Live Report: Secret Garden Party 2015

Mud-filled but still enjoyable...

Obviously one of the wettest days of the entire summer has to fall on the Friday of Secret Garden Party. Bloody bastards. Try as you might, it's pretty hard to keep your spirits up when the rain is heavy and barely lets up for about 18 hours and you're soaked through and your mate has lost his wellies and you just want to jump into a tumble dryer.

The day is spent trudging through the ever-increasing expanses of gushing mud in search of shelter and respite from the elements, with the feel-good tunes of The Kitsch-Inn where we eventually settle in an attempt to turn our sogginess into sweatiness.

The deluges that bookend the weekend mean that Saturday is the only full day suitable for attempting vague schedules and missions to see specific acts – which as most seasoned Secret Garden Party-goers will tell you, is very much not the point of Secret Garden Party, loathe as they are to anything approaching stress or organisation in this little corner of (weather-dependent) paradise. However, with many more well-known and established names on their line-up these days than in their earlier years, it would have been churlish not to make some small effort to see some 'destination' acts.

Secret Garden Party's main stage valley and its sweeping views over the spectacular site make for one of the most magical settings of any festival, and their booking policy is one of the more adventurous out there. Such is the festival's reputation – and because it's always been their ethos – their personal favourites trump acts that other festivals would bank on shifting tickets, alongside other left-of-centre acts with cultish followings.

Australian siblings Angus & Julia Stone largely opt for the more melancholic side of their catalogue, pulling off an excellent set of sultry slow-burners like the delicious 'Heart Beats Slow'. Occupying a space somewhere between The Civil Wars and Warpaint, they are captivating throughout. At the opposite end of the site, Zero 7 roll out a tight selection of house and disco in the stunning Lost Woods – possibly the most enchanting area of the festival – with classics like Metro Area's 'Miura' thumping out of an immense 360-degrees of Funktion One units.

Smooth Sailing's trippy, proggy techno gets the synapses firing in the Woods that evening, before a customary pilgrimage around the site begins in search of the more weird and wonderful that the festival holds. We stumble across excellent newcomers Zola Blood at Where The Wild Things are, their Moderat-ish epics drawing in many a passer-by.

Jackmaster, Ben UFO and Joy Orbison's tasty triple-header also sucks us in at The Drop, with a no-nonsense selection of killer records across the 4×4 spectrum, before we head towards the Little Gay Brother tent for some incredibly fun camp piano house festivities. The night ends in the London Leisure Pirates' typically eccentric tents, party tunes at the ready as all manner of freaks roam the stage alongside their master of ceremonies. It's safe to say the most fun you'll have at SGP is likely to be in these smaller tents, where there's more to engage the senses than music alone.

Before we leave on Sunday, there's time to discover the engrossing gypsy vigour of Newcastle's Holy Moly & The Crackers, and a rousing main stage set from the acclaimed Gentleman's Dub Club as the heavens begin to open again. The rain and mud may have put a serious dampener on the weekend, but SGP's mix of carefully curated names, lesser-known gems, random happenings and incredibly friendly crowd still make it very hard to beat and ensure that we leave with a big, mud-eating grin on our faces.

Words: George Markus
Photography: Patrick Duce

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