'ALFRESCO FESTIVAL 2018'

Alfresco Festival is an independent, award winning, family friendly electronic music gathering which began as a day out in Blackpool. It has materialised into a 3-day weekend outing, and this year the festival welcomed some of the finest up and coming, and established DJs from the world of underground dance music. Aiming to incorporate an audience of all ages, the festival allows adults to bring their kids along to get an early insight into good music and share a great experience. The Hop Farm in Tunbridge Wells was chosen as the destination for this year’s festival. The festival area was intimate and easy to get around. The main stage, decorated in camo, and surrounded by mirror ball mannequins, stood at the helm of the main field. At the back of this field were 3 nightclub tents – ‘The Frontier Big Top’, which was the largest of the bunch and hosted some of the bigger artists; ‘The Cowbell Radio Stage’ and ‘The Club’. There were also two stages built in the woods, to the side of this field. These were ‘Sounds Of Silver’ and ‘The Woods Stage’. Labels such as 'Midnight Riot', 'Future Disco', 'Phonica Records' and long time Alfresco collaborators 'We Are The Sunset' were among many contributors to the festival. Further involvement came from ‘Automat Radio’, double decker bus ‘Crust Conductor’ – where pizza was flipped on the bottom deck, and tunes were spun up top, and Re-Connect’. Each supplied smaller stages to represent the sounds of their stations. There was a wide variety of great music supplied for Kent's listening pleasures.

FRIDAY

Disqueo kicked things off at 11am, with a lovely 3 hour set which combined some ambient, enchanting sounds such as ‘Angel Reflections’, with some old school soul from The Floaters (Float On). A perfect, relaxed atmosphere was on show as people arrived and the sun shone down over the beautiful back fields of the Hop Farm. Later, Crazy P Soundsystem were in control from 6-8pm, providing their ever-favourable house/disco sound to create a buzzing party atmosphere to entertain the old school ravers in attendance. They opened their set with their very own floor-filler ‘Like A Fool’ which also opens their most recent album ‘Walk Talk Dance Sing’. They continued to play a mixture of their own tunes and similar sounding beats, as Danielle Moore (lead vocals) sang over the top of Ron Basejam’s mixing. A favourite of mine from the set had to be Ron’s own funky production ‘The Carrington Spirituals’. As the sun sank under the horizon, Tronik Youth started the night in style, ranging through some excellent 90s house selections such as ‘I Like It’ which drew in one of the largest crowds of the day; as their set was live streamed on Alfresco's Facebook page. After the main stage and the two stages in the woods drew to a close at 10:30pm, it was time to head to the nightclub tents. Yam Who – the disco guru from Mixmag and founder of Midnight Riot Records was entertaining an energetic crowd in ‘The Big Top’ playing stomping disco re-edits from the likes of Joey Negro; such as ‘Ride Like The Wind’ and ‘Deputy Of Love’. Horse Meat Disco took over at 11pm. They closed the night ranging through their vast collection of disco classics such as ‘Keep The Fire Burning’. Mark Collings was competing well with Horse Meat Disco, playing some alternative house and techno from the likes of Fatima Yamaha until 2am, as festival goers flooded into ‘The Club’. It was a perfect start to the weekend. One thing that I liked in particular was the crowd. The middle-aged music lovers were very respectful on the dancefloor, there was no trouble, and everyone was their solely to have a lovely time.

SATURDAY

Saturday began as another sunny, scorching hot day, as Quinton Scott and Adrian Blunt smashed the main stage, playing all sorts from Brazilian disco boogie classic – ‘CC Amor’ to Talking Heads ‘This Must Be The Place’. The dance music descendants in the main field were making the most of the hula-hoops lying around, spinning them round their hips and grooving to the beat. The sunny good vibes continued throughout the day and into the evening, as Alfresco festival favourite – Justin Robertson ranged through his awesome acid house collection in the woods. Then, the feminist fine art and music ensemble - Chicks On Speed changed things up with their strange but sensational psychedelic-rock performance. Elsewhere, master of the 5-hour set; Mr. Scruff was bringing a soulful, chilled atmosphere to the main stage, ranging through soul, funk, disco and reggae records as Mr cool - MC Kwasi’s lyrics, fitted nicely with the scene he was setting. At 8:30pm, Chicago House Pioneer and everyone’s favourite party starter - Derrick Carter headlined the ‘Sounds of Silver’ stage, as darkness fell upon the woods. His funky, Chicago house gave off constant electrifying energy for 2 hours. A combination of Derrick Carter and Mr Scruff’s stunning, highly energetic selections literally brought a storm. Thunder echoed, and lighting split the skyline as the heavens opened and rain poured down. Everyone huddled in to the ‘Frontier Big Top’ tent where talented young prodigy - Hammer took the storm to a new level. He brought the ‘Feel My Bicep’ sound to Alfresco, with high energy dance music such as ‘Question’ whilst standing on a tent bag as the tent flooded! He really was killing it, and it was a real shame that his set was forced to end early due to dangerous lightning, but totally necessary. The lightning was flashing around the site completely out of control, and it was refreshing to see a festival care more about the people that had attended than the money they were making out of them. Although the night fell 5 hours short of what is was meant to; we were still treated to a vast amount of wonderful music throughout the day.

SUNDAY

To everyone’s surprise, come Sunday morning everything was back to normal! The Alfresco Festival team had worked hard through the night, and there was no more water logging. Even the fine weather from Friday and Saturday had returned to welcome the great DJs that were arriving to play that day. Midland was the first big name artist to arrive on the final day. His set was delayed slightly, as he requested a special mixer, but it was totally worth it. He even played longer to make up for the time he missed at the start waiting for it; despite being on a tight time schedule. He was playing at Gala Festival, and a Gala after party at Ministry of Sound later that evening! It was hot and sweaty in the frontier big top tent, and although most people would rather be outside soaking in the rays of the beaming sunshine, many people were drawn in by Midland’s mixture of inviting sounds. Favourites from his very impressive set include psych disco track 'Who's Crying Now' and the Black Science Orchestra’s masterful classic house jam 'Save Us'. After Midland; anticipation was growing for the one and only DJ Harvey to arrive. Back on the main stage, Nancy Noise was warming up for the master, and his grand entrance came after she closed with ‘Long Train Running’. The scene was set. 5 hours of DJ Harvey. In the sun. On a Sunday afternoon. Next to a bar. What more could you want? He even played Pink Floyd’s legendary ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond' at the beginning of his set. He grinned, whilst pouring himself Jack Daniel's, seeming to enjoy the occasion very much. Disco and rare groove favourites of mine ‘I'm In Heaven’ and ‘Live In Me’ got a predominantly older crowd in absolute awe of their favourite DJ. As the festival weekend entered its last breath, Harvey spun a mixture of magical tunes, and closed with the legendary ‘Hold Tight’. It was a perfect Sunday evening, and I even managed to meet Harvey and have a nice chat! That wasn’t even the end! The night club tents were of course open until 2am, and Dixon Avenue Basement Jam’s finest duo – Optimo were blaring out some heavy techno and electro to see off the festival. There was so much electronic talent on offer over the 3-day weekend, which is unusual for Kent! Being a local in the area, I was really impressed with the Alfresco team’s work. They brought some of the best artists in the business to the table. If you live around the area, or just fancy a weekend full of great music, make sure you get a ticket for next year! The date has just been announced as the same bank holiday weekend, which will be the 23rd-27th of May. It is expected to be even bigger and better next year so do not miss out!