Only one month to go until Braindrop debuts at Bloc Weekend. We’re hosting Red:Bloc for the entire of Sunday. And we’ll be making sure that Braindrop closes the UK’s best dance music festival with the best party it’s ever seen.
Last year Red:Bloc was our favourite arena. What appears to be a massive converted bingo hall, 2009 saw the room play host to Dublime on the Friday (Rusko, Digital Mystikz, Ed Rush & Optical etc), Overkill on Saturday (Beardyman, Exile, Richard Devine etc) and an excellent host of rave acts on the Sunday (Skream & Benga, Altern8, Bizzy B, Dylan & Robyn Chaos etc). On every night of the festival the atmosphere and music in that room was KICKING.
In advance of Bloc we thought we’d share with you our reasons for why we love Bloc and why you should come and get extremely messy with us.
Butlins, Minehead is the largest holiday camp in the UK. The site is dominated by the towering Skyline Pavillion, home to the main festival. This pavillion is split into 4 main indoor arenas of varying sizes, the largest being Centre:Bloc and Red:Bloc. Butlins Minehead is the perfect raving space – huge arenas, great facilities and cosy indoor comforts. More on that later
Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, Mixmaster Mike, Adam Beyer, Skream B2B Benga, Luke Vibert, Congo Natty aka Rebel MC, Kode 9, Roots Manuva, Autechre, Ms Dynamite, Wiley, Derrick May, Luke Slater, Flying Lotus, Lindstrom, Anti-Pop Consortium, Surgeon, Nathan Fake, Joker, Mark Ernestus feat. Tiki Man (Rhythm & Sound), Joy Orbison, D:Bridge, Instra:mental, Breakage, 16 Bit, Boy Better Know, Zinc, N-Type . . .the list goes on and on. And that’s not to mention our Braindrop line up – DJ Hype, MJ Cole, The McMash Clan, Reso, Vent, Raffertie, Kanji Kinetic, AGT Rave Cru and Bass6. Techno, dubstep, hip hop, bassline, díníb, funky, reggae, dancehall, wonky, disco, jungle . . . everything in fact. You’ll be hopping from arena to arena spoiled for choice . . .
No rubbish Butlins PA systems here. Bloc stack the huge arenas full with Funktion One rigs fit to rattle yer eyeballs. They provide state of the art lighting rigs, complete with mega f**k off lasers. Bloc also run the stages amazingly and very professionally, meaning the world class djs and live acts play as good a set as they possibly can. Both main arenas this year will play host to a mind blowing visual set up – and we’ll be bringing our Braindrop resident VJs along to make the most of this. All this makes for a ridiculously epic raving experience.
It’s not just about the music at Bloc – there’s loads of jokes stuff to get up to besides raving. Butlins Minehead boats one of the largest and best waterparks of its kind in Europe and you’re free to use it FREE of charge during its opening hours. Sky:Bloc will be playing host to lots of interactive installations – Braindrop favourites Handbaked Arcade (multi screen old skool arcade experts), hip hop karaoke and virtual graff are a few highlights. There’s also bowling, cafes, restaurants, pubs, pool & snooker (for the more lucid of you) and lots lots more.
Bloc have their own excellent TV channel – Bloc TV, which is pumped into every chalet and features festival highlights, cutting edge documentaries, b-movies and general head spangling madness. Sunday fancy dress deserves a big mention too – this year the theme is “Dearly Beloved – The Big Day”, so dress as brides, grooms, bridesmaids, ushers, drunk uncles, rubbish wedding djs etc etc. For music geeks like me there’ll be live Abelton demonstrations from your favourite international artists. And the festival is positioned next to a beach and beside a lovely seaside town full of friendly Somerset types.
No need to smuggle large amounts of alcohol into Bloc. At Bloc there is an on site supermarket that amazingly sells booze and food for supermarket prices. Win!
Forget about shivering yourself to sleep before waking up in a scorching canvas greenhouse. And banish all thoughts of bright sun shining through your tent whilst random wreck-heads trip on your guide ropes. All the Bloc family get their own chalet to share with their mates. You get your own room and bed with fresh linen and curtains to keep out that pesky sun. And the most amazing thing of all – a hot shower. You’ll leave Bloc feeling fresh and revitalised. Kind of.
I could have lumped this in with general fun, but thought Iíd give this a special mention. Each night inevitably starts with chalet fun and ends with chalet carnage. Just like living in halls at the Bloc University of Rave for a weekend.
And finally – good vibes!Bloc has built up a fantastically friendly community of like minded ravers who are up for having as much fun as they possibly can, as well as partying to one of the best dance music line ups ever. Smiles all round and not a sad face in sight (apart from Monday when everyone is kicked out, obviously).
So that’s why we love Bloc – and why you should buy your ticket now. This is going to be such a special event and we want as many Braindrop family there to experience it as possible. Buy now! Go on – click this link! Do it! 
Comments
Carl
Feb 3rd, 2010Already bought my ticket, coming with a big crew from Reading. Its gna be messy.
Loz
Feb 3rd, 2010Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! xxxx
Leave a Comment