On Saturday 26 June we had the honour of closing Glastonbury’s immense 8000 capacity Arcadia arena with a set that took us 6 weeks to put together. The whole weekend was absolutely mental, with enough shenanigans going on to deserve a whole blog in itself. Here’s a quick run down of our first McMash outing to the biggest and best festival in the world:
As the scorching sun descended, we brushed off the cobwebs by running through our set back at the tents -- using 4 plates, 2 tupperware and 2 packets of pasta (Dolmio has surprisingly good EQs). A sound system consisting of an I phone in a cup in a shoe left much to be desired.
The festival lit up for the night, and we walked into the throng of 170,000 mentalists and headed straight for Arcadia
Arriving at Arcadia at 10.30pm, we were shocked to find the music and flames off. Panic and nausea ensued as we were told that due to a faulty generator everything kept on cutting out. 3 artists had had the set of their lives cut down to 5 minutes as a result. To our relief an emergency generator was wheeled in and the problem was fixed. Big ups to the Arcadia crew for keeping so calm (unlike us!) and getting it sorted.
Hostage, Freefall Collective and Wonka-Vision all worked up the crowd with some big beats and bass. We set our gear up on stage and we’re off!
Walking up the ramp onto the stage was a breathtaking experience. 8000 people crammed into a field dominated by the huge futuristic spider shaped Afterburner structure. 50ft flames belched from the stage. Electronic animals moved above the crowd and belched fire. Performers spun in mid air, shot flame throwers and fought using bolts of electricity. A huge Funktion One surround sound rig provided perfect sound to the whole field. Powerful lasers scanned the skies. Every time the flames soared into the air it illuminated the field and you could see a sea of festival heads stretching as far as the eye could see.
The excellent MC Carasel was on hosting duties. It was a busy day for old Cara -- he had to rush back from Dance Village after hosting High Contrast. Luckily his voice was still in good nick!
We opened with our own Elephant Man / Prodigy bootleg (Their Law riddim), before cranking up the tempo with Vitalic’s La Roc 1 double dropped with a Ms Dynamite classic. Epic! We’d worked for 6 weeks solid on this set, creating the most intensive multi-deck turntablist journey we could manage, and then re-editng the tunes even further to maximise impact.
We were told afterwards the security had to close the entrance to the Arcadia field off 5 minutes into our set as the place was so overcrowded. Friends of ours queued for an hour to get in!
Set highlights included our Deadmau5 / MIA / Dune triplets mega-mash, Dunkelbunt, Noisia’s massive Messiah remix, our Nirvana / Doop double drop, the ever rinsing Recycled by Eskimo and our favorite -- our Insomnia / South Rakkas live bootleg.
We did encounter some serious technical issue in the middle of the set. We were the 1st ever DJ act using turntables they had put on the stage. Whenever the massive flame cannon on the top of the structure shot out a 50 ft fireball, it sent a shock wave reverberating down to the ground which shook the whole stage. It literally felt like a giant stamping on our decks. We ended up sorting the problem fairly quickly, but that was a particularly scary moment for us.
We closed the set with “Fire” by the Prodigy, with the Arcadia flames going into overdrive.
Big ups and massive thanks to James, Becca and the rest of the fabulous Arcadia crew. You guys absolutely smashed it this year. We first experienced Arcadia on a much smaller scale at Glade 2009 as ravers. It blew our little brains out then. At Glasto this year it was on a whole different level. The sheer amount of money and technical genius that went into creating the Arcadia that we played on this year is just staggering. The most amazing thing is that Arcadia Glasto 2010 is only a part of the stage’s evolution. Arcadia is still relatively young as a concept -- only a few years old. By the time we left on Monday rumours were circulating that bigger things were planned for next year. From seeing the dedication and vision of the people behind the spectacle, we know that the more budget and space Arcadia are given, the more mind blowing the will make the whole experience. There is no limit. Bring on Arcadia at Glastonbury 2010!
You can catch Arcadia at Electric Picnic and Bestival this summer.
Our McMash Clan Arcadia set will be available for download soon. And hold tight for the FOO Magazine film of our Arcadia set.
Check the official Arcadia Glastonbury 2010 video:
Visit the ARCADIA WEBSITE
Pictures for this blog courtesy of Foo Magazine and Glastonbury Festival.
Comments
Lukasz
Jul 15th, 2010Thumbs up guys. Looks like a great dream’s coming true and I hope it’s just a beginning. Good luck from Poland.
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