For most people ten years ago a festival would mean a three day trip somewhere for the weekend that was booze fuelled, full of mayhem, dance or rock, in the wonderful English mud. Indeed until recently it would not be ridiculous for somebody to go to two or three festivals in a year. And the lure of the UK festival scene is not to be scoffed at. Arguably one of the best in the world for its choice, with the gem in the crown being Glastonbury.
Not that much has changed over the years, in fact the number of festivals has bloomed. On the outset we have a booming market for festivals, with a hefty 500 going off this year. Although, bright and rosy in numbers, 2011 has seen a decline in ticket sales as people become tighter on their wallets. Figures released by music mag, Music Week, said that 30 events had been cancelled in August alone. Existing festivals have been struggling to book fresh new acts that are capable of pulling the crowds. Artist like Muse have played eight UK festival headline shows in the last seven years and Kings of Leon have played five times in the last four years, excluding their two Hyde Park shows this summer.
Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic explained to The Guardian that between Reading, Leeds and Creamfields, a quarter of a million people went to a festival – meaning the love for festivals is not gone but people are feeling the effects of recession.
I wanted to take the opportunity this year to try something different at Spain’s Rototom Sunsplash 2011, which offered me a chance to enjoy one of my favoured music genres - reggae. I am one of those feeling the pinch of the economic downturn and wanted to be strategic about the choice I made. And with this and a need to wind down after my journalism training in mind (and for no other reason…) I decided to head to the sun soaked Med with some friends.
After two train journeys, a taxi ride, a flight and an overnight stay in Barcelona I arrived in Bennicassim, where Sunsplash is hosted. Located in the sun baked setting of a coastal town situated between Valencia and Barcelona, hoards of Reggae fans descended upon the festival to enjoy its 17th offering. And I was gleefully there to be part of it.
Okay so the trip was a little longer than my summer jaunt to a festival but the alluring factor of this was both the price (180 Euros) for ten days camping and the location.The great thing about it is it's both festival and beach holiday rolled into one and I was happily trading the mud for the sand and sea of glorious Spain. How was this not a good idea?
I as a first time attendee I had mixed expectations. I of course expected a blanket of reggae to cover me throughout with chilled out vibes and musical offerings from a wealth of talent both old and new. But I suspected that I may succumb to the intensity of ten whole days straight of Reggae. And I felt it begged the question: Is ten days of chilled out vibes too much and will I have my fill after just a few days?
Any fears were wiped away from me instantly. Ten days was just not enough to enjoy the wealth that was on offer.
There was so much more here than the sun to soak in. As well as fantastic reggae acts from all regions of the globe at night, during the day there was a whole host of activities to keep the mind active. From Capoiera classes, the history of Reggae explained via film in the Reggae University tent , as well as a host of art workshops for children. And just a few miles away to top this all off you could be at the beautiful beach. Now doesn’t that sound perfect?
Admittedly, for a Brit abroad like myself, any sort of day-time movement proved difficult. When presented with 30 °C heat I have a tendency to lie down like a dead dog, but often after a litre or so of water I often had a second wind. Although predominately a Spanish festival it was still easy enough to speak to staff who were well versed in basic English and all the announcements were well translated. Occasionally, I found it was best I kept my basic Spanish to myself -- simple requests such as “ Tiene cerveza,” (I would like a beer) were often met with confused stares by bar staff. My semi-Latin looks crossed with my poor pronunciation gave the impression that I was more drunk lunatic than just a mere Englishman.
The music itself was top-class this year in all areas. The main stage was graced by acts that originated from eras gone by Toots & the Maytals, Johnny Clarke, Lee Scratch Perry, Ali Cambell (of UB40 fame), Michael Prophet and dub poet Lynton Kwesi Johnson. All of which can still captivate a crowd and are still going strong. Newer kids on the block, Mr Vegas, Capleton, Gentleman, Konshens Lutan Fyah and Queen Ifrica carried the torch for modern reggae with style and vigour.
Other main areas such as the Dancehall tent gave a refreshing wind-down from the main arena and hosted acts such as Delly, Kinpower and Urtica Sound. The Dubstation, a brilliant large domed shaped tent, coupled with an exquisite sound system, was flooded night after night by many UK dub acts like Channel One, Iration Steppa’s featuring YT and Maki Banton and Abashanti. What really stunned me was the Lion stage, which gave a colourful taste of reggae-ska had a great sense of fun surrounding. It had me coming back for more night after night with Train to Roots from New Zealand particularly impressing and stealing the show for me.
Bob Marley added the flavour to Rototom 2011; this year being a massive tribute to the legend on the 20th anniversary of his death. Bob’s children Stephen, Ziggy and Kwma Wani all played out some vivacious performances. A particularly emotional evening was concluded on the third night, when Rita Marley (Bob’s first wife) joined the stage with Ziggy to play ‘One Love’ at the end of his set.
A record 220,000 attended the festival over the ten days making it a record year, which is admirable for an event only just steadying its feet in Spain. Now in its second year here after being forced to move from, Ossopo in the province of Udine in Italy. The move was made after it was alleged by Sunsplash chiefs that police criminalised many festival goers and arrested them for carry marijuana. After so many years where a blind eye was taken to this type of drug use it is widely believed that the cracking of the whip was very much politically motivated, by the newly formed government leaders and far right conservatives Forza Italia and National Alliance. The finger was pointed at festival organisers for facilitating marijuana smoking by promoting Rasta culture - an accusation, which they firmly denied. The festival though was forced to leave the country and bosses called in their lawyers to fight the impending legal case.
That kink in the Sunsplash chain is seemingly forgotten about now though as Bennicassim and the Spanish authorities have received the festival with open arms. There was very little in the way of aggressive police and pot hungry sniffer dogs this year.
One could argue that illicit drug use at these festivals, whilst obviously illegal is expected and can never be controlled. Such is the nature of the genre and its home Jamaica that these things simply won’t happen. I for one didn’t see any hoodlums, or aggression or blatant criminal goings on. I saw peace, I saw unity and I saw love – I saw happy people brought together by the music, with a reggae arrow buried deep in their souls. I saw Rasta culture which ,yes, involved marijuana smoking but there was a whole lot more to what the festival offered. The wide selection of music and activities for both the young and old was the intervening factor in Rototom 2011.
For the value and the quality that was on offer this is undoubtedly the pinnacle of festivals for me and fiercely rivals anything coming out of the UK at the moment-- it was a real refreshing change. While the purse strings are tightened on our shores I wonder if the price of a budget flight to festivals like Rototom and the many other cheap European options such as Dour (France) and Exit (Serbia) could become more worthwhile.
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