30 July 2010 (gig)
13 August 2010
So, Tiësto once again took over Victoria Park on the 30th of July 2010. I couldn’t get the afternoon off work so had to get there as soon as I could which turned out to be around 6pm. A situation that I’m sure many people had to endure until they were set free from the shackles of employment.
As I approached the tall security fencing that I’m always convinced I could scale, but I am yet to attempt to do, I could hear and feel the rumblings of Pendulum starting their set. This spurred me on to pick up my walking speed so that I didn’t miss any more than I already had.
As I approached the main stage I noticed that the golden circle had been left out this year. This is an area in which the VIP tickets get you closer to the front of the stage. I found this a little disappointing but made my way through the crowd anyway. The amount of people in attendance this time around was much less. At least, it felt that way. Pendulum received a great response from the crowd throughout their whole set and I was surrounded by people singing every word to each song and dancing their hearts out. I must say it is a great sound system that they use for this mini festival.
I then went to visit the VIP area, which was located just to the side of the main stage. This was much improved from a similar area last year, mainly due to the fact that it had a tent with music, a dance floor and alcohol. What more could you ask for? I particularly liked the DJ booth disguised as an old skool ghetto blaster.
As usual, I actually think the music in the tents around Victoria Park was better than the music on the main stage. They should advertise this event as a full festival rather than headlining it with 2 main acts. I should mention the House Rules and the Mixmag tents, as they were the best things in the whole arena. If this event is on next year and you manage to attend, make sure you check them out. You’ll find some good DJ’s with considerable skills, playing decent tunes. At some points the tents were packed and at others, they had 5 or 6 people in them. That is a shame because it felt that it was a waste of first-rate talent.
Obviously, when Tiësto came on stage I went to see what was on offer. He had a great response from the crowd. That’s who a lot of people came to see. He played all of the tunes that you would expect him to play. If I’m honest, I had enough after 20 minutes and I left to view a little more of the dance tents on my way home to rest my weary bones.
The festival itself was actually pretty damn good. Definitely worth going if: there’s a good gang of you, you are good at scaling walls or if you love uplifting/feel good house music to dance to.
