SW4

AndyFul

Active Member
Got to say I'm looking forward to it this year. Like the addition of a new indoor stage and the line-ups are astonishingly good.

Any other spotlighters doing this? I'll be in my usual spot, front right of the big blue techno tent (unless they've rejigged it all with the new stage being added). Come and say hello!
 
Yeah, ill be there. First time I'm doing the full weekend. May even hit an afterparty!

For me it is all about Dream Dont Sleep on Saturday, and Coxy versus Dice on Sunday.
 
Saturday Dream Don't Sleep definitely, might duck out for a bit of Kolsch and Black Coffee depending on when they're on.

Sunday will be the Indoor Main Stage, with a line-up that deep it'll be interesting who goes on for the early slot when there's barely anyone there. Capriati? Apollonia? I remember seeing Green Velvet a couple of years ago with about 40 people, really enjoyed it funnily enough!
 
Think key factor will be if anybody is playing same day at Creamfields. Beyer is high on the bill for Pryda tent at Creamfields, so maybe he'll play early at SW4?

I plan on arriving early anyway. Apollonia prob a good shout for early doors.
 
Good point, forgot that and it's a fair old trip up North. Nothing like what (name drop alert!) Santé and Sidney Charles had to do a couple of weeks ago though. I was talking to them backstage after their sets at Eastern Electrics which finished at 1900hrs. They were then being driven to Skipton, North Yorkshire to headline a festival later that night and thought that it would only take a couple of hours, I said they better get a bloody move on, don't know if they made it on time or not.

Anyway... I think I'll finally be able to turn up early this year, after badgering friends about it who think anything before 1430hrs is too early. My record is nearly 1900hrs after the Saturday clashed with Spurs' opening home game of the season.
 
Got there at 3pm last year and felt I arrived late. Aiming to arrive at doors opening this year! A friend will most likely be opening the Dream Don't Sleep tent, so will be going for support.
 
I'll be there too mate, went last year and saw some amazing sets from MK, Prydz, and Deadmau5 particularly, so that's persuaded me to go again this time - plus pretty local too.

Looking forward to Coxy & Loco and Armin van Buuren debuting his alias 'Gaia' - The 'Together' tent looks pretty decent too!
 
I'll be there too mate, went last year and saw some amazing sets from MK, Prydz, and Deadmau5 particularly, so that's persuaded me to go again this time - plus pretty local too.

Looking forward to Coxy & Loco and Armin van Buuren debuting his alias 'Gaia' - The 'Together' tent looks pretty decent too!

I missed the Sunday last year, not making that mistake again.
 
Uber are running a promotion for anyone who needs transport to it, £15 off your ride with the promo code "SW4UBER"
 
Lovely morning in West London at the moment but looks like we're in for a traditional Bank Holiday soaking in the evening. Black Coffee on at 1300hrs, I better get a move on!
 
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...
 
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Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that about the sound levels, I had a great time and the indoor tents I found were ok in terms of sound levels, George Fitzgerald on the Sunday for example was pretty booming. But the main stage was very very quiet indeed, seeing Armin debut Gaia and yet still able to hear my friends next to me without having to shout was a bit of a willy flopper.
 
Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that about the sound levels, I had a great time and the indoor tents I found were ok in terms of sound levels, George Fitzgerald on the Sunday for example was pretty booming. But the main stage was very very quiet indeed, seeing Armin debut Gaia and yet still able to hear my friends next to me without having to shout was a bit of a willy flopper.

Yep lots of grumbling about the sound, I'm used to it after going for several years but did hear a lot of people saying it had gotten worse, not sure if it's the council being more stringent this time. Didn't seem to affect all stages equally though. Apparently often at festivals there's a total decibel limit, say 500db for 5 stages so if you raise one it causes another to have to lower it, not sure if that was the case here though.
 
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...

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...

- Thought it was quite funny seeing Hot Since 82's grumbles, thought the crowd were booing him at first then realised what was going on. He certainly wasn't the only one that day!

- Oof! Good effort going to the afters, keen to hear about that as well!
 
My proper review should be up on the main site in the next few days but thought I'd post a few bits that I couldn't fit into that here as well as some other thoughts:

- The festival aesthetic is very stripped back, focused on the acts on the stages which is understandable given the quality of the lineup. There's no "wonderland" type area for festival-goers to explore or themed areas to have fun in. Whilst I don't normally go for this it might be worth considering as the sound levels aren't doing the DJs any justice so leading to grumbles as that's the only thing the festival has to offer. Just a thought.

- Whilst individual performances weren't mind-blowing because of the sound-levels (so making a review that's focused on them come off as damning with faint praise), I don't go to festivals to be really bowled over by the very best of sets, that's what clubs are for! Festivals give a taster of acts I'd never normally see otherwise or allow me to bounce around between lots of different sounds having a good time without really getting into any extended workouts.

- Faithless were a disappointment, Maxi's voice was croaky and their was no intensity to their performance. Hannah Wants also took some strange decisions, playing Strike's "U Sure Do" at one point, I wasn't feeling that one. Haven't yet seen Apollonia do much to interest me after a few times now, Dyed on his own though has really impressed, they just seem too contained and controlled playing together. I don't normally like Skrillex but in 2012 the energy he created was exciting and a great headline set, this time it felt a bit limp. Papa Sven seemed pretty disappointed with the sound but soldiered on, looking forward to seeing him at Cocoon on Monday, where he belongs!

- The weather - what is it about the bank holiday weekend and bloody rain?! When was the last time the Monday for the Notting Hill Carnival wasn't bloody drenched?!

- What on earth is the point of the cordoned off VIP area at festivals. All you seem to get is often worse toilets as there's only a portakabin or two, expensive cocktails, and maybe someone playing from a tiny set of speakers. Don't understand why you'd pay extra for that.

- These mega festival lineups mean you miss far more than you see or you spend only 30 minutes as you trot between performances. SW4's price keeps going up every year now by quite a lot as they book more and more. I reckon I'd prefer a smaller, more concentrated lineup so you don't have to choose between Dixon or Marco Carola. That'll never happen though as the lineup is their differentiator.
 
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...

Interested to see feedback here. I've only done SW4 twice, once about 6 years ago and last year. But I've done the after party at Electric Brixton in 2013/2014. Electric Brixton is one of my faves, such a naughty venue, generally good security and good crowd. Prydz and Deadmau5 last year (Jeremy Orlander, Deadmau5, Prydz vs Deadmau5, Prydz from about 12-6.30) and Prydz & Alan Fitzpatrick in 2013 have both been the highlights of my year.

Unfortunately Saturdays are no good for me, and the move of Prydz after party from Sunday to Saturday was gutting !!

Re: SW4, I think its a bit basic. People build it up to be a proper festival, but really its a small part of Clapham Common, some tents, bars in the middle of a residential area with a lot of noise restrictions. Given some of the festivals now and the effort that goes into 'everything else' it can be a bit of a let down. I didn't find the sound too bad last year on the Sunday, but at times felt a bit quiet. I think you need to go in to it knowing it is what it is, not expecting a Tomorrowland, Bestival or Creamfields
 
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