THE BIG CHILL CHANGED MY LIFE – CREEEDAY
January 12th, 2005 by rui
Due to my age I have quite a different perspective and experience of the Big Chill. I first found out about it early summer 2003, I was 16 at the time. Playing football on the common a friend mentioned something about a festival he had heard of happening that summer called the Big Chill, the tickets were £25 for those aged 16 and under and so it seemed like quite a nice thing to do.
At the same time I was only just starting to hear of artists such as Cinematic Orchestra, Mr. Scruff and the like through downloading music (in fact it was Cinematic Orchestras ‘Channel 1 Suite’ that lead to another huge decision but ill get onto that later). I was aware of the ninja tune label, even if it was only because I liked the name. Several weeks after the first suggestion of the Big Chill I stumbled across the website to see if I could learn more about it and low behold I see these names on the line up which I was just starting to really like. I also see another article on the website which grabs my eye, working at the Big Chill litter picking in return for some (much needed) cash. Both my friend and I tried vainly to get on this, however I finally got the email informing me I wasn’t to get in as a litter picking the day after the tickets sold out and so the run up to my first ever festival was one of days spent on the ticket forum constantly pressing F5 in order to see if I could finally get hold of some tickets.
Eventually perseverance paid off and I managed to get a ticket off a couple 2 days before the festival. I had had so much confidence that my bag had been packed regardless and that Thursday we set off.
Of course there is another story that runs parallel to this, that of the Big Chill forum, an entity which seems to run parallel to the whole ethos of the Big Chill itself. In my browsing of the Big Chill website I came across the forum, I believe it was merely to ask questions about getting work at the festival but for some reason I didn’t leave after I had my answer, I read the multitude of stories and articles that were posted and mostly lurked, chucking in a few comments here and there but for the most part staying silent, feeling somewhat intimidated by those that knew each other. Perhaps what attracted me most to the forum was the same thing that had attracted me to the festival in the first place, this place full of people who liked to listen to the same music, who seemed to have the same ideas.
Then came the festival, and what a festival it was. From an impromptu guitar/bongo performance in the 24 hour tent and 4am Friday morning to dancing like a loon at the front of Mr. Scruff in the Club tent to possible the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen on the final night as we relaxed in front of the lake to watch someone make those massive bubbles, as they were created they rolled and bounced across the lake turning the white bulbs on the other side into all the colours of the spectrum. There are other memories, just the whole adventure of it all. My fondest continues to be walking down the hill towards the main stage on the Saturday evening; Nightmares on Wax were on (another group I had first heard off before the Big Chill). The air was warm and the sun was setting behind the trees on the top of the hill whilst Nightmares on Wax played Morse, a song which will forever bring back those memories of the first Big Chill.
Part of the thing I loved so much about Big Chill was again, these people that seemed the same as me. My age is, whether I like it or not, a defining factor in my experience of all sorts of things. My friends were all into rock and such, going to gigs etc when all I wanted was some nice music and to have a good old dance to it. The only thought that seemed to go through my head that Saturday evening was ‘This is it, I’ve done it, and I’ve found it’.
As I write this it’s a year and a half later. Music didn’t always play such a huge part of my life but for the past 2 years it has. Ever since I heard Cinematic Orchestras Channel 1 Suite, combined with new discoveries of hip hop and scratching I had this indescribable urge to have that tune on vinyl, and some decks to play it on so I could do what ever I wanted to the tune, re model it as I wanted it to be when I heard it.
The Big Chill gave me a window, this huge pool of knowledge about music, technology and just about anything else you could ever want. I’ve bought records on recommendation, hell I’ve bought records by people I know through Big Chill, I’ve even played a gig and although I didn’t get it through Big Chill as many others have, I will always feel I would not of been there had I not first stumbled across those weird purple pages all that time ago.
It may be my age here but the fact I can go to gigs with music I absolutely love, and then talk to the people that just played, or with the people that organized the night, or to be offered mix CDs with music of completely unrivalled quality on still amazes and excites me like nothing else I know and its been happening for a year, since the ‘forum meal’ I went to November ‘03, to finally meet some of the people I had been talking to online for so long (receiving Maq’s excellent Shark Infested Horns in the process).
The Big Chill changed my life like I could never have imagined, yet even when I first heard the words of ‘Big Chill’ back summer ’03 I had a feeling it might be something special. I know a lot of people have watched Big Chill grow up from the days of Union Chapel but with a bit of luck it’ll be able to watch me grow up and so I can continue to enjoy everything that it brings, from nights out to music to the greatest festival in the world.
The Big Chill is like being on a holiday that isn’t that fun for your entire life, then suddenly being shown the way to your real home, and being welcomed in by a shark, a cool drink and the most blissful noises known to man and I couldn’t be happier now I’m home.
creeeday
