Global Gathering- What Happened ?

[JeC]

I was there with you at GG ryanryan. What a shame it was. I had flown all the way from Australia, and extended my trip two weeks to fit in Global Gathering.

Apart from the 100 quid train ride I endured, the 6 quid burgers, and 3 quid bottles of water, horrible rules in regards to alchohol (oh and the 4quid beers inside the venu) and camping, long lines, drug searches etc.... I was still happy beacuse Underworld where playing.

I go to a lot of live music, and I love underworld. SO naturally I was listening to the sound and I just ended up getting distracted by how bad it was! I'd seen Underworld in Amsterdam the prevoius week (and that was awesome), so I knew what to expext, I was looking forward to UW a second time... But like you described... 10 rows from the front the sound was absolutly shit.

During King of Snake, I moved back a fair bit, and at that distance it sounded better but still horrible, the bass wasn't as loud back there so you could near that there where mid frequencies somewhere.

I can tell you now... that will be the last Godskitchen show I ever go to... God knows how much money it endedup costing me.

(Tiesto sounded much much better the 2nd night.... and I love him too, but honestly it just made me more annoyed about UWs music.)

-jec

[Dirty0900]

Sound was ace down the front at the barrier, mind tmo did sound a little bit chilled out, i thought it was ment to be like that though

[suicidalpenguin]

Have to say that forgetting about the fact it was run by gods kitchen, i actually had a good time (although i ONLY went on friday night to see UW)

Despite queing for 3.5 hours in first que for camping site, followed by another 30 mins to get past drugs dogs, etc in inner que, i made UW with 15 mins to spare-when i got in campsite at nine, people were joining que which was just as long as when i joined it at 4.30-5.00)
This was mostly due to bad planning by organisers in ONLY having 1 entrance to campsite and arena.

Despite this, coupled with £3.50 for a can of kronenburg and the £6 burgers, which did not even bother to try i actually had a good time there (although with commercial festivals like GG and V this should be expected - sad sign of marketing in festivals)

Uw were ace, they did play a fair mix of old + new stuff which is what we all wanted and although i was @ back of sand perimeter despite sounding a bit fuzzy every now and then, it was good and there was definately a vibe goin as everyone was dancing. Did not think sound was that bad - was not that drunk due to £4 cans of beer)

Saw Deep dish later and that was amazing too - again no noticeable huge sound probs.

Obviously not CD quality but its in a field so what do you expect.

Although i did enjoy the UW set and other artists i saw + had a good night i do agree with some of comments here and won't be going next year to GG simply due to the lack of planning and stupid organisation mistakes which were evident there e.g. One lot of toilets so you have to walk the length of the site to get there each time - in the only bit with no lights (not to mention the 1 entrance).

Have been to many festivals and with the plethora of examples to learn from at the moment its a shame as these flaws could have been easily avoided.

[stimpee]

10 years ago, i saw Underworld at the very same venue and they were brilliant and the sound was awesome (Phoenix Festival 1995). however, it was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was shining and there was no wind. plus the sound system was completely different. it is however, an old disused airfield and so the sound can dissipate quite quickly especially if there is a wind. Its unfortunate that this is UW's only UK gig so far as a fair chunk of their core fanbase are there and its an insult to injury on top of the exhorbitant prices and overzealous security checks. I'm sure everyone inside felt much safer knowing that techno-loving Al-Qaida operatives would not be allowed in.

It would probably have been cheaper to fly to Hungary or Serbia and see the band there and I can tell you that the sound in Hungary was top notch and I was about 5 rows back.