Houghton Festival

Anyone here happen to be going in a couple of weekends time? Big house/techno lineup and many excellent curveballs in the lineup.

Tickets sold out within a couple of hours and I am excite.

A.L.F.O.S. (Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston), Adam Shelton, Andrew Weatherall, Appleblim, Barac, Baby Vulture, Ben UFO, Bobby Pleasure, Calibre, Call Super, Claro Intelecto, Christophe, Coleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, Conforce, D-Bridge, Dave Harvey, Alex & Digby, DJ Fett Burger, DMX Krew (live), Dr Horn, E/Tape, eLDOKO, Emperor Machine (live), Felix Dickinson, Gatto Fritto, Horse Meat Disco, Idjut Boys, Intergalactic Gary, Ivan Smagghe, Jane Fitz, Jonny Rock, Josh Tweek & Toby Nicholas, Joy Orbison, Krywald & Farrer, Luca Lozano, Lukas Wigflex, Magda, Margaret Dygas, Mashrou Leila (live), Mathew Jonson (live), MC Drs, Midland, Mixmaster Morris, Midnight Magic (live), The Ghost, The Mole, Monolake (live), Mr. Scruff, Mr Shiver, Nathan Fake (live), Nick The Record, Nicolas Lutz, Not An Animal, Objekt, Oli Silva, Optimo, Pearson Sound, Prosumer, Psychemagik, Paul Blackford, Radioactive Man (live), Ralph Lawson, Red Axes, Ricardo Villalobos, Rob Mello, Roman Flügel, Ruf Dug, Saoirse, Seth Troxler, Shanti Celeste, Sonja Moonear, Subb-an, Smagghe and Cross (live), Tristan da Cunha, Wayne Holland, Voigtmann, Vladimir Ivkovic, Zip. Alex Downey, Andy Blake, Antal, Begin, Billy Nasty, Binh, Cassy, Dan Beaumont, David Martin, DJ Sotofett, Doc Scott, ESS O ESS, Francesco Del Garda, Frank Butters, Hamid, Hamish Cole, Harri Pepper, Helena Hauff, Howie B (live), Hunee, Jagger, Jake Manders and Mark Treadwell, Jayson Wynters, Jenny Jen, Khruangbin (live), Kirsti Weir, Lo Shea, Lost Souls of Saturn (live), Man Power, Move D, Mulatu Astatke (live), Nick Luscombe, Omar, Red Axes (live & DJ), Renata, Ricardo Romanero, Robert James, Schatrax, Stratowerx, Shane One, Taimur Agha, Tama Sumo, The Mole (Live & DJ), Tom & Phil, Truth & Lies, Versalife (live), Willow and Craig Richards

Well that was a thoroughly mental weekend.

Music started 6pm on Thursday and the last beats finished 3am Monday morning. A true 24 hour festival which is unique to the UK, I know you get them in Oz and other places.

Caught some amazing acts

DMX Krew live

Nathan Fake live was immense

Appleblim did an awesome set covering everything from breaks, rave, 2 step, d&b, dub, techno even a speed garage tune that got a massive response and a reeewind

Doc Scott

Soirse jungle classics set

Craig Richards did about 8 dj sets across the weekend, saw him 3 times lol, best was 2 hours before Andrew Weatherall did 4 hour set (yep, everyone got extended / multiple sets, was amazing)

Midland was surprise highlight of the weekend, 3 hours of chunky house as the sun went down Sunday night. An amazing space in a hollowed out quarry.

Every dj I saw brought their A game - can't recall anyone being shit.

Sound was spot on everywhere.

They had a cow shed converted into an all night warehouse venue.

A pavilion next to a lake where you could dance all night and watch the sun come up.

A purpose made dj booth in the middle of a forest with surround sound speaker stacks amongst the trees.

A record shop on site with guest dj slots, talks and mingling all weekend.

A secret stage which was a crater in a different forest that you had to walk across the campsite to find (previously used by glade festival as the meteor stage)

~

Amazing food options, ales and cider on tap. 13 music venues.

Also did a tour of the sculpture park next to the main Houghton Hall, lovely and surreal when you've been up all night.

Only downside was queuing 2 hours to get in and it was hammering with rain, extensive bag searches. Also the toilets got pretty grim quickly so it was a case of keeping an eye out for the cleaners and picking your moment.

9/10 will go again, certainly a test of endurance and not for those who need 8 hours sleep to function. It certainly kicked the shit out of any other UK festival I've been to.

Never even heard of this, is it replacing glade? Sounds v cool tho

  On 8/15/2018 at 9:33 PM, Slacker said:

Never even heard of this, is it replacing glade? Sounds v cool tho

There are certainly parallels with Glade but it is quite a different beast.  If Glade had stayed there, the mind boggles as to what they could have achieved with the rest of the site that Houghton now use - it is an amazing space and Glade only used like 20% of its potential.

If you added PsyTrance and the Overkill stage, it could be glade musically.

The crowd was quite different though - definitely more of a trendy house / techno crowd but no troubles at all.

I think being more focused musically (the whole lineup was curated by Craig Richards) gives them the edge for selling tickets.  Glade was always a complete mixed bag which was great for me, but a lot of people found it too eclectic.

Will stick a few video links up here once youtube gets a bit more populated.

2020 lineup announced, some nice acts in here.  A few acts that stand out for me:

Shackleton, DMX Krew, Stingray, Radioactive Man, Jerome Hill, Appleblim, D-Bridge, Floating Points, Four Tet, etc....

Bagged a ticket, looking forward to it. 

An old 90s acquaintance is playing this yr, got to see him spin on Day of the Dead, they both wore full space suits, lol

Hah, how do you DJ in a space suit?

Shame now that Weatherall / ALFOS won't be there Maybe Sean Johnston will still perform though.