12/09/2018

Felipe Herrera

Wilderness is now in it’s 8th year and with the incredible weather of late, everyone was buzzing to get away to the Cotswolds for the weekend. With no Glastonbury this year, we were keen to fill that Glasto shaped hole in our hearts and (spoiler alert) Wilderness truly delivered. This is one of the more chilled festivals of the summer, set among giant pine trees and ancient oaks in beautiful Oxfordshire. You can expect to camp in immaculate conditions and eat like a king for the weekend with the most varied selection of high quality street food I have ever seen at a festival (If you’ve smashed that new year’s resolution of becoming vegan, this is the place for you).

All weekend you’re surrounded by weird and wonderful things but the highlight for me has to be the mass pitch invasion of a cricket match (yes, cricket match) by a group of streakers, followed by naked Macarena in the middle of the pitch. One of the many moments during the festival where performers/entertainers made you truly LOL (although in this case, the credit also goes to the festival goers who seem to love getting naked/running around with their bits out). You have The Club House area to thank for the lols, a double decker bus where you can get involved in many a drunken game - hosted by very funny multi-costumed entertainers.

For those needing a bit of a cool down from the scorching weather, the lake offers an alternative to dipping yourself in a bath full of ice (because those are never available at festivals). The former seems to be a firm favourite cooling technique, although I would suggest having a shower afterwards, unless you want a rare plant growing out of you.

 

Now for the music. Friday night we went to see Justice, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with anthems such as We Are Your Friends and D.A.N.C.E. The perfect warm up for a Friday night. Once that had wrapped up at 11pm, we headed to The Valley – one of the most incredible post headliner locations we’ve ever been in. The sloping edges of the field meant you had a good view wherever you stood and the parallel lines of speakers meant you were covered in heart-warming sound throughout the night. Mark Pickering of Hacienda played a slick set and Groove Armada followed with a solid mix of tunes, peppered with the usual crowd pleasers.

Saturday day we saw Mahalia, a 20 year old singer songwriter with unbelievable talent and Saturday night – Nile Rogers and CHIC. As usual, they didn’t disappoint. They’re releasing their first album in over 20 years but still gave the crowd what they wanted by playing all of their big hits, coupled with Nile’s usual not-so-subtle bragging on stage. I Want Your Love, We Are Family, Get Lucky and Freak Out were just a few of the bangers blasted out on the main stage as their giant disco ball spread light rays of joy onto everyone’s happy faces.

 All in all, it's a no brainer for me, Wilderness has easily made it into my top 5 festivals. Fantastic crowd, great layout, compact, amazing facilities, lols entertainers, delicious food and a magical end of the night rave location. You can also expect to find rarer festival bookings ranging from hip hop karaoke (watched and loved by hundreds of people) to Disney movie singalongs. There really is something for everyone.

If you have to pick one smaller festival to go to next year, pick Wilderness.