29 July 2010

Wasing Estate, Aldermaston.
18th - 20th July 2008

Glade has just clinched the award for Best Electronic Dance Music Festival in Britain and is considered by many as the place to be, but does it live up to the hype? I grabbed my wellies, packed my bags and decided to investigate.

Glade isn’t a small festival, and in fact when compared to other underground dance music festies it’s one of the biggest. Glade started as a separate stage at Glastonbury in 2001 and specialised in playing epic tunes from the underground dance music scene. In 2004 the Glade stage had become so popular that it went solo and evolved into the Glade Festival that we know and love today. The line up for 2008 looked incredible and the whole thing promised to be a festival like no other.

With Words & pics: Will Poole
Film: Gungho Mediamusic blaring out the windows we raced down the motorway, boot stuffed with anything deemed useful for spending the next four days partying it up in the fields of West Berkshire. A cheer went up when we finally caught a glimpse of the signs pointing the way to Glade. We had arrived, the shuttle had landed, and we piled out to the noise of other excited party people. The crowd Glade pulls is like no other; an amazing mix of hippies, ravers and alternatives from across the board, all here to contribute to an electrically-charged atmosphere.

When we were all unpacked and with the tent set up, we couldn’t help but feel the buzz of anticipation. The sun was out and campers were playing and frolicking all around us. It is a hard feeling to put across, but we felt a warm sensation come across us – for once the rumours were true. I grabbed my camera and set off down the hill. Glade itself is situated in a natural amphitheatre with the camping area on the side of the hill, facing down towards the main tents at the bottom. The main tents were huge; each one had its own theme and colossal speaker system – my kind of place. We had arrived on the Thursday so the tents themselves were not operational yet, but everything looked set and primed. I began my walk along the path that leads in front of the tents. The flags of Glade lined the hills above and below, no corner had been left untouched by creative hands, and a huge effort had gone into making this place as beautiful and festive as possible. We walked past the many sights and lush smells of the organic and veggie stalls that littered the sidewalk. All tastes were catered for and it was a great relief to see that the food looked like it hadn’t been regurgitated, and actually looked half-decent. To our other side different stalls drew us in, containing all manner of hippy wear and carnival clothing. I found myself trying on all sorts of crazy hats and jackets, but before I could wrestle my wallet out of my pocket and ask “how much?” my eye caught sight of the Origin Stage and its Funktion One 5 surround sound system. I began to dribble. My friends had caught me up by this point and had to drag me away.

At the end of the walk we came upon the Inspiral Café. The Inspiral group are the trademark of quality – wherever they are I know I probably should be. I took a seat outside in what could be described as a psychedelic Japanese garden. All sorts of décor hung in the grove. Colour changing plinths resembling things only seen on other worlds grew out of the floor. In the sky elastic white material weaved itself around, creating all sorts of odd shapes. The café itself was full of healthy organic food of different varieties, colours and smells. As we relaxed, downtempo music lazily drifted across the sound waves. We sat back and watched as variety of hula hoopers and poi spinners performed, casually pulling off great tricks of precision. We were the absolute definition of chilled. If Glade was this and only this, I would have been happy.

Fast forward to Friday morning. The loud bass awoke us with a start. It felt like someone had picked up our tent and put it in front of a speaker. Rise and shine, party time! Groggy and unenergetic from the previous night’s tomfoolery, I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to sleep over the coming nights. Maybe I just wouldn’t, maybe I would just pass out on the dance floor? Who knows. The sound of bass called out to us and before we knew it we were dressed, fed and making our way down towards the action.

Most of the tents were open and we dived in and out of them like bees, sampling the nectar within. The sounds were pumping and the crowds with them. I can’t describe how much fun it was grooving away to some of our favourite acts with a crowd of like-minded people. Every now and then, when our bodies could take no more we returned back to Inspiral and the comfort of grassy floor. This continued all day, we really couldn’t get enough of it. Night fell and the lights lit up the festival once again, painting the trees and the surrounding tents with their ambient glow. By now, the many larger tents were open and this truly was when Glade came into it’s own.

The light shows were spectacular and the bass moved my entire body with a force so strong it quite literally shook the earth. The acts were immense, with each tent playing its own style of butt-shaking tunes. The Liquid tent played foot stomping psytrance, the Overkill tent quite literally killed, the Glade stage played tunes from right across the board, and this then led us into the Vapour Stage later in the night (which couldn’t fail to impress) and finally we ended up at my favourite, the Origin Stage. The speaker system worked exactly as I had imagined it and my body was thrown into some sort of physical fit. The best of psychedelic scene was being poured out across the dance floor and the crowd loved it almost as much as I did.

Three days of absolute pleasure later, I was lying on my back on the bank of a hill, body broken, feet sore, but totally satisfied. The thought of packing up and leaving was an unhappy one and something I was just not ready for. As tents went down all around as fast as they went up, I watched as the happy campers began driving away. Now I understood why Glade was indeed the event everyone had made it out to be. Glade encompassed everything good about a festival, and then some. It featured great music and an amazing atmosphere. Also, I couldn’t help wonder at its potential for the future, as now that it had the fundamentals sorted there was so much more it was now able to explore.

It’s now almost a year later and Glade’s 6th festival is nearly upon us, and this time they have announced some interesting changes. More details
This year's Glade is 16-19 July 09
Website: www.gladefestival.comThey are actually dividing the festival into two events, each with its own style. They also have a new location which allows them to go even louder, longer and later. With top acts such as Underworld, Squarepusher and Booka Shade headlining, it promises to be immense and they are also going to include more small activities to keep people entertained. All of this combined really does give you the feeling that they are going back to their free party roots. It looks like I have no choice but to make that journey back to Glade once again.

Click here to watch Infected Media's interview with Nick Ladd, co-founder of Glade.

To view all images from Glade 2008 click the image below.