cue
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festival big 3
LONDON
Junction 2 WHERE Boston Manor Park, London HEADLINERS Move D, Carl Craig, Âme, Marcell Dettmann, Mano Le Tough, Mr G (live), Dixon, Scuba, Adam Beyer, Nina Kraviz, Ida Engberg, Pan-Pot
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ICELAND
Secret Solstice
WHERE Reykjavík, Iceland HEADLINERS Radiohead, Lil Louis, Art Department, Derrick Carter, Apollonia, Kerri Chandler, Jamie Jones and more THE SUN NEVER sets on Secret Solstice – quite literally, as you’re faced with 72 hours of Iceland’s lingering summer twilight. As one of only three big parties on the island all year, this is when the locals to really let go. Much like Iceland itself, Secret Solstice seems small and quaint on the surface, but given time reveals itself as brimming with excitement and adventure. Its multiple stages are themed around Norse mythology, such as Ragnarök with its crows. Whether you’re catching an emotional performance from Radiohead, seeing Section Boyz tear through an audience or having Midland lift your spirits, there’s an endless amount to see. At night, everyone descends on [[1L]] AUGUST 2016
Drumcode boss Adam Beyer agrees. “I’m kind of lost for words. It exceeded all expectations,” he says post-set, before we witness Dixon close out in captivating style at a festival that truly dared to be different. PHIL DUDMAN BEST THING ABOUT THE FESTIVAL A fresh location that truly suits the music, plus great layout, line-up, staff and organisation that puts more established events to shame. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER Truly hard to say, though it could’ve done with a zipline to the Drumcode stage. SURPRISE PACKAGE Onyx’s giant, playable 303 drum machine. TUNE OF THE FESTIVAL When Beyer dropped the dark acid whump of Pig & Dan’s ‘Chez Dre’ you could picture the traffic bouncing along the M4 above.
the Hel stage where Apollonia, Jamie Jones and Skream are set to play. Elsewhere, a Viking hot tub, a themepark drop tower and off-site Horizon Parties at a secret coastal location with the likes of Skream, Artwork and Guy Gerber keep the party going. At Secret Solstice the celebrations only dip when the sun does: never. CHARLIE CASE BEST THING ABOUT THE FESTIVAL The close proximity of all the stages makes trekking between them a breeze – but each stage’s soundsystem never felt bullied by another. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER The Norse mythology stages and Viking statues were cool, but the festival could definitely have embraced the theme with more imagination, enthusiasm and production. SURPRISE HIT OF THE FESTIVAL There’s only one place the locals spent their time at the festival: the Fenrir tent. Full of Icelandic rap troops influenced heavily by the US, such as Landaboi$ and Alexander Jarl, it was popping off. TUNE OF THE FESTIVAL Die Antwoord’s melding of trance and dubstep on closer ‘Never Le Nkemise’ sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Jus-Ed and Nastia
Kerri Chandler
Flatbush Zombies
VISIONSEVEN.CO.UK, VLAD SOLOVOV, ZOE SAVITZ
IT HASN’T BEEN this banging around here since the Battle of Brentford in 1642, and though a German V1 exploded over the road slightly more recently, today’s bombs are 100 per cent techno. We’re under the M4, in a forgotten patch of woodland and pontoon bridges over the river Brent, for LWE’s 10,000-capacity Junction 2 festival, a collaboration with Drumcode, The Hydra and Closer. Each brand has its own stage, the Hydra’s Dolan Bergin unleashing the vibes under their open canopy next door to Closer’s makeshift London warehouse: reminiscent of Glastonbury’s Block9 and typical of LWE’s Paul Jack, Alice Favre and Will Harold who “pride ourselves on attention to detail”. “A West London’s festival under the motorway is certainly not the norm,” the trio say, so “it did take a little convincing”. But it’s clear the educated crowd have got the message as they walk the short route through the wild that reveals why this site is special: a long view, flanked by the M4’s concrete superstructure and the fearsome LED screens of the Drumcode stage, currently pounding to Ida Engberg. “You wouldn’t have thought this was London,” shouts one punter in our ear; “it feels like Berlin, like Germany”.