Marc's Blog: clubbing - Timescape near Cambridge, UK

glad to be back :)

Rick Weekender and his crew is probably powered by triple expressos and buckets of red bull, because they're at it again. He has been putting quality mid sized events in the UK, featuring trance. Since I'm not local, I sure can't attend them all, but I already went to Anomaly Summer of Trance as well as Euphoria Festival Malta just 2 months prior and both of them were quality smaller scale events. Unsurprisingly this was another of similar quality.
It was of course different, which is both good but also requires more work since the entire setup is different. This time around it was by a farm, mostly in the woods, 30mn from Cambridge. Apparently the literally filled the perimeter with huge container-size hay that was stacked up around the perimeter. Just that was impressive. Inside, they planned for bad weather (and we had some, it is the UK afterall) and filled the entire area with wood chips to limit the amount of muddy mess, and it indeed helped. I'm just noting that it was non trivial amounts of work before any of the rest was installed: sound systems, lights, lasers, and everything was water proofed as nothing died in the rain. Well done!

seriously, how much work was this!

Most people camped, but with my gear to carry and recharge, it's not a reasonable proposition for me. Thankfully there were some hotels 10mn drive away and while I was worried about lack of ubers/bolt, this turned out not to be a problem. The most I had to wait was 15mn or so, and they were never unavailable.

So, let's start:

basic map, but to the point ;)

very nice for campers

food was sufficient but often only one option was open/available

Entrance to the woods:

The wellness tent was a nice addition, familiar to people who go to Insomniac festivals: a place to chill out, hide to regroup, and/or lay down and get help if having a bad trip or otherwise. Nice addition:

The usual troublemakers

Birthday Boy!

Mr Erection Supervisor, He's famous!

congrats on the many outfits and costumes

so much win in this shirt ;)

Our lovely DJs

Of course, the great things about these events is that you can mingle with the DJs:

Unkonscious team!

Lange!

Incedent Noise

Space brothers

my dearest Alessandra <3

Timescape Day 1, Friday

Friday started a bit later since many locals were travelling from all over the UK, and I'm sure some amount came straight after work. Thankfully the weather was good on the first day:

After a good day of fun, we retired to the silent disco tent

we were missing chocolate and marshmallows on a stick :)

Video Summary:

Timescape Day 2, Saturday

Saturday had rain, sometimes hard rain, for half a day. But the brits were prepared of course, it's not like it's the first time they see rain ;)

but it kind of rained seriously for a few hours, so I did hide there for quite a while

this is what happened when you didn't have rain protection :)

you could hide in this saloon :)

I did come back early to see my friend Lonskii of unkonscious fame

the chill out tent was also a good place to hide and very waterproof

more rain :)

rain finally stopped around when Rinaly started. Sweet!

the forest was dark enough to allow for lights and lasers way before sunset

it did get fully dark eventually

The festival was also an opportunity for me to test new hardware. I had just finished making new hats, but the cutest one with the smallest LEDs barely lasted the 3 days before the LEDs started breaking, oh well.. As for my LED panels, given how wet things were and my sweating on top of it, I found out that it caused water to condense directly on the panel electronics and mess up the display. The last 2 nights it started glitching as a result. Thankfully it was fine after it dried out and I figured out that I can just duck tape the back to protect it from moisture.

wee!

end of day2 around campfire

Video Summary:

Timescape Day 3, Sunday

Day 3 had more rain, and hard rain, until 15:00 or so, so I showed up a few hours after opening. Not trying to be a sugar cookie, but while people were hoking about me being electrocuted, which indeed wasn't going to happen, once my electronics get too wet, they will fail, and potentially get damanged, so given the cost in time and money to replace them, not worth it. Apologies to the DJs I missed earlier on those 2 days.

it got fairly muddy by day 3, though

Unfortunately, although it wasn't raining, by then there was thunder and lightening nearby, which caused the festival to be shutdown for 30-40mn. That was a bummer for Ferry Tayle, whose set I was very much looking forward to, but got cut by more than 2/3rd.

Eventually we got back in, and it was impressive that all the gear survived:

Rinaly came back as her evil sister who plays techno :)

By some miracle a kind soul invited me to the DJ booth meet Dave Pearce and get this great shot with Marcella Woods

kudos buddy with the POV flow toys

honestly impressive lighting and lasers for a little festival in the woods

And just like that, day 3 was over, so we spent a bit of time at the chill out tent to finish the night (with silent disco):

Video Summary:

Conclusion

Originally I was planning on going to Summer Sound Festival in Helsinki which was the same weekend, but given that they failed to post any real lineup or update their website until a few weeks before the date (too late for me), I got too pessimistic about it, and figured the 3 days of Timescape would be a better bet. I didn't get to visit Helskinki, and we did get wet, but Timescape was still loads of fun and so glad I went. Namely:

yeah, the rain and mud were not fun, but the event still had incredible vibes

after many of huge festivals that have lost the friends and family feel, it's really nice and refreshing to have nice smaller festivals where you get to experience that

which includes mingling with the DJs

it was a different location, but ultimately had a similar feel to ASOL and Euphoria Weekender, which is not surprising since all events were by Rick Weekender, who clearly has a track record of doing an excellent job

Is it worth travelling across the world for? Well, it depends how much vacation time you have, how far you live and how much money you have :) If you must pick, I would recommend Euphoria Malta first, but this honestly was a very good second if you happen not to live too far (in my case I do, but it was the first one of 3 festivals in a row :)
Just like Euphoria and ASOL, it featured some great Trance DJs that do not get to play bigger festivals as often. I see it as a great thing, but if you prefer the more popular "big name" artists, then go to those bigger more expensive festivals where everything is also more distant :)

Also, I hope the UK people realize how lucky they are to have these trance events, few countries have that many. And those who actually make them happen, and are the rockstars!

Huge thanks to all the DJs who came play for us and party with us, and of course Rick Weekender and all his team for all the work!