NEWS
EVENTS
The Social - the festival with character
House | Monday 28th September 2015 |
We found another way to round of festival season down at The Social festival in Maidstone Kent, only hour away from London.
Nic Fanciulli’s celebration of all things house and techno brought together some of the biggest names around for this all day affair, offering fans of the genre a cost efficient solution to catch the likes of Jamie Jones, Four Tet, Marco Carola in an intimate festival setting.
Events of this size and nature tend to be largely attended by the those who live in the surrounding areas, so it was no surprise to have the London “Air Max squad” shuffling away in accord with their Kent “Air Huarache” crew counterparts. The site was of a generous size, with the arenas close together, but far enough not to bleed any of the acoustics in-between themselves. Perfect for this size of gathering, with sound levels loud enough to generate a decent atmosphere. With some formidable weather for an early September afternoon, the settings were just right as we wandered across the picturesque surroundings of Mote Park.
A logical layout meant It was easy for us to manoeuvre around the place. Realising that the site had changed from last year’s original arrangement we decided to pass through Bamboo Village where Four Tet showcased many of his own productions encompassing bumping kick drums, glowing synths and the occasional voice of Indian soundtrack singer Lata Mangeshkar, which mesmerised the followers, who where busy shuffling away against this original and thoughtful production.
We decided to check out more of the site before settling down, and with an extra arena in addition to the VIP Secret Garden, we headed to the Social Club, which had George Fitzgerald treating lucky festival goers to an awesome late afternoon disco laden house set. This created a cosy atmosphere within the smallish Social club backdrop, but we believe he could have benefited from a bigger space given his rising popularity.
With the abundance of talent which was on offer, it became a tough decision when choosing who to see next. The intuitive new Social app alerted us that Hot Since 82 was over at the Barn, Jackmaster at Bamboo Village and Solomun making his debut at the Meadow. We had to make the right choice if we were to leave midway through George Fitzgerald’s bumpy party perforance which was now in full swing.
With the help of my iPhone, the app guided me back over to Bamboo Village for a dose of the quiff haired Glaswegian’s audible delights. On the way we detoured via the VIP Secret Garden and was pleasantly surprised at the offerings that where made available to those who chose to spend that little bit extra. Inside they had cocktail bars, The Adobe VIP Secret Garden, luxury (or cleaner) toilets and hay barrel seating area attentively equipped with potato sacks just in case you wanted to indulge in a drunken sack race with your mates under the mid afternoon sun.
Bamboo Village, which was predominately made out of bamboos, gave this stage an almost outdoor feel, while the weather complemented this arena perfectly. It played host to a range of talent for Seth Troxler’s own little Mayan village tale and initiating his Mayan priesthood ritual was the Scottish wise man, Jackmaster.
His superb song selections backed with his flawless mixing, restored the balance amongst the tribe and created an invigorating and mystical embodiment for those present. We didn’t have to wait long for the next chapter of this Mayan ceremony to unfold, with the High Priest Seth Troxler taking centre stage to address his loyal disciples. His acid infused performance caused the indigenous kinfolk to embrace in his bleepy recital, which created continued and modulated movement amongst the community, who would sporadically chant in elation to his minimalistic Mayan acid infused sounds. The ambience down at the village was relaxed, with many of the faithful in their element and dancing in joyous unison.
After our Mayan adventure, we ventured over to the Meadow, where veteran Marco Carola was starting his techno journey. His signature style and well crafted set reminded us why his been at the top of game for over 20 years. The Italian powerhouse delivered an inspiring performance which kept the Meadow in a perfect minimalistic state. Marco Carola’s billing shows that The Social/Saved Records bunch wanted to showcase the best of the of the rest within this popular genre and they went to no expense in securing this heavyweight.
With the 11pm finish rapidly approaching, we decided to have our last dance at The Barn, where Richie Hawtin was busy bringing his techno brilliance to an unsuspecting audience. Again The Social brought in some of the biggest stars across the techno continuum, and the minimal master's addition to the line-up was a brilliant move for this boutique offering. At times though, you wandered if his mastery was somewhat lost on the fairly urban congregation, but Mr Hawtin kept them enthralled until we departed.
Since last year, The Social festival has organically grown and is now beginning to form its own personality with its very own carefree character. Each arena has gained its own unique identity while hosting some of the biggest names in all things minimal and techno. Our best stage for production and line-up selection had to be Seth Troxler’s Bamboo Village, even though the production across all the other arenas was impressive and captivating.
Intricate thought and planning gone into the bespoke production which spanned across all the 4 main stages, and it was noticeable. This added the wow factor to this year’s episode has cemented the summer Social’s house gathering firmly into dance music’s festival calendar. Hats off to the Saved and Social teams for pushing their boundaries and improving their boutique event through bigger bookings and their improved production without succumbing to higher ticket prices. I think it's safe to say that the Saved/Social Records clique haven’t been resting on their laurels since their conception, as they are successfully paving the way to becoming one of the UK’s the best house and techno festival organisers around.
With that said, they have just announced they will be returning on the 6th of February 2016 with The Social Winter festival at a brand new location, Kent County Showground in Maidstone. We can’t wait for this minimalistic house adventure to continue, so roll on 2016 and let’s see what wintery wonders these guys have up their sleeve.
Rock on.
