Global Gathering 2009

by Jon Burns

For the second year in a row the sun came out for Global Gathering, giving 50,000 ravers the chance to ‘have it’ in the sunshine to the likes of Orbital, Pendulum and The Prodigy.

Global has become the festival for lovers of electronic music, and as a temporary home to such dance royalty as Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox & Sasha, its easy to see why. Whilst the music Friday is limited from 6pm to 2am, the real extravaganza is non-stop dance for the hardcore from 2pm till 6am on the Saturday!

Our Friday highlight was Dubstep artists and producers Magnetic Man featuring Skream and Benga at the Spectrum tent. If you get the chance to see these guys, do it, they properly know how to get the party started. Skream is dubstep’s man of the moment, and responsible for the fab Lets Get Ravey mix of La Roux’s In for the Kill, which could be heard across the site all weekend.

The Prodigy took to the main stage as the Friday headliner and although the set was good, the sound was ruined by high winds. Headlining the Global tent was Pendulum who totally saved the day after the disappointment on the main stage. Pendulum’s infectious heavy metal cum drum’n’bass totally got the crowd moving, and their cover of Calvin Harris‘s I‘m Not Alone was spot on spine tingling.

Our Saturday highlight was the impossibly cute FrankMusik and his brand of electro pop. Its a shame this incredibly talented singer was on a stage in the corner away from the crowds and more people didn’t get to see him. Those who did make the effort were in for a real treat, a performance that should see him moved to one of the bigger stages next year.

The sound on the main stage was perfect for the return of Orbital. It was great to see them back and totally on form as they rattled through Chime, Satan and The Box. We caught a few other acts on the Saturday including The Shapeshifters, Armin Van Buuren, Nic Fanculli, and drum’n’bass producer Sub focus (great, but totally drowned out by MC’s!).

All in all we had another great weekend of fun and music at Global Gathering, but have to admit that we were in bed by 2:00am both nights, maybe next year we’ll finally make it to 6am? Watch this space…