Houghton Festival 2018
2nd time at Houghton and I have to say, two years in for both the festival and myself and I still have no complaints. We actually spent a lot of the car journey trying to find something that had been wrong over the weekend and the only thing anyone could muster was that a piece of lemon cake that had been consumed was a bit too ‘lemony’. You can’t really knock anything. The venue and location are stunning, the layout is very well thought out, the lighting, festival design and decorations are bang on, the people, both the crowd and the staff are all lovely, the music curation is second to none and it is a very very manageable size and just the right amount of people. And that is essentially all the ingredients of a great festival. Job done.
Even at festivals I have really enjoyed I generally still have a few gripes (see tmrrow’s post) but Houghton just keeps on delivering. Even for a M.A.R (Middle Aged Raver) like me. In fact, the mostly younger crowd were very welcoming and friendly to us older folk which is just how I was in reverse when I was first going to raves so its nice to have that bit of karma returned to me intact. What is the difference between a 20yr old raver and a 40yr old raver? A: 20 years. (drum roll put-lease). Truth is it turns out that nothing changes and no-one cares. And even if they did, who cares? You should never stop doing something you enjoy for some perceived notion of what someone else is or isn’t thinking. You’ll never know anyway so it really doesn’t make a shit of a difference…unless you let it and that’s down to you and you only.
Should I have found something better to do? Maybe but I didn’t. So why fight it? I think one of the reasons why rave culture is not ageist is that all of their favourite djs, like Andy Weatherall and co. are now all in their 50s and no-one could give a monkeys. It is generally accepted that you have to be a bit old in the tooth to have had enough time to get a decent record collection so its ok for djs to be middle aged, and if you are an original raver in the same age group, that is kinda ok too. Or so it would seem…
Once again Craig Richards put together an incredible line-up of djs who were all allowed to flex their stuff as were given long sets, 3.4 hours + to be able to build their musical journey at their own pace and desire. And we were all in for the ride they wanted to take us on. They are encouraged to play what they want rather than just known crowd pleasers and as a result every sound system feels like a big house party. The other great thing is that every little sub-genre of dance music is represented in some way and what is on offer is some of the best of its kind. Whether you’re into minimal tech, breakbeats, grooves, banging beats, disco heaven, dirty house..its mostly all catered for and if you don’t dig one dj you are only moments from another. Highlight of my weekend was Coleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy who did an absolute banging set in the little Stallions tent. David Mancuso’s protege is a force to be reckoned with and she was nothing short of spectacular.
On the saturday it chucked it down a bit and we went from stage to stage looking for a bit of rain respite, protected along the way by my trusty Samurai umbrella. Just as the heavens opened and the floodgates opened we were in a tiny tent on the hill (i think it was on a hill) where Awkard Moments were playing. They gave a mesmeric performance which was aided by a hypnotic projected animated sequence which beamed onto the gauze in front of them. I watched and listened, utterly captivated as the rain added some meditative percussion on the tent. It was a bizarre and quite beautiful moment of serenity amidst the carnage of the weekend.
My other highlight was Horse Meat’s Disco mammoth 6hr daytime set on the Saturday afternoon . Just joyful. A perfect daytime affair with the sun shining and everyone beaming.
The other good thing about Houghton, which I noticed also last year, is they don’t really flag up who’s playing where – they want you to discover music rather than just head to the big names and the process works. We stumbled upon a brilliant set by Jake Manders in the record shop which was called Demitri’s or Vinny’s or something like that and also heard some amazing sets by djs who we had no idea who they were. They do supply a printed schedule with all the various set times on it but the font is unfeasibly small and I think that is deliberate. Add in myopia and a bit of an eye wobble and and we coudldn’t make out a single word. This was one downside of being a M.A.R. and desperate to find out when Coleen Murphy was on, I commandeered a young person with fresh eyes and made them read my programme out to me. Ah the joys of ageing…
I can’t think of any reason why I would not return next year and I sincerely hope I do. For me now, there is Houghton and there is everything else. And I think the reason that it attracts the right crowd is that it is ‘music first’. People are there first and foremost for the tunes and a lot of festival crowds are no longer geared that way and you can tell. It creates for a different experience but when you are all together, united in your love of music, nothing can stop you…
To see the full gallery click here: https://babycakesromero.com/photography/houghton-18/
