Anne's Diary - Superstar International DJ / Producer / Presenter

My Diary...Secret Garden Party, Riot!, Cream Ibiza @ BugJam, GG

Thursday, 30th July 2009

In my eyes July is an immense month of the year, summer is in full swing and there are festivals a plenty. My birthday falls slap bang in the middle of the month breaking up the year nicely between now and Christmas, something I was especially glad about as a kid (and sadly still am as an adult) because of the present/party combo and the waiting involved.

This year it fell on a Saturday, which for most people is good news, but normally not so much for me because I have to work/could be miles away from friends and family but this year it was on the very day of BugJam, at which I was booked to play in the Cream Ibiza arena. I love VWs, so does my boyfriend and my brother so it was amazingly fortunate having always wanting to go anyway.

I managed to rally up several members of my large family and a few friends. We all camped, (in my case in our bus) which I hadn�t done at a festival since Glasto 2 years ago. What a difference a van makes.

My other half bought me a Raleigh �Styler� bike from one of the stands - what a genius stroke that was, I was instantly transported back to my childhood (minus the jumbo cords and Y cardy) and spent the entire afternoon zipping round bothering people. They managed to call me in at about 9pm and it was soon time to play in the Cream Ibiza arena. I was completely blown away at how amazing it was. It was like Creamfields used to be 10 years ago. I�ve had so many lovely comments about my set and have to shout a few people for that, namely Andy Simpson, Tim Brinkley and Tara Hayes.

I was lucky enough to play Global on the Friday this year, I say lucky, most people would expect me to like playing on the Saturday, but I got a fantastic response on the Friday last year and they had made some improvements to the set up (a roof for one thing) and it meant I was able to do a double festival weekend playing at Secret Garden Party as well � another immense but completely different kind of festival but more on that later.

I had hours to spare when I got to the O2 for Riot! At Matter, which meant I got to hear BK and the Tidy Boys before my B2B with Lisa Pin Up. I think anyone who was there would agree that it was a great night, the atmosphere felt proper, The Tidy Boys said it was their best response yet in ....London..... Roll on November for the next one!!

So on to Secret Garden Party � It really was magical, on more of a hippy vibe, like you imagine Glasto was 20 years ago with performing arts, medieval banners, a lake with a wooden tower that was ritually burnt like the Burning Man festivals I�ve heard about, its easy to see how people would want to spend 4 days there.

There were no vans allowed so I did the tent experience, not even a big tent like my friend�s one that was the size of a family home in Dewsbury, which I nick named �Tentopolis� My main concern was the toilet situation, I didn�t fancy following my own medically unsound advice I give in press interviews ie eat a whole pack of Imodium then you won�t need to go�But I did manage to time it to when they�d been emptied which took some calculating I can tell you.

I dj�d as Dumb Blonde on the Ninja Tune/Remix stage on Sunday, which was wicked but by then most people had (possibly) consumed a fair amount of mind altering substances and it wasn�t the crowd I was used to. Or maybe they weren�t used to me depends how you look at it, but the shapes they were throwing weren�t as a result of a couple of WKDs or the odd Vodka Red Bull. Having said that I will be going next year with bells on. Shout out to Sean Marron who, even though was dancing like a mad man, was clearly the sanest person there.

After my set my brother and I went for a walkabout and wandered into a smallish tent where the Chemical Brothers were doing an impromptu set to excited Gardeners, The Kooks had played unadvertised the night before, that�s the kind of festival this is. ....

So onto this weekend�s gig�s

Sat 1st August � Pam�s House and Phunky Go West 2nd Birthday at Exeter Phoenix Centre

Sun 2nd August � Solution @ The Den, London with BK....

Tuesday 4th August � Revolution Music Factory, Central Sunny Beach, Bulgaria....

Take it easy, Anne xxx

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