ok, i'm exhausted but i'm gonna type this now while things are fresh in the old brain box.

this party was really bad ass. hawkwood is an awesome place to have a party with all the renaissance stuff everywhere and all the tree cover. i'd love to go to another party out there, and i will be attending massiv 2003 for sure.

in each of the 7 or so areas the lights were pretty good. nothing really over the top, and some areas better than others, but even the slightest of lighting looked awesome because it was done right. beams of light shooting through the leaves and the tress etc. very cool.

the sound was really great all around imo. i think most people would probably say it needed to be louder in all areas, but i thought it was perfect. crisp and clean, not distorted at all, and a very comfortable yet enjoyable volume level. no clashing from other areas. that goes for all the areas.

all the talent i heard was really great. that goes for the house, psytrance, dnb (although i felt it was a bit lacking there...but i'm no dnb head either), and the live acts. basically nothing caught my ear that made me think 'eck'.

specifically these people tore it up - and there were others who were great as well, but i just don't know who they were:

mel rocked the place like only mel can. typical mel stylings - awesome, fun track selections from hip hop (especially the old / older school) to retro...you name it...it was in there, and he worked it solid. he had to put up with a wacky tonearm on one of the decks too, so he was working extra hard. it paid off. sounded great.

after mel a live hip hop act called FDAP came on, and they were really, really tight. i didn't hear their whole set but i totally enjoyed what i did hear.

4 peace and tim funatik: they were dropping some tracks that were much more latin/siestaesque than i usually dig, but they had that place bumping. everyone was totally enjoying what they were doing, and rightfully so. great showing from these 2.

unfortunately i missed spoon fed tribe. they were slotted for 3.30am to 5 am...and myself and my ride were just way too exhausted for that. we left at around 2-2.30.

oh and the "main area" where the psytrance was played was done up really well. cool visuals, decorations, lighting, etc.

so basically, in my book this party rocked. quite a bit of people came out (though i'm bad at estimations, especially at a place as confusing as hawkwood). great lighting, sound, talent, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

i think that hits all the highlights. i took a pantload of pictures, i will go through them tomorrow (after some sleep) and will post in gen disc when they're up.

andy

dood, the dnb was WICKED. im always satisfied with cov ops.

however, the ukg wasnt very good. i didnt really enjoy lisa unique very much. for someone from the uk, id figure i would hear lotsa tha new stuff, but apparently not. also, <gripe> why does every uk ukg dj that comes to a party HAVE to play the timo maas azzido da bass dooms night track. it was good like 3 years ago </gripe> anyway, we left about 2 30 as well, cuz i defintiely wasnt feelin it. but the dnb rocked it out (especially ufo)

awesome, thanks for a more informed opinion on the dnb :-) btw, yeah i heard that azzido da bass remix 3 times i think.

andy

did anybody get to see Adam O'hana? I bet he threw down a pretty sweet set... were there alot of people there this year?

Yes by far this was the coolest outside party I have ever been to.


I agree with you Andy, I didn’t care to much for what 4-peace was spinning but at least it was being done his style witch is always cool.

I didn’t like the fact that the jungle stage was right across from the beer barn. Would have been nicer to have the groove stage across from there but that’s just opinion.. And the jungle we heard was not to bad for jungle. I just wish the DJ would not MC when playing. That so ruined it. And one of the event staff in the beer barn came over and sat by us every time we sat on this bench. He would be sitting somewhere else and when he saw us come over and sit down at this bench he would come over and I was sittin dere…. OK…. Hehe Space did get a couple of pictures of the tables in there. Nothing but beer bottles.

I don’t know who was spinning over at the groove stage but as it got later it seemed to get better. It was really nice to have the scene outside. And not just in some massive big field but actually like a little town with little glow stick shops, food and brew ha ha.

Of course the portolets we sooooooooo wrong it wasn’t even funny. I feel bad for any of the ladies that had to use the restroom there.

I really enjoyed the fact that I did not see any situations. I didn’t see any fights or confrontations and everyone seem in a good mood.

I will defiantly be going next year and any others that may be held in some sort of setting like that.

The best way to put it I guess is what space cadet said. " This is what is would be like if all the hippies, ravers and renaissance people took over the world." That is exactly what it felt like.