Last year was a genius arrangement in the DV, how they managed to pack in so many stages without much bleed between each venue. This year however, there seemed to be an attempt to provide more space for crowds at each stage. This meant the oxymoronic intimate dance venue, the G Stage was now a stage in front of a big field where you could hear three stages at once. I went along to see Jon Hopkins because he does some nice bassy subtle electronica, but I couldn't really hear him. The funktion-one stacks you could walk up also seemed to be missing. If he'd have played the same stage the previous year there would have been much a smaller space, but a far better sound. This year, the space was much bigger, but rarely full. Personally, I would have spent a lot more time there if the sound was any good.
I'm glad that thing are still being moved around and new approaches taken, the tiny change to The Park made a massive - positive- difference, but I hope that the DV next year relearns some of the sound separation lessons from 2008.
Edited by stuartbert two hats, 05 July 2009 - 12:13 AM.