Glade relocated this year to a bigger, better, more secluded site at the Matterley Bowl. It was here that the sound teams manning the Funktion One systems could work hand in hand with the DJs and bands on stage and crank up the volume to a satisfactory level for all.
There couldn’t have been a more suitable duo to kick things off and take advantage of this notable change to the festival this year than the Digi Mystikz. Joined by Loefah, a full two hours of low end dubstep ensued, whilst St. Pokes, a familiar sight to any regular of Bristol’s Dubloaded night, prowled the massive stage in nodding approval. Before, the curator of the aforementioned night, Pinch, had played an hour of mostly unreleased tunes, expertly mixed. Pinch’s demeanour on stage never expands on a posture which retains a ‘strictly business’ vibe – deep, concentrated, and composed. The trio of Mala, Coki and Loefah, on the other hand, would not be out of place in the large crowd which has amassed by the end of their set.
Booka Shade had premiered a new live show on the main stage earlier in the evening. With a live drummer ensuing the sound was rightly placed on the Glade stage which again sat outdoors this year, they worked through over an hour of upbeat and climatic techno for one of the biggest crowds of the weekend – probably only outdone by the attendance that gathered for Squarepusher’s show the following evening. Though the bassist is a staple of these gigs nowadays, his appeal transcends your usual archetype techno / warp records lover. There was many a metal-style bop of hair swaying to his drill n’ bass that evening – indeed, many of his tunes are so furiously fast and his slap-happy bass so aggressive, much of his work could be described as verging on the heavy. For someone not overly familiar with Squarepusher, his music tonight sounds one dimensional and tedious.
One of the other most highly anticipated acts of the weekend, Moderat, played in the Vapor stage shortly later that evening. Hosted by bloc this year, whose bash of their own in March showcased many of the acts here – including Modeselektor – the Berlin super group have just released a new album combining the charismatic electro/techno of the aforementioned duo alongside Apparat’s more slowly composed electronica. Their live show, accompanied as Modeselektor’s was at bloc with Pfadfinderei on VJ duties, did not disappoint. Commencing with ‘A New Error’, each new song had a different themed sequence of original video work, much of it drawing on the contrasts and expressions of dust, clouds, and light textures against dark.
There was only one man who could top the previous hour, that being Carl Craig, also off the back of a headlining slot at Bloc. Whereas at Butlins a man with coming up to 20 years of releases was only given an hour to play with, at Glade he had two. So no time was wasted in providing the tent with the full on lasers, synth and smoke combination of a Bladerunner – like intro. For fifteen minutes the horns and strings slowly weaved their way through the dense darkness which shrouded Craig in a midst of sci-fi techno. Last year it was Jeff Mills who did the talking for the Detroit second wave of producers to whom much of this current generation owe hoards to, this year Carl Craig did justice to both his esteemed history and the headlining slot of the weekend.
Sunday morning may, in the past, have been one of the most under-used or heavily felt periods of the Glade weekend. But as the team branched out in terms of the festival’s location this year, so did they in the billing back to back of Finley Quaye and Nitin Sawhney. Quaye brought a sizable crowd into the shelter of the main Glade stages’ beautiful canopies. Commencing with ‘Even After all’, Quaye ran his way through many recognisable hits, whilst his stage demeanour served as a worthwhile token for the weekend in all – relaxed, mellow yet upbeat and energetic. Though Sawhney’s set is plagued with sound problems, and stopped more than once in an effort to solve feedback, he makes up for this with faced-paced flamenco guitar work which again mutates the dance aspect which Glade fosters into yet another different mutated form.
