Glade Festival 2012 // Houghton Hall, nr Kings Lynn

‘A different World’ was the promise embroidered on my GLADE wristband and oh my did they deliver.

With the strict 10pm cut of point it was touch and go whether we were going at all, but a collective sigh of relief was past when we drove onto the leafy green estate of Houghton Hall and saw the white Glade flags billowing in the distance calling us home for the weekend.

There was a carnival atmosphere as we stumbled over the sea of tents and there was a sense that the party had long since started and we were more than fashionably. We barely had time to drop our bags before the magic of Glade was calling us in, enticing us with the flashing lights and the promising din of bass in the distance.

The addition of the woodland stages was a stroke of genius and used to full effect. If you had a schedule to keep to it was near on impossible to maintain, especially after indulging in a few obligatory drinks. There were no end of distractions and enough visual delights to keep you entertained for weeks let alone days.

Travelling through the swarms of colourful masses, down the winding paths and past the hot tub spa we came across a rather understated sign and rather a lot of bass emanating from deep below in the darkness. There was a queue of people who seemingly appeared to disappear off the edge of a cliff, needless to say we followed.

We had arrived at the Meteor stage and it was a certainly a spectacle to behold. The natural amphitheatre had been transformed into alien territory with a giant orb hanging majestically above the sea of dancers, who were unmercifully having it out to an array of cutting edge music played from a flying UFO. It was the stages first debut at Glade, purpose built with under floor bass, lights and smoke machines. It was a great showcase repping a whole spectrum of Senseless sounds from bashment, dub and reggae to grime, house, electro and opening up the Glitch-hop genre to a wider audience.

The Glade stage was of course the Mecca for many that weekend, hosting some the biggest names in the biz with jaw dropping performances from the likes of Sven Vath, Vitalic, Pretty lights, Foreign Beggers, the Dub pistols and the list goes on . One of the most captivating acts was Submotion orchestra a live 7-piece project from Leeds whose enchanting sound layered with a truly angelic voice left Gladers wanting more.

Andy C played his Alive set, where audio and visual are rolled out as one for an all encompassing experience. Every sense was catered for, including the smell of hundreds of your fellow Sunday night ravers, an unforgettable experience.

The Pyro-mid Stage, an intricately constructed fractal pyramid dominated the the field. An amazing structure, with DJ’s at the centre entertaining Gladers day and night until its final performance were it was set alight into a huge bonfire, never failing to go out with a bang with fireworks overhead.

The Overkill stage was home for quite a few over the weekend. A solid contingent that were there for the long haul and with acts such as Remarc, Daedelus, Ceephax acid crew and DJ Hidden to name but a few who, could blame them.

The overkill stage never fails to deliver if you care to indulge in the darker sides of electronic dance. Drum and Bass pioneer Dillinja smashed his Saturday night set MC-less which seemed to be a welcome fact amongst the some of the crowd who appreciate the music without ‘some aggy MC shouting the odds over the top’.

The Mutant Bass showcase went down especially well and is the type of act the Overkill Stage was designed for, experimental, boundary pushing and rip roaring fun. One of such is Lenkemz who has been refining various mutant strains of dance music and sound collages under various guises since 99', drawing strong influences from Jungle, Grime, Bassline and Reggae/Dancehall Soundsystem Culture. His notoriously diverse sets packed full of Genre-defying remixes seriously upped the ante. Its not hard to see why the Overkill stage is one of the favourites punting tunes like that.

The only drawback to Glade is there is so much to experience you are bound to be missing something. The eccentricities of the Rabbit hole, the ever popular dance off arena, the I-Scream ice cream van serving basslines instead of 99’s and even a roller disco. Not to mention the psychedelic village which encompasses both the Origin and Liquid stages, the InSpiral chillout, healing areas, psychedelic cinema and a vast array of phantasmagorical art.

Everyone and everything is a spectacle at Glade and as those first hours slip away you become part of the performance. It is not uncommon to see a pack of young people dressed as pensioners, or a dinosaur in a tutu or a scantily clad caveman giggling face down in the mud. This is Glade and this is what we do. It is a welcome four day holiday from reality and it is impossible not be in awe of the amount of effort that goes into creating such a wonderland. Clearly a lot of love goes into this festival and as a result it receives that love back as swathes of dance music fans that come back for more.

Having spoken to a lot of veteran Gladers there is a sense that faith has been restored amongst those who having been attending since year one. With its move to Houghton Hall last year and return to its grass roots ethos, Glade has defiantly got it right. The weekend saw the faithful rewarded with the finest groundbreaking and most diverse selection of dance music genres. Not to mention an array of visual and sensual pleasures in which to shamelessly indulge and surprisingly good weather. Throw in good food, good drink, a load of like minded weirdo’s and you have one giant recipe for a hell of a good time and beautiful, if not blurry memories you will keep for life.

Glade we love you and I for one cannot wait for the treats you’ll have in store for 2013.There is no doubt that Glade remains the best electronic dance music festival in the UK and there is no doubt that it is more than just a festival.

Erin Heenan

For all the pictures from this year's Glade Festival, click here...