Glade is a festival that takes its atmosphere very seriously indeed.  When asked about its overall ethos Festival Director Nick Ladd shoots back, with minimal reflection, that Glade is ‘all about community.  It’s without doubt the friendliest crowd in the UK.’  Quite a statement indeed, especially for the legions of regular Glastonbury visitors who believe Worthy Farm for one weekend a year to be the very epitomy of glorious community.  However, for those that have been there in recent years and witnessed first hand the increasing numbers of obnoxious townies stumbling around in their designer macs and trilby hats, Ladd’s statement shouldn’t push too many buttons.

      

Glade of course started out life as a stage at Glastonbury in 2001; a remarkably short space of time in which to make the transition from small dance stage to 12000 capacity Electronic Music Mecca . Ladd himself says that Glade has ‘evolved as a dance music festival’ and is now the ‘perfect hybrid between a twanging rave and proper UK festival.’  It is in this phrase that Glade is summed up because Glade is exclusively a dance music event.  It prides itself on being so and, unlike the more commercial dance festivals, it appears to be making little effort to bow to corporate dick-suckery, or to involve the wave of indie acts that are currently dipping their toes into the dance music mainstream.  



Interestingly though, despite the wealth of artists booked, Ladd needs prompting to bring up big-hitting names like Underworld, Squarepusher and Femi Kuti and seems to be just as concerned with creating a little oasis for Glade-goers to escape from normality, to ‘forget about the day to day, have a laugh and a drink with your mates.’

     

Of course, this doesn’t mean that they haven’t thought about the music, as playing this year are a selection of the most important dance acts in the world today.  Other than the afore-mentioned big-hitters, Ladd proclaims to be extremely excited about Adam Freeland’s live band Freeland (justified if you’ve heard ‘Under Control’), as well as dubstep hero Rusko, The Quemists, Japanese Pop Stars and techno legend Juan Atkins.

       

They will all be playing in virgin surroundings this year as Glade has moved to a new home at Matterley Bowl, near Winchester. Proclaiming the reason for the venue switch to be ‘late night sound levels, simple as that,’ Ladd is clearly chuffed with Glade’s new gaff.   It seems obvious, but for a dance music festival to adhere to normal sound limits seems almost impossible, 5am friendly as the music is.  Ladd takes an obvious pride in declaring Glade now to have the best ‘late night sound levels of any UK festival’, a dangerous claim but not too hard to believe when you consider the festival is essentially taking place in a vast outdoor bowl in the middle of the country.  To sum it up, lots of stuff gets in but nothing gets out.

    

So there you have it.  Glade is the little brother that turned into the Big Daddy, all the while keeping its reputation firmly intact.  One of Ladd’s final comments regards the commercialisation of the dance music scene.  He, fairly enough, says that ‘commercialisation of the 90’s rave scene killed its spirit’ and that they want to ‘stay true to that spirit’.  For someone that was a nipper during that pivotal and industry shifting scene, even if he delivers on half his promises, the chance to be part of something close to it is very exciting indeed.

Are you going to Glade? Have you been to Glade?

Posted In Features, Apr 20 2009. Words - David