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Hi:Fi (South) 2006

Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th May 2006
Matterley Bowl near Winchester, Hants, England MAP
£99 (both days) or £54.50 for either day

So Hi Fi South, my first festival of the summer, a nice easy two dayer and best of all real live drums not synthed ones around for the addition of a live stage. Without it I never would have gone. But I had a great time and will be returning next year, a brilliant relaxed atmosphere and some great acts. A festival which reminded me of old Glastonbury, dance acts and live bands sharing a festival and stages, it may not have been busy but it was a great weekend, a wonderful start to the summer. Perhaps dance crowds are dwindling but this festival shows the future. It even converted me back to dance music inspite of hearing Black Box’s ‘Ride on Time’ nine times in two days.

Yup despite my years and lovin’ the rave culture of the early nineties, I’d never been to the site Matterley Bowl near Winchester before for Homelands and not gone to a pure dance festival since an early Global Gathering. But the thought of some good live acts had tempted me there and I thought I might possibly take in some dance acts too.

With a well laid out clean site, surrounded by trees and good toilets, no queues and food and stalls aplenty the only downside being a lack of proper seating when the ground was wet and a distinct lack of site art or wandering performers to please the eye.

The Go! Team and Super Furry Animals all performed magnificently in the Live Arena on the Saturday. But the show of the night had to be Mylo who turned on the tunes to really bring the weekend to life. Hard Fi pulled off a well received set and had us all singing ‘Living For the Weekend’. And ‘Planet Pendulum’ pulled off the biggest Drum and Bass beats to leave us happy at 4am.

Sunday dawned all too soon and all too warm and much too early. With little to do for campers until the arena opened at 1pm this was a major downside to camping, with few options for breakfast other than burger vans and no where to buy a paper and no programme to read, it was intensely irritating to have no thought put in to early rising (thanks to the soundsystem in the tent next door) campers.

However once in the arena there was much fun to be had shopping or at the funfair before the music started. It takes time each day for the Arenas to get doing until enough dayticket holders come from nearby Portsmouth and Southampton to swell the numbers.

Kosheen and Ian Brown rule the day and early risers Crazy P are fantastic with their seventies tinged funkadelia. Some decent local talent plays the PunchFunk stage and only the Bees let the side down with a shot away performance. LemonJelly go hard rock and then say only kidding and break out the glo sticks!

The dance tents please the dance fans with Lisa Lashes and Carl Cox, although the best tent of the night has to be Radio Soulwax Arena where 2 Many DJs close the show in style.

Overall a festival feeling not dissimilar to the halcyon days of early nineties Glastonbury, where the mix of live acts and dance ones brought together a great mix of people willing to cross genres. Seems it works and could quite possibly secure a future for dance!