My Time At... Gottwood

To say that I was buzzing about the weekend in mid June would have been a slight understatement. Having heard so much about this festival, I was concerned that it was not going to live up to the various rumours and stories. Taking the journey to the Isle of Angelsey and the Carreglwyd Forest gives you enough time to forget all those day-to-day niggles that most of us struggle to let go of.  Having arrived on Friday evening I was greeted by a low-slung sun setting across the water. 

Once inside the Forrest the atmosphere was energetic with party people from far and wide for a weekend that promised so much.   

Not wanting to waste further time having not been able to make Thursday, I didn't hang about in adorning my festival attire. After sipping down the last cold tinny of the weekend I decided it was time to immerse myself in Gottwood. Strolling through what must be one of the most picturesque campsites on the festival map, not to mention easiest to navigate, you reach the entrance to the Forest. You are kindly asked by the friendly, unthreatening staff to show your wristband before you enter. Once inside you are met by various stalls, which, if face painting were your thing, would have probably stopped you there for half an hour. Wandering further into the Forest your attention is stolen by the art instillations, which you realize at some point over the weekend you will most definitely find yourself having a heart to heart with a random besty who you have just met. Then dum, dum, dum… you arrive at the Forrest stage (AKA the Hay Bail stage) with its enclosed club-like feel, a bail podium centre of the dance floor, and trees blocking out the last of the natural light; you feel a sense of what might happen here…

And oh boi it did happen. Highlights for me came on Sunday when TIEF took over the proceedings. Thick As Thieves, Francis Inferno Orchestra, Hesseltime and Sisterhood all smashing it respectively. Not to mention MCDE closing the festival. Although perhaps not his best performance, and the fact it was too crowded and too quiet, you can’t say that his selections weren’t straight out of the top draw. Tonite by Those Guys putting smiles on by this point tied festivalgoer’s faces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptxr_RmqXJU

Thick As Thieves gave us booty-shaking disco-infused set, which paved the way nicely for Hesseltime’s B2B with Sisterhood. Their synthy house chuggers, sounding good in the Forrest. My mind was fairly blurred by this point but I think I can remember their stunning remix of Omicron Ballad, in which they also feature, being played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZzKJ2ImvFM

Francis Inferno Orchestra turned things up a notch by playing a good 7 minutes of Phuture’s Acid tracks, which was well received.

Heading further on through the thoroughfare you take a right and go though a charming brick arch and already open garden gate and are met by the best sound system of the weekend deep, warm and full. Under an enclosed canapé the Walled Garden was most defiantly the rave den of the weekend, and when you looked at the line up you realized why.

Saturday was stunning, Real Nice’s takeover providing a day party to be remembered. 10am the party started, by 2pm YoungOnes residents Clive and partner in crime Henrich Millhelm were behind the decks simply doing what they do best laying down party tunes for party people. Numbers from the likes of secret squirrel, Jack Pattern and Pete Herbert sounding Groovy.

Real nice gave us a show, their In Africa track sounding very nice, very nice indeed, followed by a mega four way B2B with their residents continuing the good vibes.

  https://soundcloud.com/real-nice/inafrica-love-not-money-records

Tornado Wallace then gave an education in style with his set leaving us just wanting more.

On Sunday the Walled Garden held a rave fit for the books with Ben UFO and Craig Richards 6 hour B2B, only broken by a killer live set from Radioactive man, before the veterans closed the party in some serious style.    

The Owl stage was a different affair; being centered around the food vans and basked in sunshine all weekend the atmosphere here was cool at times but tended to be more of a thoroughfare with a nice soundtrack. One particular highlight though was the rhythm section takeover on Sunday, hitting the mood perfectly. With Bradley Zero leading the dancing, many others like myself who were starting to feel the weekend in the legs and backs, were kicking back in the sun and soaking up the melodic, groovy, beats coming from the rhythm section crew.

Pushing on through you are then at the heart of the festival. Opening out onto the famous Gottwood lake, your then presented with a series of choices, the lake stage, with it’s amazing nest design. Chilled vibes, made it a daytime/early evening destination, somewhere to start the party rather then finish it. Ruff Dug, Seven Davis Jr and Mouse outfit were the stand out for me here.

Past the house and down the hill the Caravan stage appears.  A solid destination all weekend swamped in sunlight during the day and buzzing by night. Midland’s selection on Friday night was fun and soulful however due to the volume limit on it rather restricted the madness that could have been. I felt that this was the case with the caravan stage all weekend, maybe it was closest to the neighbours if there were any!  Move D on Saturday afternoon though was a different story with partygoers flocking to the Caravan to hear one of the best selectors around play his disco bangers in the afternoon sunlight. Move D himself on the red wine, saluted the crowd giving the festival his approval, which really started the evening party. Sunday saw the likes of Soul clap bring good energy to well oiled festival by this point. Their stage presence was fun, light hearted and really well received, their sound perfect for a boogie in the weather that proved all the forecast wrong.       

Finally crossing the lake the adventure continued with the trawler stage, lazer dome and mini Owl ( or CPT cabeza). For the sun lovers the CPT or Mini owl stage was where it was at, catching the very last of afternoon rays at the furthest point of the festival. It was hear on Saturday afternoon that the Gottwood Dj’s did their thing and bio did it well. Due to being fairly foggy myself and it being another of the epic B2b’s that took place over the weekend, I am not sure which selector brought in the distinctive sound of Paul Woolford’s discourse dense and pika remix, but it kick off. Ill let you imagine the scene… 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJF95AE-Is

So I guess to say that I was buzzing about the weekend in mid June would have been a slight understatement. Having heard so much about this festival did it live up to expectations?

Counting all factors it has to be said that the weather was good, the setting is ok and the line-up wasn’t bad! Out of 5

Go on then let’s call it 5…. Exceeded expectations and although sometimes the volume was a bit low we can let it go. 

Well-done fellas top weekend spent in a beautiful spot with like-minded heads listening to good vibes coming out of every sound-system. 

309 days to go… looking forward to seeing you next year.