Sadly Sunday’s start was marred by the sad news of trouble in the Exit campsite.
The essentially well-run event had received its first true blow of ’08. Part of a tree had fallen down early in the day hitting a tent, killing one and injuring others, and induced a sense of panic in both organisers and revellers. Some people were badly affected and justifiably left.
4-day festivals do test the willpower and the dedication to the cause. And this news pushed that to the limit for most, but most people unaware of proceedings headed back for one last stab at the dusty pit the fortress had now seemed to become and everyone else admirably got on with making the most of what was left of an ultimately successful weekend.
Sunday highlights were Orkestra Del Sol, kicking up the moat’s dusty layers in a flurry of Cossack dancing and frantic twirls and jigs from the crowd below. It was like a 10 piece Balkan salsa funk carnival explosion, only thing is – the band are from Glasgow.
The Sex Pistols were uninspiringly predictable, a word you’d never at one time have considered leveling at Johnny Rotten and his cohorts – the main point of interest being a particularly inappropriate tirade about ‘praising Allah and erasing USA’. Given the ethnic cleansing this country has seen it was maybe one of the ultimate examples of keeping the religion chat firmly out of this environment. But hey ho, on with the show…
Booka Shade did what they do best down in the dance arena, chunking up the basslines to rapturous applause, and using the digital Roland V drums to cement their place as one of the electro bands of modern times who can actually cut it live. Sharam from Deep Dish upped the visual stakes with an amazing trapeze artist and fire-thrower combo atop his stage, before confounding that with a gut wrenching mix of Daniel Bedingfield ‘If You’re Not The One’ – say no more!
The weekend was polished off with some frantic dancing and some more crowd blogging at the aptly named HappyNoviSad area as the rain clouds came in and the dusty curtain came down on a festival that has come out of the darkness and into the light, and now deservedly into the limelight.
