MY TIME @ GOTTWOOD 

Anyone with the slightest interest in electronic music or the UK festival scene would have heard of Gottwood by the summer of 2016. Since it’s inception in 2010 the festival has been drawing in quite the applause. It’s been described as the most beautiful of them all in Great Britain, which given it’s up against those as scenic as Festival No. 6 and Secret Garden Party, is a serious compliment. The selection of artists and extremely well considered programming has also been recognised. That’s not to mention the production, which the organisers seem to pride themselves on. How a boutique festival for 5,000 lucky ticket holders can be held in such high regard is quite remarkable really. 

So here’s what I made of the weekend, delivered to you all in a brief highlights package:

WATCHING ARTWORK’S RIPPER OF A TECHNO SET WHILST SINGING “LET’S GO FUCKING MENTAL” ARM IN ARM WITH THE HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD TYSON FURY (click here to watch vid). THIS WAS 4 HOURS INTO MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE. ONE HELL OF A START. 

A masterpiece of a disco set delivered by Move D at the Trigon stage on Saturday. There are few artists who seem to express their character in the music they select as well as David Moufang does. So often you hear of DJ’s complaining of their vigorous touring schedule and unresponsive crowds. On the other hand Move D looks as if he loves every moment of every set he plays and doesn’t take a single bit of his job for granted, and good God it showed on the Saturday playing to a packed out Trigon stage. His set was utter vibes. Personal favorites had to be Minority Band – Tasty Tune, and Rat Dansa (Taria Putang) – Carefree. 

AXEL BOMAN DROPPING INSPECTOR NORSE (JUSTIN VAN DER VOLGEN REMIX) AT THE WALLED GARDEN. IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THIS REMIX, GO TO YOUTUBE AND LISTEN TO IT IMMEDIATELY – A 10 MINUTE LONG ANTHEM. GOTTWOOD DID A VERY GOOD JOB OF IMPROVING THE SOUND DUE TO COMPLAINTS RECEIVED LAST YEAR AND TO THEIR CREDIT THE SOUND WAS TOP DRAW. UNTIL BOMAN DROPPED THIS TODD TERJE CLASSIC AND THE CROWDS COLLECTIVE VOICE, WAS LOUDER THAN THE SOUND SYSTEM ITSELF.

THE LASERDROME - NOW THAT’S A PLACE TO GET LOOSE!

HUNeE’S SET. I MET HUNeE AS HE WALKED INTO THE WALLED GARDEN TO PLAY THIS SET; HE WAS WEARING HIS TRADEMARK RALPH LAUREN SHIRT, HAD A BAG FULL OF BANANAS AND CAME ACROSS AS A VERY HUMBLE BLOKE. HE BEGAN PLAYING TO BARELY 50 PEOPLE AND BEFORE YOU KNEW IT THE GARDEN WAS PACKED. HIS SELECTION WAS UNQUESTIONABLE, MADE ALL THE BETTER BY A DJ WHO MAKES ROLLING FROM JAZZ TO TECHNO TO DISCO SEEM EFFORTLESS. THE HIGHLIGHT OF HIS AFTERNOON EXTRAVAGANZA HAD TO BE THE REMIX OF PHIL COLLINS’S IN THE AIR TONIGHT. A MOMENT OF COMPLETE EUPHORIA.

Craig Richards pulling out perfect mixes despite being visibly spangled. At the start of the second stint of his 6 hour B2B with Ben UFO he spent more time having to prop himself up on the ledge behind the decks than he did on the decks himself. Yet when Ben UFO passed over the headphones he delivered the goods. Mastery.

BEN UFO CLOSING THE FESTIVAL WITH PINNACLES BY FOUR TET. WOW. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TRACK. HE STOOD THERE STARING AT THE CROWD, SIPPING HIS BEER AND LOOKED AS IF A TEAR HAD TO COME TO HIS EYE. Motor city drum ensemble WAS IN TEARS AT THE END OF HIS DIMENSIONS SET B2B WITH JEREMY UNDERGROUND LAST YEAR, AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS LESS OBVIOUS AT GOTTWOOD, I’M ALMOST CERTAIN BEN UFO WAS CLOSE TO TEARS TOO. WHY WAS BEN SO EMOTIONAL SOME MAY ASK? THE CROWD.

GOTTWOOD MUST TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR PRODUCING AN AESTHETICALLY STUNNING FESTIVAL, FOR CURATING MUSIC PROGRAMMES OF THE HIGHEST CALIBER, FOR LOGISTICALLY ORGANISING WHAT MUST BE A NIGHTMARE GETTING 5,000 + ATTENDEES, ARTISTS AND CREW TO THE MOST REMOTE SITE OF WALES, BUT ABOVE ALL FOR CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT WHICH BROUGHT THE BEST OUT OF EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE. 

MANY MUSIC LOVERS TRAVEL THE WORLD LISTENING TO GREAT MUSIC AND I’M SURE THEY’LL ALL TELL YOU THAT THEIR EXPERIENCES DON’T JUST DEPEND ON THE QUALITY OF THE MUSIC ITSELF, BUT ALSO THE PEOPLE THEY MEET AND CROWD THEY ARE SURROUNDED BY. THERE WAS NO BEEF IN HOLYHEAD, THERE WAS NO CRAP MUSIC, THERE WAS JUST A GREAT CROWD HAVING ONE HELL OF A TIME LISTENING TO SENSATIONAL MUSIC.

I SPOKE TO TOM ELKINGTON, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF GOTTWOOD, WHO INTERESTINGLY LEFT HIS JOB WITH THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE POWERHOUSE CBRE TO SET UP THE FESTIVAL. I ASKED WHETHER THERE WAS A FEAR THAT AS THE FESTIVAL EXPANDS AND MORE COMMERCIAL ACTS ARE BOOKED, THE CROWD MAY BEGIN TO DIFFER AND IF THAT IS THE CASE, HOW THEY PLANNED TO ENSURE THAT GOTWOOD HELD ON TO IT’S MAGICAL IDENTITY. HE REPLIED VERY SIMPLY WITH: 

“WE WILL NEVER BOOK COMMERCIAL ACTS, IF ANYTHING WE WILL HEAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION, WE ALSO HAVE A TRICK UP OUR SLEEVE TO PRESERVE THE QUALITY OF THE CROWD, WATCH THIS SPACE.”

ONLY TIME WILL TELL, HOWEVER GOING ON THE FESTIVALS BRIEF HISTORY ONE CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT MR ELKINGTON SPEAKS SOLELY THE TRUTH. IT LEAVES ME VERY EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR GOTTWOOD AND TO BE FRANK, I HAVE EVERY BIT OF CONFIDENCE THAT THIS SMALL FESTIVAL WITH A VERY BIG HEART WILL ONE DAY BE HELD IN THE SAME REGARD AS THE LIKES OF DIMENSIONS & dekmantel.

THOUGHTS FROM SOME OF THE ARTISTS THAT PLAYED:

AXEL BOMAN: 

Thank you Scandinavian Airlines for striking the very weekend i visIted Gottwood Festival for the first time and "made me" stay an extra day! Otherwise i would have missed Khruangbin, Move D's wine tasting, Hunee, Zip, Ben UFO and the wonderful surroundings. Cheers!

BRADLEY ZERO: 

Ruffy’s lab was the highlight stage for me - no set times, proper family vibe - the way it should be. as for DJ sets, Hunee impressed me the most in the garden, that was flawless!

ROMAN FLÜGEL:

What did you think about Gottwood being your first time there?

Actually the adventure already started when we drove through the beautiful welsh countryside to reach the festival. I felt pretty solitary up there and lots of rain plus a little bit of fog made me think 'where the hell are we going?'. Once I entered the actual site I was blown away by the atmosphere. Several stages were almost hidden in a wonderful park like garden along with a beautiful lake plus a hundreds of years old mansion in the middle of it all. That itself is a pretty unique setting but if you think of the environment and the line up together it hardly can get any better! I also enjoyed the crowd a lot since everyone seemed to be in a good mood and excited to be part of something special.

Any other sets you saw that you enjoyed?

Unfortunately I was arriving late and stayed for just one night so I missed almost anyone else playing. 

How did the b2b set with Andrew Weatherall come about and what are your thoughts on how it went?

I guess it was an idea of the hypercolour guys since they curated the stage. For me it was some kind of a dream come true. Weatherall is one of my all time heroes and even though I know him for quite some time and I was warming up for him a few times we never had a chance to play a b2b. Once we started and a few tracks were played we felt quite comfortable with the situation and I think the set got better and better until the end. Of course I was very excited but he gave me a very good feeling playing along with him. Good news is Andrew and I will have another chance to play together again on a festival, this time in Poland, soon.

MOVE D:

How was Gottwood 2016 for you compared to previous years?

Obviously I’m loving the festival! I thought that this year was particularly cool because the weather was ok, I mean it was really nice weather last year but it was cold at night, and this year it was maybe more overcast but at night, it didn't get so cold so I enjoyed it more on the weather side. Most of all its really amazing the amount of effort people put into this, and to see it evolve from year to year, all the stages, like the owl for instance has grown much bigger wings since the last year. Basically every stage and all the decoration is proving that there is still a vibrant, buzz going on and that people put all their efforts in to make it something really special and I think it really pays off. I think its a festival like none other.
 

Which of your sets was your favourite from the weekend and why?

This year I would say the Sunday by the lake was my favourite probably. A, because it was unexpected, it was a stage i hadn't played at before but more so I think it was a really lucky combination of time and weather and everything, the scenery was just mind-blowing with the fog coming in and playing after Khruangbin, I mean there was someone in between, but the whole day shaped up really nicely starting off with Khruangbin who i thought were really mind blowing. It felt like everybody was coming out for the last farewell, it was really special, but having said that I really enjoyed all my other sets aswell, the one on Friday especially because it was much longer and i think its generally a good thing if you have a little more time. The Saturday, the Disco set, was a lot of fun too but expectations of course for that one were pretty high from the previous year, the one from Sunday was unexpected extra!
 

You stayed in the house over the weekend?

I stay in the mums room which is super lush. Over-looking the lake stage, its really such great place to be. 
 

Any other sets you saw that you enjoyed?

Yeah I really enjoyed Zip, loved him, thought he was really great. Max Graef aswell, actually there’s too many to mention, there’s so much going on with 6 or 7 stages at the same time that you constantly miss out, but I think the general level of music and entertainment is really high and even the wine tasting turned out to be something really fun!
 

Can you tell us how that went? Was it wine and cheese?

I think it was wine and cheese or wine and crackers… It was great, I didn't know what to expect really, my girlfriend was kinda saying, 'you’re playing three times and now this, maybe its a bit too much,' she was kind of not too happy about it, but I said, 'its only going to be an hour and it will be fun.' It was more than fun! The guy, I have forgotten his name again [John Thorp/loveless], but he’s such a natural born talent to host this kind of event, it was really entertaining but, it wasn’t serious at all, it was really fun like he was welcoming people to taste supermarket wines and reading basically the description on the label which is kinda, you know, rich in language but kinda nonsense, and he knew how to read it right and we were toasting to the workers of the cracker factory in Toronto, Canada - he was great fun. Officially it was limited to twenty people winning, but there were more people than that, there wasn’t chairs for everyone but at least they had cups of wine for everyone. I thought it was a really cool turnout and also i thought the DJ was playing some really nice Jazz music whilst it was going on, it was really quality. I forgot the DJs name [HARRI PEPPER] aswell, but he was a young guy, and people were telling me his father actually owns a Jazz bar or something so that’s probably where he got the skills, he was really good!

Anything else you would like to add about Gottwood…?

It was the best and it keeps getting better. Its one of the big big highlights of the year for me, its up there with Freerotation, its definitely one of my favourite festivals. Gottwood takes the extra effort and people really work hard to make it shine, its amazing. The whole setting, the scenery is the most intriguing, most beautiful fairytale setting with the woods, the lake and the old mansion, its so beautiful. Also they had kittens in the house to play with, it was perfect from A-Z.

Tickets for Gottwood 2017 will be offered exclusively to 'family' who have attended the festival in the last four years and also to pre-registered guests via a secret link.

Words by Nick C & Ben C