Notting Hill Carnival - a Gravity Skank guide

It's nearly time for Europe's biggest street festival, Notting Hill Carnival, which runs every year over the August Bank Holiday (Sunday to Monday).

I have a love-hate relationship with Carnival. On the one hand it's an awesome party showcasing the best of the capital's unrivalled music scene. Nothing beats dancing in the street to jungle, right? Plus there's the added bonus of all that gorgeous Caribbean food, (hopefully) some glorious summer sunshine, the dazzling carnival outfits and the prospect of running into old friends along the route and sharing the good vibes.

I used to live along the route and that year was the best for me - mainly because it meant I didn't have to pay to use a skanky loo in someone's house. And I can cope with some of the down-sides to carnival, too. Following the processions, there's always a point where the heaving crowds get a bit too much (I use the Underground so am well used to being crushed into a stranger's armpit). And some sound systems - such as Norman Jay's Good Times - get so full early on, you simply won't get in.

But the biggest problem with Carnival is all the eeedyat rudeboys who cause trouble. It can become an annual showdown of yoot rajjiness sometimes. Last year I witnessed so much violence I swore I wouldn't go again. However, in fairness, lots of people had a great time last year and didn't have the same experience as me, so perhaps I was just in the wrong places at the wrong times.

A few tips from Gravity Skank for this year's event:
1. Know the route. And more importantly, get to know the back routes.
2. Take your own booze!
3. If you want to avoid hassle, go on the Sunday (kids day) or catch the last of the processions on the Monday night - sound systems end around 7pm but processions can go on after this.
4. On the other hand if you want to catch one of the big sound systems, get there early. 
5. Know your after parties... you WILL want to keep dancing.
6. Try and get on the Red Bull guestlist (see my next post for details).
7. Don't forget your rave horn...

LED Festival

The summer of London festivities is far from over.

LED (aka London Electronic Dance) Festival is in the very splendid Victoria Park in Hackney on 27 and 28 August.

The lineup looks pretty nang, particularly on the Saturday - featuring Leftfield, Aphex Twin, Sub Focus and Boy Better Know.

General tickets start at £40 for one day and are still available. Go get'em!

www.ledfestival.net

Lovebox 2010 review

Ignore the weather reports, folks - Lovebox has returned sunnier and more spectacular than before.

I headed to the Victoria Park festival on its opening day - the first time the event has been held on a Friday - for what was possibly the best one-dayer in the capital so far.

The Friday lineup was irresistible to a grimey bassline lover like myself. I could have spent three days dancing to all those DJs. Actually, my legs now feel like I have spent three days dancing, the music was so darn good.

I was gutted to miss my buddy Smurfie Syco's set on the main stage, but that's because I was delayed by a magical mystery tour of London to get cheap tickets off some dodgy African dudes. Thankfully though, the tickets themselves were not dodgy. An auspicious start.

I did, however, arrive in time to have a brockout in the sun to grime collective Newham Generals. On turntable honours was DJ Tubby, a dubstep and grime regular at nights such as FWD, as well as Dizzee Rascal's occasional tour DJ.

Waving goodbye to the sunshine for a bit, we headed into the NYC arena for the end of MJ Cole's set. As usual, it was off the hook; I've seen that man DJ about 50 times over the last ten years and not once has he failed to smash it. Whenohwhen will he release another album?

The delightful Joy Orbison took control next, playing a summery, funky, garagey set which, despite being awesome, couldn't contend with the sunshine outside, so I headed off to catch Toddla T at the Rizla stage.

Bestival heads will know what I'm on about here: the Rizla stage KICKS ASS. Totally. Always. Everywhere. The setup, the production, the lineup, the vibe - the dudes at Rizla know a thing or two about facilitating fun, don't they? So we were mighty pleased to see them set up camp at Lovebox and boy, did Toddla T do us all proud.

The slightly geeky-looking Sheffield producer (pictured above) - boyfriend of Radio One's Annie Mac, dontcha know - plays the most skankatronic sets, mashing up styles from dancehall to electro. And it was brilliant!

But Rizla, is that all the fun you're going to throw at us? NO?

Holy moly. Next up, a supremely chirpy Todd Edwards played classic garage, house and generally rather funky stuff. As a garage devotee who used to write in depth about the scene, I'm ashamed to admit I had never seen 'The God' DJ. Now I can die fulfilled. And hopefully as happy as him.

Dizzee Rascal closed the party with one of his best performances ever (trust me, I've seen a lot of them). It could have something to do with the streamers, the smoke effects, the lights - production levels were ramped up to the max for this show - or the amount of cider I'd consumed by this point. But in honesty, his oeuvre is so well suited to festivals, and he's such a charming  performer, that the crowd loves him. I'm not the biggest fan of his most recent tracks so it took me by surprise how well they worked live.

If you're umming and ahhing about whether to go to Lovebox over this weekend, there really is no question. Run to Victoria Park now! 

Free festival, 7 August

London is generally a fantastic city for free events but unfortunately, music festivals here don't tend to come cheap.

So hurrah for east London, which is playing host to the Little London Fields Festival on Saturday 7 August - a brand new, independent, freebie event that runs from 11.30am to 8.30pm.

The organisers claim it will host 'contemporary art, cutting edge fashion and dynamic new music'. At risk of sounding sour, I must admit I'm wary of events that mix fashion and music - it smacks of hipsters more concerned with appearance than getting sweaty to a filthy bassline. But perhaps this ghetto approach betrays my 90s roots. Either way - this bash is free, it has a dance tent and my mate Allan is going, so I'll be there!

For more info, visit the (rather sparse) festival website.        

Mystery Land festival, Amsterdam

If you're looking for a European festival which isn't a mission then check out this cheeky little number: Mystery Land.

The Dutch one-day event is on Saturday 28 August and has 20 stages of dance music. Which is pretty good going for any festival. Although the lineup isn't bursting with recognisable names for us Brits, it still includes Tiesto, Tiefschwarz, Fedde Le Grand, Luciano, Emalkay, Slimzee and Tinie Tempah. Plus it's right near the airport and the charming delights of Amsterdam, so you can pack in a hassle-free weekend of partying good times.

Tickets are now on sale. Click here for the full downlow: www.mysteryland.nl (hope your Dutch is up to scratch.)

Lovebox 2010

Lovebox is now a three-day festival, folks. And it looks wicked this year.

My pick is Friday 16 July, the opening day. For the highlights, see below...

Booka Shade and Shy FX are on the Saturday, and Hot Chip and Chromeo are playing Sunday.

It's at Victoria Park in east London. Tickets start at £45. Click here to go to the Lovebox website.

Bloc 2010

I'm so excited at having bought a ticket for Bloc Weekend I think I just wet myself a little bit.

The beauty of this, and other holiday park festivals is, no camping. Oh, the joys of taking a hot shower between raves, walking just two minutes to reach the next stage, 24-hour arenas and going swimming or playing mini golf with your mates when still slightly spannered.

Having been to the festival every year since its inception in 2007, I can vouch for it being total, utter hilarity. This year the lineup includes Salt n Pepa (yes I'll be wearing my blue puffa jacket, circa 1999, for that set), Grandmaster Flash, Skream b2b Benga, Congo Natty and Roots Manuva. The promoters have even dug deep into their garage box to pull out MJ Cole who, I'm reliably told, spends his time living off the proceeds of 1998 album 'Sincere' and playing with mini helicopters.

Last year's Bloc brought out some strange habits. I developed an addiction to Burger King chips at 4am, Chris was so excited at finding a Ribena vending machine he spent £30 on the stuff, and Sally loved the dance mat so much she spent most of her time on it - despite the arcade game being positioned right outside a room of real music, with real DJs and real clubbers.

There are still tickets left. Check out the website here.

European Festival Awards

The shortlist has been announced for the European Festival Awards.

Gravity Skanker's thoughts?

Exit Festival is probably the best in Europe, though it's going to be a tough battle against the mighty Glastonbury in the category for major events. Belgium's Dour (up for the Best Medium Sized Festival) won't be getting my vote any time soon. Neither will Heineken Festival in Poland, simply because the only booze you can buy is bloody Heineken (which inspired some pretty creative vodka smuggling last year). The Prodigy boys deserve any award we can throw at them, so please let them whoop Bruce Springsteen to Best Headline Performance.

There's very little in the way of British festivals (anyone heard of Sonisphere?) but I guess that gives us all a good excuse to bugger off abroad.

Click here to pick your top festival. Voting ends Wednesday 30 December.

Infectious rhythm

This video makes me want to do star jumps and big fat roly polies:



It was taken at Sasquatch music festival, near Seattle, USA. Thanks to Sally for sharing this with me. Her and I devised the Gravity Skank on a not too dissimilar slope.