Now a fully-fledged member of the Festival Republic family The Big Chill is poised to build further on the successes of 2010. Last year saw an international line-up of some of the biggest selling names in electronic, indie and pop music. 2011 sees another all-star cast taking to The Big Chill stages including an exclusive UK festival appearance by Kanye West plus The Chemical Brothers and Rodrigo y Gabriela.
On day 1 of the festival we arrived quite late and already people were talking about the days performances. Fight Like Apes left an impressive mark from the main stage and Fenech Soler heated things up on The Revellers stage.
We caught up with the action as Neneh Cherry got on stage to give u
s a nice blast from the past. Cherry played her old classics like Manchild but also new tracks like Naked, which had a really nice vibe. Neneh Cherry then finished her set with a great performance of her hit Woman.
As we wandered around we stumbled upon this years novelties at the festival with an Enchanted Garden full of magic and a giant bird cage as its stage and a little pond where you could rest your eyes in little pods. The Big Chill isn’t the average British festival it is quite civilised and rightly so with a mature audience.
Music-wise trying to make a difference were Empire Of The Sun who failed to impress. The showmanship was there along with the eccentric dancers but really when it came down to the music it didn’t live-up to the spectacle. On the other hand the band that really stood out on Friday night and showed everyone else how its done were electro/dance veterans The Chemical Brothers.
From the lights down to the sound and back to the visuals, The Chemical Brothers really proved that they are quite rightly so one of Britain’s most precious musicians.
We went for a long wander after the show and ended up in a sheesha tent, which relaxed us enough to send us to bed to have sweet dreams about The Big Chill and it’s many faces.
