intro / Friday

There was a serious buzz around the Glade festival this year. 2004’s first Glade festival for just 5,500 has become something of a legend amongst those who were lucky enough to be there, meaning tickets for the 2005 event sold out in double quick time even after the festival’s capacity was upped to 8,500. In a bid to discourage gatecrashers following the scrabble for tickets, the festival’s location was kept secret from ticket holders until the last minute, creating an unusual and exciting mystique around the event.

A spin-off of the dance area of the same name at Glastonbury, Glade festival is run by some of the most well-respected travelling sound systems around, including London’s Sancho Panza House crew, the South African Origin Psy-Trance collective and Brighton’s LittleBig Electronica outfit. With most of the festival’s organisers more used to putting on free parties than licensed festivals, there was once again a very definite alternative D.I.Y. vibe to this festival.

I started my weekend in the Main Dance tent with live Breaks from Australians, Infusion. Kicking off their set with Push Us Down, the 5-piece live band rocked the crowd with tracks from recent album, Six Feet Above Yesterday. Girls Can Be So Cruel was also a highlight of this guitar-driven breakbeat set, given a live rework for the extremely appreciative audience.

Hexstatic was also a major highlight this weekend. This cut n paste set from the Ninja Tune electro producer got off to a very dramatic start, before getting into a fun and somewhat random mix, including We Will Rock You and the odd Shirley Bassey number! After this Friday gets a little hazy. People tell me Sasha was something of a let-down, playing a set that it was widely agreed “didn’t go anywhere”, while the line-up in the Breaksday tent changed so completely compared to the programme listings, that most people I spoke to had no idea whatsoever who they had seen that day.

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