So Tired 2! Global Gathering July 2005
Friday daytime was a long lie in after the tour of over-hyped bars of Southampton (perhaps more booze was needed) and enduring the worst of Sky digital daytime TV. Steve & Sam being Sky virgins couldn't get enough of it forcing me to do tidying up and other errands to keep me sane. We left for Stratford-upon-Avon direction around 3:30pm and squeezed all 4 of us into Kerry's temp car, the Hyundai Coupe. After seeing the most idyllic country villages ever, being stuck behind one too many German tourists and getting a little car sick from the curvey, hilly roads we finally saw the site of Global Gathering. Somehow I think the organisers only considered drivers to come from the motorway as there was only one direction sign which pointed to the carpark!
After parking, we starred in disbelief at the queue to get in to Global Gathering. It was at least 6 people wide and about 1km long. A closer look at those queuing we noticed alot of camping equipment being carried. I then asked a ticket tout if there was another queue. As soon as I heard his accent I knew his answer would have to be taken with huge pot of salt. Luckily the scouse was right and a 10 minute walk past a graveyard of old planes and helicopters came to another f*cking big queue.
With the eyes on the prize of Underworld starting at 9:30pm and us starting to queue at 6:45pm we made very slow progress as aparently the police and stewards wanted to search everyone of those 70,000 people turning up! After 30 minutes, the crowd started turning sour with some starting booing, whistling and chanting, progressing into everyone turning vocal. Another 4 or 5 outbursts later we still queuing. What was even worse was the people who were camping had to be searched then dump their stuff and rejoin another queue to get in! If you'd forgotten a part of your ticket after that - you're f*cked!
At 7:40pm we saw the finish line and prepared to be searched only to find that we could go in without any checks at all! Muppets!
A sausage and chip tea for an outrageous £4 followed by a visit to the main stage and checked out the 'beach' whilst Mylo was DJing on Tong's show. Then 2 Many Djs came on with a great set though werecarfefull not to mash the crowd before Underworld.
9:30pm and we were ready. Starting with a new track the output sounded like a bad tape recording with Karl's voice almost muffled. Older tunes were brought in to gee up the crowd which were very much welcomed and the visuals kicked in as well as Karl dancing like a loon. Good to see Darren Price as official band member who provided some singing on a new track which was crowd approved. Backscreen has live feed from both the mixing desk and Karl's microphone. Last few tunes were Born Slippy and Jumbo (I think), a nice but quiet track. Overall very good - pictures to follow.
Like Homelands, everything was pale in the wake of Underworld but our mission was to see Deep Dish at 12:30am. The waiting period was filled by Roger Sanchez in a vast tent. Atmosphere was slightly lacking because of the volume levels so we moved up closer plus too many girly vocals. More tribal sounds came in guaranteed our attention and stay until DD came on who played a good set. The only let down was a couple of tracks such as the Dire Straits bootleg of Flashdance, playing a Fleetwood Mac housed up track and f*cking remix of Coldpay's Speed of Light right at the end. Pleased the uneducated crowd but pi$$ed alot of music snobs like myself.
After parking, we starred in disbelief at the queue to get in to Global Gathering. It was at least 6 people wide and about 1km long. A closer look at those queuing we noticed alot of camping equipment being carried. I then asked a ticket tout if there was another queue. As soon as I heard his accent I knew his answer would have to be taken with huge pot of salt. Luckily the scouse was right and a 10 minute walk past a graveyard of old planes and helicopters came to another f*cking big queue.
With the eyes on the prize of Underworld starting at 9:30pm and us starting to queue at 6:45pm we made very slow progress as aparently the police and stewards wanted to search everyone of those 70,000 people turning up! After 30 minutes, the crowd started turning sour with some starting booing, whistling and chanting, progressing into everyone turning vocal. Another 4 or 5 outbursts later we still queuing. What was even worse was the people who were camping had to be searched then dump their stuff and rejoin another queue to get in! If you'd forgotten a part of your ticket after that - you're f*cked!
At 7:40pm we saw the finish line and prepared to be searched only to find that we could go in without any checks at all! Muppets!
A sausage and chip tea for an outrageous £4 followed by a visit to the main stage and checked out the 'beach' whilst Mylo was DJing on Tong's show. Then 2 Many Djs came on with a great set though werecarfefull not to mash the crowd before Underworld.
9:30pm and we were ready. Starting with a new track the output sounded like a bad tape recording with Karl's voice almost muffled. Older tunes were brought in to gee up the crowd which were very much welcomed and the visuals kicked in as well as Karl dancing like a loon. Good to see Darren Price as official band member who provided some singing on a new track which was crowd approved. Backscreen has live feed from both the mixing desk and Karl's microphone. Last few tunes were Born Slippy and Jumbo (I think), a nice but quiet track. Overall very good - pictures to follow.
Like Homelands, everything was pale in the wake of Underworld but our mission was to see Deep Dish at 12:30am. The waiting period was filled by Roger Sanchez in a vast tent. Atmosphere was slightly lacking because of the volume levels so we moved up closer plus too many girly vocals. More tribal sounds came in guaranteed our attention and stay until DD came on who played a good set. The only let down was a couple of tracks such as the Dire Straits bootleg of Flashdance, playing a Fleetwood Mac housed up track and f*cking remix of Coldpay's Speed of Light right at the end. Pleased the uneducated crowd but pi$$ed alot of music snobs like myself.
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