Festival Review - Electric Daisy Carnival, London

Queen Elizabeth, Olympic Park, London, 20 July 2013

After sixteen years of travelling far and wide, and bringing EDM to the masses in the US, the Electric Daisy Carnival travelled across the pond to London to put on the very first European event at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The event promised dance heavyweights from across Europe on four stages, complete with an audio visual extravaganza incorporating state of the art production design, theatrical performers, fairground rides and a carnival atmosphere. With glorious weather on order it seemed that the first EDC London would be a surefire hit, and an unforgettable experience.

Unfortunately the most unforgettable experience happened before a lot of the punters even got through the gates and into the carnival. The organisers had implemented a requirement that each punter was to show ID even if they were very obviously over 18, which caused numerous issues (so much so that they had to drop the policy half way through the afternoon due to the large number of complaints), on top of a very stringent and time consuming search policy. So after queuing for 45 minutes through various barricades from Stratford station to the event gates (which were rightly in place to prevent crowd surges and to cross a busy road) punters then queued for up to 2 hours to get through the relatively small amount of ID, ticket and search gates. Whilst I absolutely agree with the security measures that were being carried out, surely the organisers could see that with the large number of people expected to attend they would need more gates and gate staff? Having spent nearly £70 each on a ticket only to miss nearly 3 hours’ worth of the event queuing to get in was unacceptable, and as a result I missed a lot of acts that I wanted to see and review.

So, the first act I did manage to see was Rusko, who also wins the prize for most captivating performance. He blended old school jungle, breakbeat and drum n bass whilst body popping and dancing about, and while his MC whipped the crowd up (I’ve no idea who the MC was but he was brilliant). Rusko was absolutely immersed in entertaining the crowd, and he didn’t disappoint. It was a fantastic set.

Over in the NeonGarden, Feed Me was working a different crowd altogether with an ear-splitting, bone-shattering dubstep set. The craziness in the crowd subsided slightly when the set changed up to a bit of house, but seconds later it was game on again with more shuddering bass and grimy dubstep, and the crowd got back on it.

Meanwhile, in the adjacent CosmicMeadow tent, Crookers was unsuccessfully trying to motivate a small crowd as he played through his house set. In contrast, back in the NeonGarden tent, Mat Zo had a large, bouncy crowd who were treated to various drops in the shape of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’ and Daft Punk’s ’Get Lucky’ whilst a menagerie of entertainers filed on and off the stage, dancing to his brilliant trance/house set. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Over at the BassPod, Nero started in a blaze of graphics, sub bass and shrill vocals to a surprisingly small crowd, although this may be in part because they were up against Avicii and Dirty South on other stages. Vocalist Alana Watson took to the stage for ‘Promises’ to a great reaction from the crowd before they dropped in their remix of Plan B’s ‘The Recluse’ and, later, ‘Innocence’.

Avicii, accompanied by a giant mechanical spider, was playing to a very large crowd over at the Kenticfield who danced and sang their hearts out to ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Seek Bromance’ (which he’d cunningly previously released under the name of Tim Berg). After dropping in a snippet of M83’s ‘Midnight City’ with Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ he rounded off his set with a haze of lazers for ‘Levels’ and then ticker tape for current chart no.1, ‘Wake Me Up’.

Sub Focus used his headline set in the BassPod to play tracks such as ‘Rock It’, ‘Out Of The Blue’ and the recent ‘Endorphins’, with the dancing crowd lapping it up. Again, the crowd was smaller than anticipated, but he was up against other headliners Tiesto and Madeon, so there was stiff competition. There seemed to be a lot of people who were trying to catch at least some of each of the headliners’ sets, and running between the various stages.

The main event of the night was Tiesto’s headline set at Kineticfield, which was epic, as expected. Even with a plethora of tracks from his back catalogue to choose from he still found space to drop in snippets of recent hits by Macklemore (‘The Heist’) and Icona Pop (‘I Love It’). In a set strewn with pyrotechnics he played tracks such as ‘Take Me’, ‘Rattle’ and ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ before finishing off with classics ‘Silence’ and ‘Adagio For Strings’. The crowd seemed reluctant to leave at the end of his set.

Overall EDC London did a great job of pulling in some major acts as well as some great up and coming acts, most of whom really captivated their audience. However, the long delays to get in at the start did put a dampener on the day given that many missed some of the acts that they had really wanted to see (myself included). I hope that EDC gets this right if they return in 2014 by drastically improving the number of gates and search staff so that the punters can get inside the venue to enjoy themselves instead of being outside the venue and really infuriated.

Were you at EDC London? What did you think?

Album Review: Loreen, "Heal"

Eurovision Song Contest entrants usually either sink without trace, or end up being ridiculed to the end of their days...or at least that's the way it tends to go in the UK. It wasn't always like that; acts such as Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Bucks Fizz, Celine Dion and, most notably, Abba were embraced by the British and had musical success, but since the nineties this seems to have taken a turn, and now the Eurovision is seen by some as somewhat of a poisoned chalice.

So it was with trepidation that I listened to this year's winning entry from Sweden, performed by Loreen. Whatever misconceptions I had were immediately extinguished, because "Euphoria" is an absolutely fantastic trance track. Heartened by the fact that I actually liked a Eurovision track, I found myself browsing her album, "Heal". And because my misconceptions were completely turned on their head I decided to do an album review... Here goes....!

First off, if you're looking for every song on Loreen's album to be a dancefloor filler like the mighty "Euphoria" you will be disappointed. Instead, the album shows off her versatility across several styles, from ballads to R&B to dance. It charts the journey through a relationship, from the excitement and anticipation at the beginning, to the complacency of the partner who fails to appreciate the other as the relationship progresses, to the doubts of whether the relationship is right, and finally concluding in its demise and all of the pain and bitterness that comes with it.

Kicking off the album with "In My Head", this is a great opener with an unusual beat and bassline combination which turns it into somewhat of an earworm, charting the dizzying euphoria felt in the first flushes of a romance. This is followed by the dancefloor friendly "My Heart Is Refusing" which is reminiscent of Avicii/Tim Berg and Afrojack, and contains a good singalong build up and chorus. It tackles the conflict of being in love and refusing to believe that there is a reason to mistrust your partner.

Loreen's vocals are unfaltering, and particularly exceptional in the third track, "Everytime". With an acoustic start it is a refreshing twist and a very beautiful, haunting, downbeat song. For me it is the jewel in the album and tells of the emotional struggle to leave someone. The mood is lifted by "Euphoria", the dance anthem with a slightly baffling ship fog horn at the start.

"Crying Out Your Name" is an upbeat song with another good singalong chorus, and describes the torment of searching for the answers to a crumbling relationship at the bottom of a bottle. "Do We Even Matter" follows, and continues the theme of questioning whether the relationship matters to her partner. In a strange way it reminds me slightly of "Mama" by Genesis.

The realisation that her partner is actually a snake hits her in the following "Sidewalk", which contains a dubstep style break that really suits the song. In the upbeat "Sober" she seems to have reconciled with her partner, hoping that it is not a temporary thing. But it clearly is with the inevitable acknowledgement of the "other woman" that follows in the R&B tinged "If She's The One", with her imploring her partner to make a choice.

A more upbeat "Breaking Robot" follows, where the final throes of the relationship are laid bare. This track is reminiscent of "Get Together" by Madonna in terms of style and contains some cracking vocals from Loreen. In an effort to get the toxic relationship out of her system she embarks on a one night stand "See You Again" (which again has hints of Avicii/Afrojack's style), with all the danger signs of a rebound relationship rearing their head in her desperation to see her conquest again.

The final song of the album, "Heal" is, for me, the weakest. It's a downbeat number in which the topic of trying to salvage a relationship is touched upon, but the lyrics lack the depth of those in the rest of the album, and the song feels more laboured and lacks the strong hook of some of the others. The song also seems out of place given the story that is told throughout the rest of the album.

Overall, this album contains some poignant lyrics that are conveyed articulately and passionately by Loreen. With a good mix of ballads and upbeat songs across different styles it shows that not all Eurovision winners should be written off by my fellow countrymen without at least giving them a listen. It's certainly changed my attitude!

Have you heard the album? What did you think? Leave your comments below...