price should have included a play list. I had an absolutely fantastic time, that atmosphere is incomparable and i wouldn't hesitate to go again. One last thought....it was i who broke out of my car in the traffic queue and ran frantically to that cowshed to go to the loo!!!

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