Music Makes The People Come Together

At long last, she's writing again!

I've been swishing this piece around in my mind for a month now following going to my first and only music festival of the Summer this year. I used to be a biiiiiig festival goer & raver, but in the name of balance only 1 was doable this year - and what a festival it was. 

All things arts and fun, from jewellery making to cabaret. Dolly Parton yoga to silent discos. We had such an immense time & it really was a healing reminder of how much we need eachother, music & movement to get our creative & social juices flowing again.

I'll tell you about my personal highlights, the unexpected roadblocks, & a little on the interesting people I was blessed to meet.

First I'll explain a bit about the festival & how we happened to come across a small intimate festival in rural Wales.

So there's something about having  a best friend in your 20s that in every movie tells the story of living in each others' pockets to then life stretching you hundreds if not thousands of miles apart. So when my best friend - based in the north - and I - south coast - decided we needed to meet up and boogie together, we hatched a plan to meet halfway. Many lists and late night phonecalls later we had narrowed down to a weekend we could both do. It's hilarious how organised 2 neurodivergent brains can be when it comes to arranging something full of novelty & let's be honest, when it involved the therapy every thirteenager needs - dancing & yapping with the girls. 

So that's how by chance we found a wee gathering of under 3000 partygoers in Usk, Monmouthshire. BIG LOVE FESTIVAL. Ironically I had been to Monmouth, Wales earlier in the year for a flying catch up with another festival friend. A magical part of the UK, I felt it was going to be something special. 

Tickets Klarna'd & outfits planned, we met on the blazing Friday afternoon, tent in tow, very giddy & anticipating 3 days of new sounds. I have never ever been to a festival where we haven't bonded with our tent neighbours, usually through borrowed tent pegs or shared pumps, then new music advisories. This time was no different, & with Sister Nancy on the speakers to our left & clouds of hash to our right we fell into a circle of beautiful & welcoming Welsh 20 -somethings who had been to the festival countless times. The music, people, atmosphere they said was the nicest, and they weren't wrong.

Night 1 there was no pacing- the 2 of us with our new friends rode the waves of DnB, folk, & one of my personal faves Funk, paragliding from one eclectic sound to the next, feeling how the nervous system responded. DJ heavy with patches of live instrumentals, it had all kinds of genres & vibes across the acres of woodland. The valley setting was gorgeous. Being a working farm the speakers were swapped for headphones into the late evening, & the 2 of us wandered into the silent disco. 

There was a moment of disjointed confusion as people stepped from the deep hum of voices inside the tent to the channel of sudden bass flowing into our ears. I always find it fascinating to take my headphones on & off, like a kid pumping their ears underwater to hear the vibrations. I find my brain glitches a little bit & love to observe here. When I was done playing I locked in, & it was as if my very own Spotify was on. Live your Life by Declan Knapp, Gardna & lau.ra came on & the people lost it. It was a murmuration of bodies; dynamic, coordinated, colurful waves. The energy was immaculate. 

The land for Big Love isn't huge, but being someone who usually has to pace & dedicates rest after any exercise, I knew I had overdone it. No regrets. Day 2 was halfway done and I felt good enough to rejoin the chatter, the sound & the creative conversations across the stages.

Although a considerable amount less JUMP dancing was had for the rest of the weekend to allow recovery, I didn't stop fully moving. A sway, a shake, a little two step. It was too delicious not to. Special mention to Rioghnach Connolly whose ethereal sea witch-esque sound made me shiver, & Mungo's Hi Fi who's jazzy, up-tempo buzz was impossible not to have a wee bounce to. Feet dragging but heart wide open to the melting pot of strings & drums, harmonised laughs, reverberating 1-2's, I was in the thick of a sweet ecstasy.

Although I knew I had pushed my body past its' limit in a way that barely used to affect me, I never stopped feeling like I was connected to it. Letting myself ride the waves, sitting when I needed, throwing my arms in the air to undeniable bangers, hydrated & tossing joy across the crowd at strangers. So many of us shared the sentiment. Sitting on haybales swaying with someone twice your age, learning Welsh culture through their stories. July was sweltering, but people wanted to be closer than ever. I exchanged poetry with a beautiful  Cardiff based graphic artist Kyle (Higher Graphics) who creates the most stunning mandalas & unique garment prints, who shared his stories & freehand paint on my tent. I also got to make my own necklace with jeweller Blodau Arian, aka Jayne, engraving my own Welsh message onto stainless steel freehand.