As the Pontins website declares, "Let the peaceful waterways of the Norfolk Broads add some tranquility to your holiday", very good advice for any family looking for a quiet break. I doubt, however, that the person who penned this tag line had considered the invasion of 2,500 techno ravers, nu-age hippies and bass heads to their quaint little corner of Norfolk. The Bloc weekend is precisely that, a weekend of hard beats, deep bass and legendary names from dance music and beyond nestled in between the idyllic villages of Hemsby 'n Scratby. Our weekend started when we eventually arrived, (If anyone from Pontins ever reads this, put some fucking
sign posts up in Hemsby. I know you're ashamed of the place, but people still need to find the bastard), got checked in as Press and the keys for our apartment sorted. While it seemed that the rooms hadn't really changed since the 70s, I quickly remembered we weren't there for a comfortable holiday. This was a festival, and I had a roof over my head. Not sweating gallons or freezing my nuts off in a tent, there's a colour TV, double bed, shower and a kitchen. I don't think you could find yourself in this situation anywhere else in the world, (you can even watch the main arena live feed on your TV) great start, and I hadn't even left my room. A few beers to chill out after the drive were needed before we headed into the arenas, and I can certainly tell you I still wasn't prepared for the situation ahead.
I've been in many clubs with hundreds of wasted ravers, but these are normally in dark, moody clubs. On this occasion the setting I first encountered was very different indeed, the amusement arcade filled with buzzing 2p gamblers, claw machines (which, I swear, are impossible to win) and more brightly flashing ticket spewing machines. Mix this family fun environment with a plethora of incredibly wasted ravers either finding refuge under the air hockey tables or making their way to another arena and you might be starting to envisage how this can be a tad strange on first impressions.
For me the first night's major draw was definitely Kool Keith (AKA Dr Dooom/Dr Octogon) and Kutmaster Kurt, being international heroes for many hiphop heads. They delivered a high energy, very professional show which I've come to expect from big US names, with panto-esq twinges that never detract from the genius of cuts such as 'Blue Flowers' and 'Earth People'. As always Keith had his fun with the ladies, throwing out lingerie from his own line then getting girls on stage to model and dance - more aspects you come to expect from larger-than-life US rappers. You don't, however, expect to catch them chillin in the Aztec themed restaurant post show - another surreal reminder I was at pontins.
After that I was wandering around for alot of the night, having a musical taste of various people I hadn't
encountered before (Or remember now...) and taking amusing photos. Something I found early on was that despite not being set in fields this event retained a great festival atmosphere, everyone being very friendly or, of course, unconscious. There was someone dressed in the same hoody as me that night who I never saw, but he was selling some sort of narcotic which I got asked for a dozen times or so. This led to many lengthy conversations ranging from drug abuse in schools to the classic meaning of life debates, so cheers to him. (That's not sarcasm by the way, those conversations were fucking great!) My last outing that evening/morning was myself and Dave (Dave Bowen - brilliant photographer & great guy whos the reason I got to go) attempting to find a beach, still not believing that at this point there was one anywhere. We sadly got distracted by someone attempting to shimmy down a 70ft zip-line a good 40ft in the air, in the end he didn't kill himself, to the half-hearted cheers of the nonchalant onlookers who were more bothered about finding the next 'chalet party' to crash.
After a successful visit to the beach Saturday continued with a beautiful Rhythm & Sound dub set - who you may remember from their legendary early 90's minimal electro as Basic Channel. This led me nicely into an afternoon of DubStep with MRK1 providing anthems and their own production for Manchester's Virus Syndicate to flow over, followed by Mike Paradinas, Vex'd live and the French grime of crew TTC. Great sets
from all of these, only shame was that the subs weren't really producing enough to feel that kick in the chest. Later on I made sure I was back in that arena to catch the boundary pushing IDM masters Autechre & Congo Natty with Tenor Fly and Top Cat, who brought a brilliant mix of legendary jungle anthems and cuts from their new album - 'Two Veterans'.
Personally this weekend was a weird but wonderful experience, musically I don't feel there's a large indoor event matching this lineup for showcasing underground dance music talent as well as knowing and showing upmost respect for some of the legends who helped shape the genres that have developed in the past 15 years. The only major downfall was the sound levels, lineups like this deserve to be put on the best system possible but, I presume, due to noise pollution laws they're restricted in this area. The crowd were all incredibly friendly, if wildly eccentric at times - but I'd say that's to be expected at any rave or festival! I'll definitely be recommending this surreal weekend away next year when hopefully the teething problems will be worked out and this festival can reach its full potential.
