Gigs/events review

EVENTS REVIEW

Over the course of the summer i attended two contrasting musical events that showcased great talent as well as an opportunity to see new music from unknown faces. These were the truck festival in oxford and the brixton splash community event in brixton. Below i've done an overall summary of the two events as well as acts that were present.

The Brixton splash event was held on sunday August 2nd in brixton, London. It is currently an ongoing even that happens every year around the start of august and also always on a sunday. It purpose is the celebrate the cultural richness of the brixton community in the form of a festival where all ethnicities mix and enjoy a day of music, food, games and general high spirits itself. The event was promoted by the local council who used fundraising to help get the festival going, resulting in a great turn out of people. Brixton splash starts at 12 with acts on the main stage at the Windrush square. As the day progresses the sound systems are placed on the back streets each with their own genre of music. This would usually be house, rap, dancehall and reggae. The event ends at 7pm.

Acts were varied and abundant amongst those who came. Most were seen performing on the main stage and as such everyone was able to enjoy the fun. Acts included Endurance Steel Band, Shumba Youth, Queen Addi, South London Samba, Shadow Drummer, Lion III and many more. The Event itself was entirely located in brixton, with some roads blocked off. The back roads that also housed the street festival were pope road, coldharbour lane, electric lane, atlantic road and a few others. The duration of the performances ran till around 6pm with the back road sound systems running until 7 where they legally obliged to pack away all equipment.

 However, there are many after parties that can be attended close to brixton to continue the festival spirits onwards until the early hours of the morning. The setting for Brixton splash is essentially family friendly so all ages can enjoy the day, although there are a select few locations such as coldharbour lane that feature more adult orientated music. Security is offered by the local community as well as volunteers. The fact that this occurs every years means there isn't really an excuse not to go and enjoy yourself wether you be an adult or a child.



The other event that i attended was known as the Truck festival which happened in oxford between the 18th-19th of july 2014. This festival is more akin to an event like glastonbury due to the fact that it takes place on a farm, in a rather spacious field area that stretches far enough for an abundant amount of activities to take place there. Being out of London is quite a travel but the amount of things that you can do when you arrive make it worth the journey.

Truck festival are partners with Last.FM, Hobgoblin and FestivalsForAll who also provided funding and planning for the event including construction of the main stage. The site and event is open from 10:00 AM on friday the 18th july and closes at 12:00 PM on sunday the 20th of july. This is also the duration of the entire event. Pricing for tickets to attend the even can be brought either individually or purchased at a discounted rate if groups are attending. Children also get a cheaper price for tickets. Adult tickets are priced at £74 for the weekend including camping with £78.50 as the end price when booking fee is included. Theres a £5 cost to rent a parking space in advance and £7 to aquire one at the entrance of truck.

The location this year for truck was Hill Farm, Church Lane, Steventon, Oxon, OX13 6SW. This address is for Oxford and was also for the farm where the event took place. The format for the event is much more adult based then that of Brixton splash and tailored towards those 21+, however there are some children activities that can be done aswell. Security was handled by both the benefactors of the festival and volunteers  with these individuals donning  green visual jackets and walkie talkies. 

Other members of Staff were simply there to help with directions and organising acts between the barnival stage, main stage and various venues around the field towards the camping zone. The acts were devided between both the friday and the saturday. These included The Cribs, Peace, White Lie, Stornaway, Gang Of Four, Swim Deep, Dodgy, Jullio Bashmore and many many other faces.