We arrived at the Global Gathering at around 5pm and to my surprise a good crowd was already building in the grounds of Long Marsden Airfied. It is overcast above and there is no sight of the sun, it is warm and the ground is dry and that is all that matters! Walking into the grounds, past the tight security complete with police dogs, I immeditately noticed that the arena’s were now more spread out than in previous years. One thing that will never change is the great array of people that come out to Global each year. The costumes are out again in force this year, we run into some bananas, a large group of tigers, chickens and more!
Heading over to the main stage, we are just in time to see the infamous Jaguar Skills who always performs behind a ninja mask. Little is known about the man behind the mask, but this doesnt take away the fact that Jaguar can rock a crowd with his skills on the decks.
One of my favourite area’s at Global is the outdoor Toolroom Knights arena, there is always a great crowd here and Friday’s lineup was immense. Rocking the decks was Micheal Woods, coming straight off his success with Example’s ‘Changed The Way She Kissed Me’, he had the entire crowd jumping with hands in the air. As we look over from the front of the stage, all we see is a crowd full of smiles, they have a massive weekend of great music ahead and this is the perfect way to start. Special guest Benny Benassi kept the crowd going with his uplifting house set before making way for Toolroom Knights head honcho Mark Knight.
With Above and Beyond having their ‘Group Therapy’ tent at Global this year, we were expecting nothing but uplifting trance and it was supplied by some of the heavy hitters in the scene, Super8 & Tab, Gabriel and Dresden, Gareth Emery, Sander van Doorn and of course Above and Beyond all graced the decks in this tent. Above and Beyond showcased their Group Therapy show with a spectacular music, video and lighting production and played a blinding set to a full house.
Underworld still promenintely play the festival circuit each year and we catch the trio, Karl Hyde, Rick Smith and Darren Price in the Global tent. With Karl on vocals and Rick and Darren on mixing, the trio certainly know how to whip a crowd into shape. Eric Prydz brough his EP/IC show to the Global tent this year and really only one word can describe it ‘Epic’. With a massive LED wall which curves around the stage and displaying amazing visuals, the show is on another level of production I have never seen before. As a massive fan, I knew that Eric would deliver a brilliant uplifting house and electo set, and that’s exactly what he did!
The main stage at Global is set totally seperate from the rest of the arenas giving plently of space to enjoy the headliners that hit the stage over the weekend. With Professor Green cancelling due to health reasons, and Steve Angello and Pendulum to perform, this was defintely the place to be. As night begins to fall, Steve Angello takes to the stage to huge applause. The crowd are massive Swedish House Mafia fans and Steve takes to the mic, ‘Are you guys having a good time, my names Steve Angello from the Swedish House Mafia, are you guys ready!’ As the bass drops and the pryotechnics blast out from the front of the stage, the crowd is jumping, and Steve drops banging track after banging track, including the massive ‘Save the World Tonight’, ‘Miami to Ibiza’, and ‘One (Your Name)’
Pendulum headline Friday night at Global Gathering and they have a huge stage rig complete with huge LED screens and a pryotechnics setup. Pendulum have featured on the lineup’s of festivals all around the world this year and they have the Global main stage crowd well and truely in the palm of their hands. With the energetic front man Ben Mount on the mic, their set are so full of energy you could actually power half the site with it! Hits like ‘The Island’ and ‘Salt In The Wounds’ have the crowd going insane and you can feel the crowd’s excitment as they plow through hits from their latest album Immersion, and the rest of their back catalouge.
Although the sun did not come out to play, Global Gathering delivered yet another fine lineup and the crowd was on hand to enjoy every single moment of it.
Catch our interview with Above and Beyond before they took to the stage at Global Gathering 2011.