Great North Festival Sets Standards High Under New Management

With new owners and a new location, Great North Festival’s 4th year upheld its reputation of being a one of a kind east coast festival. While the Disco Biscuits headlining two nights brought an almost entirely new crowd to the festival, the promoters still worked hard to provide a fun and unique experience for those seeking a rich variety of electronic music.

There were three stages at Great North; the two inside the main concert area typically alternated to give the crew time to set up each artist, while the 4Life stage in the campgrounds went hard most of the day, giving campers a place to discover some smaller names on the come up. Each stage had their own pros and cons, but one thing that was consistently amazing across all of them was the sound quality. The stacks of speakers at each stage were massive and balanced, and even when standing directly in front of them listeners were met with crisp, clean sound that put little stress on properly protected eardrums. Along with their impeccable taste in visual art, as well as their stellar line up, the power of their speakers were one of the defining attributes of what made Great North such an unforgettable experience.

On Friday evening, The Disco Biscuits’ side project Tractorbeam warmed up the crowd as the sun lowered itself in the distance, replacing its warm glow with colorful lasers that lit up the sky in every which way. Of The Trees began followed, bringing an intense and heavy set that barely left the crowd time to breathe. Before leaving, Of The Trees announced that he would be playing a secret set at some point that weekend, electrifying the crowd with excitement.

After The Disco Biscuit’s second set things went quiet for a bit while Earphunk was being set up on the BGR8 stage. The stage’s main attraction was a weird geometric wolf-butterfly thing on which all kinds of projections were displayed. After a long sound check Daftphunk, which was the band’s name for the night, began to play. Though it was clear their vocal’s were slightly off due to technical problems, the band jammed as hard as they could through Daft Punk classics such as “Aerodynamic”, “Robot Rock”, and a climatic “One More Time”.

Soon after, Freddy Todd appeared to draw in a bit more of a crowd for a weird, sporadic, and heavy set that left the people in awe while the mad scientist behind the off-kiltered music smiled like a maniac. A few times throughout his set Freddy Todd would pull out a keytar to start jamming live, adding one more fun element to the weird collage of sound.

Finally Jade Cicada, a genius bass producer who’s live sets have been making waves this year, ended the night with a set that found the perfect balance between chill and grimy. His set was impressive from start to finish; in an almost cinematic way it floated between genres like trap, downtempo, and glitch-hop before bringing it full circle with the same bird and nature sounds that it started with. From there the music in the campsites began to fade and so did the energy of the attendees. Eyes began to droop, and before they knew it the second day was upon them.

On Saturday the Moosling 4Life Stage was the place to be. From early afternoon to late in the morning some of the biggest names in the underground bass scene played sets that made you almost forget that the other two stages existed. Highlights included Orchestrobe, a grimy, yet psychedelic artist who just started DJing after honing his productions offline for six years, and a wild B2B set between Tsimba and DeeZ. For two hours the duo played, drawing in more and more of a crowd as they dropped powerful solo tracks and remixes, as well as unreleased tunes from their upcoming collab EP.

Things switched up a bit later that night when hip-hop legend Cut Chemist took the Bgr8 stage, showing off his old school turntablist techniques and generally having a visibly fun time performing for a crowd slightly out of his norm. He was engaging, he was silly, but most importantly he was different from every other artist on the lineup.

The night ended in another one of a kind way, with a DJ set from psychedelic artist Supersillyus. When it was announced that the artist would be playing two sets over the course of the weekend many assumed that his DJ set would contain songs that he wouldn’t play with his “life band”, but in actuality it consisted of classic electronic tracks that had influenced Supersillyus over the years. Daft Punk, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin were just a few of the legends seamlessly stitched together while the DJ simultaneously got a haircut on stage. Luckily Supersillyus recorded the set for the listening enjoyment of those not in attendance.

With The Disco Biscuits done for the weekend many of their hardcore fans left early Sunday morning, and even more patrons were driven out by warnings of heavy rain and 40 MPH winds morning through early afternoon. For those left standing, the vibe of the festival completely changed, becoming more intimate and focused.

Most people spent the day gathering themselves and their things, preparing themselves for an easy cleanup and evacuation the following morning, but around 5:30 crowds gathered as Supersillyus re-appeared with his live band (consisting of members of Lespecial) to perform fully expanded versions of songs from his new album, and from his side project Schlang. Despite most of their set being highly psychedelic, the band finished off with a high energy punk rock tune with subtle traces of electronic elements.

With the exception of G-nome Project, DJs pretty much ran the night from there, and not just any DJs; all the artists headlining the two main stages belonged to Liquid Stranger’s adventurous new label Wakaan. First up Esseks came through with the heavy, yet spooky style that he has been developing over the past year, while still dropping classics like “Shortbus” and “Up Late”.

Next psychedelic gangster Space Jesus took main stage, playing tons of cuts from the new Meanwhile compilation, as well as new unreleased tunes, including a massive collab with glitch madman Mr. Bill. At one point near the end of his set Supersillyus emerged once more to freak the audience out by laying deep, ominous narrative over a trippy track of Jeezy’s design. In accordance with most of his sets of late, Space Jesus parted with the crowd after leaving them in shock with an unbelievably heavy remix of “Space Jam” that hit harder than almost everything else he had played that set.

Later that night Of The Trees made good on his promise, replacing Perkulator on the Bgr8 stage for second set with a completely different vibe from his first. While Friday’s set had been non-stop intensity, Sunday’s was more chill, carried more emotion, and floated through more diverse sounds. According to Tsimba, who had toured with Of The Trees earlier this year, much of the set consisted of unreleased music that the artist had made more for himself, rather than for release. By this point the crowd had whittled itself down to a fraction of what it was just two night before, leaving only a select few with memories of that special set.

Keeping in theme with the rest of the festival Great North went out with a bang. The main concert area shut down and Rob Garza began his festival closing set on the 4life stage.  For over two hours the Thievery Corporation DJ played house music, a genre that was severely lacking from the festival. The people were tired and while not many were left dancing, crowds laid out on the hill’s grass, soaking in the classic rave vibes. By this time the campgrounds had completely changed form, and several campers had moved their tents to the edge of the 4life stage, allowing themselves to fade away with the music.

It would be impossible to paint Great North as a flawless festival, especially after such documented reports of security abusing their power. Still, the festival’s new owners did a fantastic job of curating a unique musical experience that was as inclusive as humanly possible. While the inclusion of The Disco Biscuits might have seemed like the festival “selling out”, it was actually just a tool to help the event become what it was always meant to be, one of the greatest festivals in the north east.

Connect with Great North Festival:
https://www.facebook.com/greatnorthfestival
https://twitter.com/greatnorthmaine
http://www.greatnorth.us

All pictures courtesy of Corey Regs & Great North Festival

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