Before I begin, I apologize for the the total lack of photos that should be accompanying this write up. What can I say? I’m no photographer. To be blunt, the photos I managed to take suck ass and I’d be shaming myself, this magazine and the festival by uploading them. But, I’m sure the reader will be able to find ample photos online.

This year was the 17th Big Chill Festival. If I’m honest, the festival only came to my attention after the editor asked me if I wanted to attend and rep Example. After a quick consultation with Google, I was on it like white on rice.

The Big Chill is located on the green fields of Eastnor Castle Deer Park, which is in Herefordshire. Where’s that? Yeah, I had no idea either. It’s pretty much in the middle between Birmingham and Bristol. This year the festival provided an assortment of musicians and performers, ranging from chart toppers, underground stompers, and the down right weird and wonderful.

After a few hours of train hopping, and a delightful conversation with a random French dude who was also attending the festival, Sam and I made it to Great Malvern. We ventured out in to the quaint village in search of an ale. We found a Waitrose, got a couple of crates of Fosters, a few packs of sausages, a loaf and we were good to go.

We almost got lost, but managed to find our way back to the train station where some coaches awaited us. At this point my arms were pretty much hanging off because of all the shit I had to carry. None the less, we clambered on board and set off for the festival site.

8.30. After getting our press passes we made our way in to the site. We decided to jib off the press camp site and just set up our tent at the first decent speck. We threw the tent up,  listening to Empire Of The Sun echoing on the main stage in the background and then made our way to the stage area.

We strolled around for a little while, taking in the sites and smells, everybody was having fun, laughing, jumping around; happy vibes. It became apparent very quickly that this was going to be a good weekend.

The first tent we came across was labelled The Sound Of The Cosmos. With a name like that you know it’s going to be good. Upon entry I realized that the DJ playing was Swindle. If you don’t know who Swindle is get to know! He played a bangin’ set of funked-out, bass goodness. I found somebody with a program; dude was proper wonky, having the time of his life. XXXY was on on The People’s Ear Stage in an hour or so.

We decided to get high and go and watch The Chemical Brothers on The Deer Park Stage before heading back to the tent for a jumper and some more supplies for the evening.

Upon returning to the stage area we wandered in to the Enchanted Garden and saw a band called Deathray Trebuchay on the Global Local stage. What a wacky band! Instrumental Ska music with, I’m not sure what else. Whatever it was, it was awesome!

Time had got away from us. We quickly made our way to see XXXY but he’d already been on. Scuba was now playing. I wasn’t feeling it. He was playing Techno or something along those lines. It was boring whatever it was, and he looked miserable as well. Very dull indeed. We got out of there quick time.

I can’t remember what happened after that. My memory is a bit shit. I guess we walked around for a while and then went back to The People’s Ear Stage to catch Digital Mystikz. Need I say more? They smashed it as usual and closed the set with Out In The Streets by Africa Hitech. It went off!

The best hot chocolate ever, a doobe and bed is what followed.

The next morning; sausage butties, tea and a spliff. Followed by a shower and a piss in the worst toilets I’ve ever been in. It was a cesspool. Literally. I could see shit floating around beneath me. Not good after you’ve just ate a couple of sausage butties.

Kormac’s Big Band started the day off right! Excellent live Swing music with a sprinkle of Hip Hop and a splash of House. Old people, young people, strange people, all having a good time and getting down to the sound; awesome stuff!

Mr Scruff’s Tea Tent was our next port of call. A delightful cookie and classic cup of tea while it briefly drizzled.

The man that is Kutmah pleasured my ear drums afterwards. A fantastic display of Juke, Dubstep, Hip Hop and some other mad music. A great performance, just a shame more people weren’t there to experience it.

We headed back to the tent in order to sink some cans. Submotion Orchestra followed. That group get better every time I see them. Simply an amazing performance. Everybody was in to it.

I hate Kanye West. But he was playing the main stage afterwards. I had to see him so I could verify everything I thought about him. He came on... half an hour late. I’ll give props where they’re deserved. The introduction performance was awesome. Everything was awesome, until he came on. He performed a couple of songs and then started waffling shit. So much shit. I could smell it through the speakers. Kanye West - definition; twat!

Following that awful display of ego we went to The People’s Ear Stage to catch, what was surprisingly my highlight of the weekend, Buraka Som Sistema. These guys kicked so much ass! They put on one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. The crowd interaction was fantastic. They managed to convince no less than 15 young ladies to get on stage and shake it for a while before blasting everybody with some super soakers. Oh yeah, the music they played was sick too! If your not acquainted with that group I highly recommend checking out their music, and if they’re performing near you any time soon go and watch them! It’ll be well worth it! Buraka Som Sistema is what happens when you live in a country with no definitive EDM scene, take whatever the hell you want from all the electronic music you enjoy, and mash it all together. What you get is a whole world of awesome!

2 Many DJs entertained us for a while, they were pretty good. Afterwards we caught the end of Lil Silva’s set, which was also pretty good. I’ll be looking in to him in the future.

From here on out it was ragga muffin time. Gentlemen’s Dub Club rocked it for a while, before Congo Natty took to the stage. Ganja spliffs all around, everybody getting down to the earthy vibes, a very pleasant couple of hours.

Hot chocolate and bed.

The sun blazed as we walked around the following afternoon. We revisited Mr Scruff’s Tea Tent. This time I indulged in some exceptional fruit cake with lemon icing, and a mint and chili cup of tea. Splendid!

A whole crate of Fosters still remained. We went back to try and polish them off. An interesting performance from King Midas Sound followed. The tent was pretty empty, and I’m not a massive fan of them to be honest but it was interesting none the less.

After getting something to eat we returned to catch Four Tet. Boring as anything. I know he’s a head in the scene but sorry, I don’t get star struck, his set lacked any type of soul and diversity.

We took another stroll. Walking around was one of my favourite things to do at this festival. There were so many different types of people, all having a proper laugh, really enjoying themselves. Families, young people, old people and down right odd people. It was great!

Again we returned to The People’s Ear Stage. Julio Bashmore killed it. He played some extremely smooth House music. I don’t even like House and it was awesome! Simple, uplifting, floaty four to the floor business.

We moved to The Sounds Of The Cosmos tent to catch Ben UFO. To my delight Pangea and Ben UFO were going back to back. The mixing was second to none. Great technical ability, great track selection. Just really great! Out of nowhere a fight broke out. Some twats fighting over a girl. The MC was having none of it and quickly had them escorted out of the tent, but unfortunately it was too late, the mood had died.

The weekend ended with a great performance from Jamie XX, and it really was a great performance. Great skills on the decks, some really good music, and the tent was well and truly packed! Sweaty times! The only criticism is his set got a bit mono at the end. He could of change it up a bit. But oh well.

Hot chocolate and bed!

We awoke the next day to find half of the people had already got off. We sorted ourselves out quick time and followed suit!

The Big Chill is a great festival. Music for everybody. Food for everybody. Happy vibes all around, and with a conscious green and ethical effort running through out. If anybody wants to have fun, enjoy some good music and be in the company of equally happy people then I highly recommend you go to this next year!