The festival season and a visit to the Albert hall.

Did Beathearder the other week, that was more like it. In the woods 2am, christ I’m getting too old for that! I’m a morning person, put me on between 4 and 6am and I’m yours!

Proper fun though , loads of really loved up people plenty of opportunity to mess with their heads. In a good way , of course.

Such a good organisation and crew. These people really care about their festival and it shows.

Met up with Merv from eat static and the plump dj’s . So good to see some of the other foot soldiers of techno that I’ve grow up with over the years still doing well. Eat static were always one of my favourite uk electronic bands , probable the originators of trance, with their mix of psychedelic music and acid house. Merv is doing well , he’s the last man standing in eat static, although he was always the core of the band. New album imminent, sounds like its going to be a good one.

Plumps doing well too , looking fit and no older at all.

Then on the psychedelic Smithsonian tent and the SGP festival. Another great one , set up by Eddie Temple-Morris and Simone Marie. Rained all the way there , shit drive. But got there in the end , just in time for Mistabishi, what he does with one machine and one hand is brilliant, check him out. Then on to my set at 1am ( bit better ; ) and another crowd loved up and ready to have their melons twisted. Got even more dubby on this lot and it went down a storm , as another storm went down outside the tent. Couldn’t have been a better gig, everything came together , of corse I didn’t record that one, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Two more winners , with Standon calling coming up fast tomorrow.

Had a funny one last night, went to the Ibieza Proms , because I knew they were going to play Belfast with the heritage orchestra amongst a load of Ibeza classics. ( Is Belfast an Ibiza classic? Don’t know , I try not to go to the place, we’ve never really got on ) can’t even spell it.

Chris wheeler from the Heritage orchestra is my studio Neighbour so I’ve been watching him work on it for the last while ( he’s been arranging the orchestra for Pete Tong )

It was a fantastic show , good choices of songs , lovely rendition of Belfast, really reflective night for me .

I sat on the edge of my box balcony , there wasn’t a big fall on the other side but I had to as every one was up and dancing. And reflected on the last 25 years , there were people my age in the audience loving it , but the majority were all way too young to have remembered it first time round. That included most of the orchestra too. A whole bunch of young people playing and enjoying music , mostly, from before their time.

It struck me how big the whole dance thing had been and how far it had come. Being given a night at the proms for crying out loud!  Totally ingrained into the culture and history of music. So interesting , as it was born from rebellion and counter-culture and so shunned be the establishment at the time, criminal justice bill anyone? But this is the cycle , it happens to any youth movement worth it’s salt, its born kicking and screaming to disapproving parents , then becomes them with it’s own troublesome youths who ‘know better’ .

It’s just funny being on the inside for so many years still doing it, still enjoying it , then to see such a tribute to the youth movement I contributed to , was a part of , not that we really knew it at the time.

I was really interesting to watch and, I was a watcher last night, rather that participant. Having played there twice before it was really interesting to see it from the other side with the whole place happy and dancing and whooping ,I felt a strange mixture of pride, melancholy, and awe at how far we had come. How much time had passed.

There was also an element of satisfaction , for a job well done , for all of us that took part over the years and for my small part in it. Not even sure what we achieved but it ended up there in the Albert hall entertaining a whole new generation. nice.

Can’t find a you tube of the prom yet so here’s one i prepared earlier…