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South West Four 2010 Review

April 17, 2019August 31, 2010 by Summer Festival Guide

Saturday 28^th August had finally arrived and it was the first day of the SOLD OUT South West Four weekender. Extended to a two day festival this year we were delighted to see the sun shining after a week of rain.

We made our way to the infamous Clapham Common, home to SW4 for many a year. As we picked up our passes and walked in, we manage to catch the end of Alex Metric finishing up his live set on the main stage.

We make our way to the front of the main stage to see Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong. A regular at SW4 he was to kick things off in typical Tongy fashion, busting out massive track after track and showcasing why he is still one of the most in-demand DJ’s in the world. Dropping the massive Swedish House Mafia “One” brings the crowds running into the main stage area in their hundreds, by far one of the biggest tunes of the year.

Over to the other side of the park to catch Gareth Emery in the TimeOut Gallery Arena who is playing a nice selection of uplifting trance to an already very busy tent. The Gallery Arena has been one of the most popular tents at SW4 and with a lineup including Judge Jules, Sander Van Doorn and Paul Oakenfold it was bound to be packed like a sardine can!

We quickly head over to the DJ Mag Bedrock Arena to see Mutant Clan (Timo Maas and Santos) who are busy on their setup of 8 CDJ’s and 2 mixers. They seem to work seamlessly together to blend track after track.

Moving onto the Toolroom Knights arena, we catch Dirty South who has had another productive year in the studio releasing the popular “Phazing” which is doing the damage around clubland. Sticking to his electro / uplifting house style he rocks the crowd in one of the tents that I quite enjoyed throughout the day. We also catch Funkagenda in the Toolroom Knights arena and he rocks the crowd with a massive set.

As the sun continues to shine on through the afternoon, the crowd was building up to its maximum 20,000 capacity. We see smiles all around us as we walk through the crowd back to the main stage to catch Laidback Luke, one of the busiest DJ’s / Producers in the business. Pumping out track after track we were very excited to see him for our first time. His style is a mix of uplifting / progressive house and electro. His blend of tracks at SW4 gathers a massive crowd in the main stage area.

Erick Morillo as energetic as always teases the crowd with a great intro track and then busts into his unique style of Latin / Miami style house music. It’s been a while since I last saw Erick on a big stage and he always plays with a high amount of energy, constantly dancing and grooving behind the decks. By the end of his set, there is a mass of friends and colleagues gathered on the stage partying with Mr Morillo.

As we mill about the press area we catch a glimpse of Paul Oakenfold and Tall Paul having a chat before Oakey heads off to the Gallery Arena, quite the site to see the two legends together.

Sasha takes to the decks as the crowds begin to darken as a few rain drops being to fall. With his progressive style Sasha starts off slow and slowly builds the journey up to a style that only Sasha is capable of. A couple tracks in and the rain beings to come down, however this doesn’t affect the crowd, they are more up for it than ever! A few umbrella’s go up and jackets go on, some of the crowd try and pack into the tents but the majority enjoy the rainfall which lasts only 20 or 30 minutes.

We head back to the Bedrock Arena to catch John Digweed who to my surprise is playing a rocking set to a fully packed out tent. Playing a more uplifting set than I expected I quite enjoyed seeing Digweed back here again.

With a muddy ground and nite falling, headliner on the Main Stage Armin takes to the decks to massive applause, most of the crowd have been waiting for him and they have their dancing shoes ready. Armin gets right into the stride and the hands are up in the air from the very first beat. The world’s number one DJ never disappoints and his set is typically Armin, a journey through some of the biggest trance tunes of the moment and a selection of Armin classics.

We leave before the end of Armin’s set to avoid the mass exodus, having enjoyed quite an awesome day at SW4. With most of the day quite pleasant before the rain, a great lineup and crowd to suit, SW4 once again shows why it is one of the most popular dance music based festivals in the UK.

You can see more photos here in our Facebook album.

L.E.D Festival Review

August 30, 2010 by Summer Festival Guide

L.E.D Festival held it's inaugural 2 day event at London's Victora Park on Friday 27th August and Saturday 28th August 2010. Brought together by heavyweights Cream, Loudsound and Goldenvoice, the lineup spoke for itself which included friday headliner David Guetta and Saturday headliner Leftfield.

With a bit of rain during the week and on Friday morning, we were happy to see it dry up a little before we arrived there.

	We walked in just in time to catch the Audio Bullys with Simon Franks on the mike. As the crowd slowly builds out by the main stage, a massive roar is heard when the Audio Bullys play "Shot You Down".
	Newcomer Afrojack is one of the hottest talents coming out of Holland at the moment and he took to the decks for the next hour. He took things up a notch with a very energetic performance. As the sun starting to shine out through the clouds, Afrojack dropped his new tune "Take Over Control" featuring the lovely vocals of Eva Simmons and to finish, tune of the moment Swedish House Mafia's "One", to see the crowd run to the main stage to join in made for a great end to a very impressive and enjoyable set.
	Calvin Harris took to the decks next performing a DJ Set. Its been a while since I have seen Calvin DJ however his skills on the decks are second to none. Geting the crowd going with his latest tune "You used to Hold Me" Calvin played a uplifting house set before making way for the exceptional SoulWax.

Soulwax took to the crowd with a full band setup and rocked it like they do. Soulwax are well known for their energetic and non-stop performances and didn't disappoint at L.E.D.

Moving to the Planet Turbo tent we catch the end of Zombie Nation just as they drop the always brilliant Kernkraft 400. Headlining the Planet Turbo tent was none other than Turbo Recording label boss Tiga. With a loyal following Tiga kept the tempo up with a typical uplifting Tiga set.

Headliner David Guetta takes to the Main Stage with a massive stage setup. Perched high above the crowd in a stage built full of led lighting, he kicked off with his latest successful collaboration with Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas), Chris Willis and LMFAO "Gettin Over You" Going through his plethora of tunes we also heard his new collaboration with Kelly Rowland "Commander". For me David Guetta was the highlight of the day, closely followed by Afrojack.

Overall we quite enjoyed the first edition of L.E.D Festival in London, we look forward to seeing it back at Victoria Park next year.

Photos for L.E.D Festival can be found here

Tiësto Live @ Victoria Park

August 1, 2010 by Summer Festival Guide

Friday 30th July 2010 saw Tiësto return to Victoria Park in London for his second live show. With a supporting lineup that included The Japanese Popstars, Avicii, and Pendulum on the main stage the afternoon was set to be full of musical madness.

We arrived to catch the last part of The Japanese Popstars, the trio from Northern Ireland lived up to their expectations playing what they call "big room, cool as f**k electronic music built for festivals and staduims", See our interview with the lads here.

Next to take the helm was Avicii, Tiësto's hand picked supporting artist for his current tour. For those that dont know much about Avicii he is a Swedish DJ and producer who has come up through the ranks of Laidback Luke's online forum. Winner of Pete Tongs Fast Trax, Avicii has taken the industry by storm, DJing all over the world and working with some of the best producers in the game. As the crowds slowly started to gather in the main stage area, Avicii kept their feet moving with a mix of house, electro, and trance infused beats. Dropping the massive Swedish House Mafia single One brought huge applause from the crowd.

Pendulum were set to take to the main stage next and as the stage was setup for their arrival you could feel the excitement in the atmosphere. The Australian rock / drum and bass band have recently released their new album "Immersion" and with two other albums behind them the live set was never going be a let down. By far one of the best live drum and bass acts at the moment their stage presence is immediately felt with MC Ben Mount taking centre stage. Ben's energy levels alone are enough to get any crowd going crazy and as soon as the bass kicks in the crowd are jumping and moshing in all directions. Ben creates a riot as he jumps off stage and mounts security fence and gets in amongst the punters. As a first time witness of seeing Pendulum live, I was very impressed with the amount of energy they put into the live set. If you havent yet seen them live I would highly recommend that you catch them on their Arena Tour of the UK in December 2010. A brilliant production setup completes the live experience.

Dutch DJ legend Tiësto's arrival is highly anticipated and as his intro kicks off, the crowd begin chanting "Tiësto, Tiësto". With thousands of punters piling into the main area to see what they came here for, Tiësto walks out to massive applause. On tour with his 4th studio album Kaleidoscope, which features an array of musicians inculding Nelly Furtado, Kele Okereke (from the Bloc Party), and Calvin Harris to name a few, Tiësto was here to showcase his new tracks.

As always Tiësto is in the party mood, complete with a huge grin on his face and his arms in the air. The crowd seem to take his lead and as we walk through the masses of fans dancing to one of the worlds most in demand DJ's, we see all types of party people, some with light-sabers, a mexican hat crew and a huge number fans in the traditional dutch orange coloured t-shirts. One thing is consistent though, the smiles on everyone's faces as they jump up and down to Tiësto's beats.

Tiësto never fails in the production department, his show is kitted out with a large backdrop LED Screen and awesome pyrotechnics. As the night begins to fall the lighting really comes into its own. The sound system is loud enough to ensure that you can feel it anywhere from the park! Halfway through his set, Tiësto gets onto the mic and yells out to the crowd that he is about to take us back through his back catalogue and treats us to the likes of "Lethal Industry", "Silence", "Flight 643", "Love Comes Again", "Traffic", "Adagio for Strings" and more. His new tracks also get a great response, especially the Sneaky Sound System collaboration "I Will Be Here". Tiësto shows once again why he is the only DJ ever to host his own show in Victoria Park and we look forward to seeing him agin next year!

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