REVIEW: BIG CHILL FESTIVAL 2011
The Big Chill attracts an eclectic mix of festival goers, from teenage townies to ageing hippies, families with young kids and all those in between. The result is a festival which welcomes all, as long as you’ve got a good pair of wellies and are open to a comedy hat!
On the main ‘Deer Park’ Stage highlights over the weekend included the visual feast of Empire of the Sun including an impressive guitar throwing display from the front man Luke Steele, Neneh Cherry’s classic Buffalo Stance, The Chemical Brothers who finished with Galvanise and Block Rockin’ Beats that proved popular as ever with the crowd. Jessie J performed admirably from her seated position on her throne with a broken foot, followed by a half hour late performance from Kanye West, which for anyone looking for confirmation of the mans ego didn’t disappoint.
2many DJs closing act on Saturday night and Norman Jay’s Sunday afternoon session stood out for creating a great atmosphere in the crowd and an amazing performance from Rodrigo Y Gabriela later on capped a great finale night, whilst some of the lesser known acts at the smaller venues through the weekend like the global Local and People’s Ear stage gave a great variety to the line up.
As well as the wide variety of food, drink and clothes stalls on offer around the arena, the relaxed ‘Enchanted Garden’ area offered a mix of alternative music, holistic treatments and fair trade goods stalls, accompanied by the popular Somerset cider bus and the white butterflies hanging overhead. The variety of these chilled areas, combined with the more energetic fairground rides and drum and base sets on the opposite side of the site, meant no two visitors would have the same experience and the weekend could easily be tailored to your own taste.
Despite failing to sell out tickets this year, the organisers had done a really good job overall. Arriving at the festival on the free shuttle bus from Great Malvern station was a great way to start the weekend, with stunning scenery to distract you whilst trudging with bags and tents over the fields! The festival staff were great, helping to carry bags and put up tents for those too stupid or drunk to do their own. Not to mention the army of litter pickers hired for the festival who kept the main areas looking pretty clean. The loos were kept in pretty good nick for the first couple of days, but took the predictable turn for the worse by Sunday night! There were some great design touches around the site, notably the giant glowing tulips and jelly fish, the effort put into the Bacardi Get Together bar, and the impressive glowing cubes of the Starburst area with the silhouettes of the dancing audience outlined against them, especially when they were throwing shapes to the silent disco.
The festival was a great success, and here’s hoping that in the face of falling ticket sales and the competition of the many other festivals on offer that the Big Chill keeps going strong.
Word and photo: Kate Smith
