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home » festivals » The Big Chill » Big Chill @ Eastnor Castle 2006
Saturday overviewBig Chill @ Eastnor Castle reviewsWednesday 9th August 2006 Saturday dawns and I am still a little hung over from the day before so when a friend suggests I come along to check out Adem, another nu-folk band on the Village Green Stage, this sounds like a plan. Adem's contribution to the New Acoustic Movement is beautiful and this set out and out proves it as the beautifully played folk guitars and that mournful, lived in voice jostle for position with the prominently placed glockenspiel and soft keyboards. Once again there are some soundclash issues with the beats emanating from the Media Mix tent (please can you move it next year Big Chill organisers?) but these are nothing compared to what Tuung were up against the day before and so the band and audience choose to just ignore them. Not hard with such lovely melodies ringing in your ears! I think I will have to buy the album... Back at the Open Air Stage and daisy-age hiphop favourites Arrested Development are playing a fabulously fun set packed with old hits like Everyday People and Tenessee as well as a gorgeous cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song that I heard many people speak of as their song of the festival. The band succeed in getting the Open Air Stage crowd on their feet and dancing - no mean feat for an audience so intent on reclining on picnic blankets. This has to be one of my sets of the festival and no mistake. The band make a joyous sound and the festivallers love it. Having no idea who is on next we decide to check out Fink on the Castle Stage as a. it is very near and we've been drinking again and b. we read he's signed to our favourite lable, Ninja Tune. According to the programme, we are to "expect smoky, urban blues-tinged acoustic joy" and they are not wrong. This sweet acoustic set from the knob-twiddler-turned-string-strummer surprised us all and was another highlight of my weekend - yet another album I have to buy! After all the soundclashing at the Village Green Stage I feel a little resentful towards the Media Mix Tent, but we head there anyway to see a little something from the Blue Man Group. A West-End show is not your usual festival fodder, but the Blue Man Group have agreed to do two short shows for the Big Chill this year and our late afternoon show (billed as "The Family Show") is packed to the rafters, complete with bun fights between those who want to stand up behind the soundstage and those behind them who want to sit. I had no idea what to expect from this show, but it is an audio visual extravaganza of paint-splattered spectacle and beat-driven drumming delights from the three main performers backed with live band. This is turning out to be a top festival day out! More drinks are required after the crazy blue men - we drank ourselves dry before they even came onstage - so it's over to the 24hr Cafe area that Leeds and Hull's funkywormhole sound system have made their own. As a former Hullite myself, it gives me a warm, fluffy glow to see a local crew hosting a whole arena at a big festival, especially as West Country sectogenarian-selector-in-a-cardigan DJ Derek is playing his classic reggae and ska tunes (lovingly transfered from his vinyl collection to minidisk, bless him) to a packed house there. We stay for a bop and a Kingston Lemonade or two before grabbing a bite to eat (pie again - it's yum!) before Quantic's set on the club tent. Tru Thought's goose that laid the golden eggs, Will "Quantic" Holland, is playing one of his trademark sets, ripping through laidback hiphop, jazzy drum & bass, intelligent breaks and plenty of his own stuff. This set is great to listen to and should also be great on the dancefloor in theory but it's somehow less than the sum of its parts. We make a enthused start at busting some moves but quickly lose interest and no one's quite sure why. Maybe it's just that we spotted someone selling "festival balloon animals" but we are soon far more interested in sitting outside giggling like 6-year-olds than intelligent jazzed up beats. After our self-induced fit of hysteria has passed we decide we have all seen Mr Scruff, excellent though he is, many times before and so head off to the Southern Comfort Fat Tuesday Bar to see DJ Format. The Fat Tuesday DJ bar was a favourite haunt of ours last Big Chill, but this year even Format's block-rocking hiphop fails to excite us and we head back up the sizable hill to bed-fordshire. review by Lynsey Haire
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