NEWS
EVENTS
Macmillan's Big Mix Festival
Monday 1st October 2012 | David
Spread across three venues in Shoreditch, The Big Mix Festival is exactly as they describe it, a mash up of music, comedy, short films, burlesque and of course, it wouldn’t be the same without hip hop karaoke. If that doesn’t sound enticing enough, it is all in the name of Macmillan Cancer Support.
Upon arrival we were given our wristbands from the Macmillan representatives and they explained that with these we would get access to Rich Mix, Brickhouse and Concrete where all the acts would be performing. After carefully planning our route in order to maximise our experience, we went downstairs to check out Cable Street Collective. And, whilst we couldn’t help but notice that individual band members seemed to be dancing to the beat of their own drum, they created a cohesive sound that had us dancing from word go.
Then it was off to ‘Short & Sweet’ shown at Brickhouse down Brick Lane. There was an incredible display of critically acclaimed shorts from Oscar winning animations, to jarringly backwards German films as well as startlingly comical Australian content. In the same venue we saw the first part of the Burlesque show that although it wasn’t entirely what we were expecting from the description, it is something that I don’t think I will forget in a hurry.
The final venue was Concrete, where the comedians were making an entire basement full of people howl with laughter and although musical act Marques Toliver at Rich Mix was rumoured to be the act to see, we couldn’t help but stick around to find out who the mysterious ‘Guest Headliner’ Comedian was going to be. And we were far from disappointed. Out came Chris Addison and I actually thought I might be in danger of falling off my seat he was so hysterical. It was one of those moments where you are trying, in vain, to hold in your laughter for fear of missing the next brilliant thing that might come out of his mouth.
The best thing about this festival is that it wasn’t completely over-crowded. We were able to find seats or a space in every venue and there was never a long wait at the bar. And whilst, ordinarily an undiscovered gem would thrill me, I couldn’t help but think that if more people knew about what a great time it was, more people might go next year and more money might be raised for this incredible company. So please, keep it in mind and head down next year, but in the meantime, head to Macmillan’s Website to make a donation in the name of Cancer Support and in the name of a brilliant festival that I hope will continue for a good while.
Emily Kay
