Global gathering is a yearly dance festival renown for it’s wild atmosphere and being held across the world in various locations such as Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and England. This years England festival (held at Long Marston Airfield in Stratford Upon Aven as usual) boasted a mass array of popular dance artists such as Pendulum, Chase & Status, Shrillex and even Tinie Tempah stretched over the last Friday and Saturday of July (29th & 30th) and 7 stages.
With weekend tickets from just £99 it’s affordable for everyone, however it also offers a VIP experience for an extra £76 which gives goers the following benefits:
• Fast Track Admission
• Priority Parking in the VIP car park adjacent to the entrance
• Separate Campsite exclusively for VIP ticket holders
• Exclusive access to the VIP Area
• Luxury toilet, washroom and shower facilities
• Sheltered seating areas
• Access to the VIP Fields (chill-out area)
• Access to the exclusive VIP Clubhouse
• Access to the VIP Woods
After hearing the garage rapper was playing I was honestly expecting some kind of reworked ‘Dy-na-mi-tee’ with a better instrumental. However what the crowd were given was better than that, coming on stage with a flow of hair and numerous dance songs that incorperated different genres such as hip-hop, grime and drum n bass it’s easy to say that she’s grown up since she first bounded onto the scene back in 2001.
The house and trance DJ provided such a set that the whole arena was practically dancing, even he was stood up there smiling away and bobbing his head. Blasting through his hits such as ‘Timezone’ and ‘Love Is Darkness’ the crowd was practically swaying with the beat of the music, even if you’re not one for house he still puts on such a show that it’s worth coming to.
The godfathers of grime make an appearence that goes unforgotten, JME, Skepta, Frisco, Jammer, Maximum and Shorty all come onstage in a show that I’d never even thought of attending before Global Gathering.
Even songs like ‘Too many man’ which I previously thought were stupid provided something to dance to, which was surprising as I actually enjoyed it and i’m sure any other skeptics will too.
At first i had no idea what ‘Epic Show’ was, however I very soon discovered it was a groundbreaking show featuring holographic, 3D technology and a huge structure that extends out into the crowd. As soon as I saw the sheer effort gone into the show I knew this wasn’t going to be any normal Eric Prydz show just featuring ‘Call on me’ and ‘Pjanoo’ and ofcourse it wasn’t. The man who also goes by the name of Pryda and Cirez D played a set of remixes in a show that really took house to the next level.
Headlining the Rinse stage I honestly expected better from the dubstep duo, there too many cheesy remixes such as one of ‘Rage Against The Machine – Killing in the name of’ dragging an already overplayed song on for too long. Nothing really seemed to get the crowd moving that much and it was just lacking a certain touch; more bass maybe?
After seeing Pendulum 3 times last year I thought i’d be bored of the same setlist, but each song sounded fresh as ever. Mostly drawing from their latest album ‘Immersion‘ they played about 7 songs including my favourites ‘The Vulture’, ‘Slam’ and ‘Propane Nightmares’. As expected there were mosh pits however they were less violent than the previous Pendulum pits i’d encountered which is always a good thing, the crowd seems constantly on edge and shout for more with each short silence. Overall I think that they definitely made the night, being on the only outdoor stage just made it even better.
Saturday review coming tomorrow (Wednesday 3rd August).
