We arrived at around 2pm on Saturday 29th for SW4 Day 1. There was a group of about a dozen of us consisting of myself, the missus, and a handful of clubbing friends plus their friends. Queuing time was short and we were inside within a few minutes. After the best part of an hour mooching - getting familiar with the site layout, several trips to the bar/toilets etc. we headed to what would be our destination of choice for Day 1: Maceo Plex's 'Dream Don't Sleep' arena.
At this stage the tent was still largely empty. Danny Daze was playing. What struck us all most was just how low the sound levels were. It was practically inaudible, and thus very difficult to get into the zone. This prompted more trips to the bar/toilet, and we returned to catch the tail-end of Henrik Schwarz live. From the little we saw he was as good as I suspected he would be, mixing classical music vocals with electronic beats. Again, sound volumes were still incredibly low, though the tent had started to fill by this point.
Another bar/toilet trip coincided with the heavens opening. We return to a packed tent! The rain had forced ppl under shelter... but also HS82 had jumped on and the atmosphere had intensified. Unfortunately it didn't last. Daley was visibly protesting with the sound engineer in regards to the low volumes and the crowd booed when it became apparent he would not budge. Ironically drowning out the music even more.
Not to rest on our laurels we headed to Fatboy Slim's Smile Hight Club arena. This had been billed as an "indoor arena". Not entirely sure why, as it looked identical to the tent in the same location the past 2 years and the floor was still grass :/ Caught last quarter hour of the Magician, during which he crammed in his most notable productions. Didn't really capture the imagination, but was fine. Was really looking forward to Kolsch and I was impressed with what we saw. Uplifting instrumental house for the most-part. A few of the others weren't diggin' it so much, so we trudged back to the opposite end of the festival in the rain.
Luciano was playing the main stage at this point, and toyed with taking a detour to catch him. As we got closer-and-closer it became clear the biggest offender for low noise levels was the main stage. So we aborted mission and diverted back to Dream Don't Sleep. Upon returning the party was in full-swing. Carl Craig & 'Mad' Mike Banks were playing homage to Detroit, and the sound levels appeared to have increased since our last foray. This is when our day really got going. The tempo kept rising and by the time the techno innovators had reached the climax of their set the atmosphere was palpable with real carnival vibes. Dubfire's live show 'Hybrid' up next. Really impressed with this. One of the best techno live sets I've seen, and the first time I've seen a full Dubfire set.
Lastly but by no means least, Eric Estornel stepped-up to the stage. It was at this point - having being-chasing all day - that I peaked, doing what I can only describe as the best balloon I've ever done within a minute of him opening. For a few seconds it elevated me to another dimension before coming back around. Maceo delivered what was easily the best set of the day, and a perfect end to Day 1. Best moments were hearing Mirror Me & Solar Detroit for the first times out, but when he dropped his remix of Chelsea Wolfe 'The Warden' the tent went nuts. He finished on Sordid Affair and I was so happy I almost had tears in my eyes. Beautiful. By this point it was just me & the missus as the rest had wandered off to catch Faithless on the main stage. Later on it became apparently that our choice to stay put had been vindicated since the sound on the main stage was still far too low even for the headline act, so our friends said.
The night wasn't over yet. After a brisk walk to Clapham South our minds were made-up: to Electric Brixton for the afterparty. (Since we were on the guestlist anyway it seemed rude not to!)
To be continued...