Friday, September 11, 2015

Festival Friday! Secret Garden Party

I'm finally back, it's finally Friday, both of which mean it's Festival Friday! This weeks Festival Friday is Secret Garden Party.

Based in Huntingdon, Secret Garden Party first opened it's gates to 1000 punters with one stage back in 2004. It opened as an alternative to the more mainstream music festivals. Now it has grown massively and has over 15 stages, as well as more than 26,000 punters flood through it's gates every year. However it has never lost that alternative or independent feel. 

One of the great things about SGP is the amount of care, time and thought that goes in to the site. Everywhere you look there is cool things to see and do, art work to admire, a hidden stage to find, a lake to swim in, and so much more. Each year there is a new theme, this year it was 'Childish Things', last year its was 'Beyond the Yellow Brick Road', the year before that it was 'Superstition', you get the picture. The themes are always well thought out and the site decorated accordingly. The punters take the themes very seriously as well, dressing up to the 9's and are so imaginative with their costumes. There is a huge variety of music at SGP, I would say pretty much every genre of music is covered. The line up is usually full of up and coming bands and artist, with some classics and big names thrown in. Previous headliners have included Gorillaz,  Blondie, Fat Freddy's Drop and Javis Cocker. 
Secret Garden Party supports lots of charities, but one that stood out for me was C.A.L.M. (Campaign Against Living Miserably). It's aim is to prevent male suicide in the UK, as it is the single biggest cause of death for men aged 20-45 in the UK. Personally I think many people don't realise how bad the situation is and don't fully understand depression and anxiety is not something you can just 'get over'. SGP had The CALMzone tent, where you could sit and chill on big sofas, take a load off and enjoy a good, free cup of tea. The CALM crew were there to chat to about the charity as well as anything and everything else you wanted to talk about. Follow C.A.L.M. on Twitter @theCALMzone, you can also use the hashtag #CALMSGP to find out more about C.A.L.M.'s work at Secret Garden Party.

Now for this year, Thursday 23rd - Sunday 26th July 2015

Headliners: Jungle, The Cat Empire, Caravan Palace

Other artist include: Will and the People, Jack Garratt, Public Broadcasting Service, Lianne La Havas, Kate Tempest, Gentlemen's Dub Club, Natty, Honne, Temples, Roots Manuva, Kawehi, Darwin Deez, Beans on Toast, Rhodes, The Rumble, Ian Siegal, CC Smugglers, The Urban Voodoo Machine, Fleetmac wood, Chainska Brassica, Nizlopi, Rum Buffalo, Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate, Temple Funk Collective, Dizraeli, 

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