Bringing the bizarre to the heart of the peaceful and idyllic British countryside, last weekend The Secret Garden Party returned to Cambridgeshire for four solid days of uncontainable chaos.
As the festival strode into its seventh year, the scene was set; a giant wooden structure stood tall on a small island in the middle of an oval lake, an enormous dragonfly hovering proudly above the water. Commonly cited as Britain’s answer to its extreme stateside equivalent ‘Burning Man’, this festival’s liberal in large measures do away with social norms. Selling out super speedily, the 26,000 guests at the boutique festival were fully hyped about sounds from Leftfield, I am Kloot, The Whip, Mosca, Andy C, Nero, Rob da Bank, Guillemots and The Bees. Tunes aside, the man behind the Garden Party magic (simply known as ‘Fred’) lays on treats aplenty for visitors’ visual delectation. Art installations are dispersed across the site and crowds are encouraged to kick back on the hay bales.
Friday’s storms did little to dampen hardened Brit spirits but as the sun broke through, the atmosphere hit a high and the temporary residents of the Cambridgeshire haven lived the festival’s manifesto to the fullest. Saturday night saw living legend Blondie headline the main stage, before the now traditional burning of the wooden sculpture marked another year of S.G.P. action, all in the name of frenzied fun, good music, amazing times and hedonistic antics. Revellers stripped-off, rolled-down, smiled-big and embraced their inner child. A quintessentially eccentric British garden party, S.G.P is a modern day Woodstock for the inner hippy in all of us. Be you young, old, spirited or spiritual this festival was established to liberate the liberal and satisfy sensationalists. Don’t lose you head, use it… Buy next year’s ticket now!
i-D’s Secret Garden party highlights:
1. Badger Badger
2. Boiler Room
3. The Bearded Kitten
