Music > Live Reviews

We went to Symmetry Festival

25/06/15

After some frantic last minute packing it was off to Guist for Symmetry. Friday was a lush sunny day and when we arrived at Sennowe Park nothing could have prepared me for what was hidden down that long woodland path. After arriving on site and realizing that this year Symmetry was going to give me a completely different festival experience to any I’ve had before, I quickly pitched my tent and went to go and explore!  After leaving the campsite I was taken aback by the amount of effort that had clearly gone into making this festival look so beautiful; with surprises lurking around every corner it was impossible to be bored! I decided before there was too much beer in me I’d go and have a look around at the stages. The first thing I came across on my travels was Project Storm, the incredibly brightly coloured trippy hippy area, blasting out Psytrance. I stumbled across an array of stalls selling everything from sausages (big up Simon’s Big Breakfast!) to hula hoops! I checked out the Lake Shack where Warrior Jungle were playing the finest D&B and jungle (as per). After a naughty one-foot skank it was time to head over to the Saphire Stage for some Manchester-based hip hop from The Mouse Outfit and Dr Syntax. After a little boogie I was distracted by a man on a 7/8 foot bicycle; after following him for a short while I found myself in a field filled with wonderfully weird bicycle/unicycle contraptions, courtesy of Doc Spinoff!  After this I found the Sika Studios Stage (the stage was a half-pipe!!!) where I caught Born Inna Barn’s set (hip hop group from the Isle of Wight; if you don’t know them, you should). By now it was starting to get dark and rainy, so I headed back to the tent for more layers and then straight back out to dance. After getting shot with a supersoaker by some really gangster girls standing on a car I made it to the Convoy Cabaret in time for Disgraceful Squids; after a long old dance in the rain, the walkabouts started to appear, and after being chased out of the Cabaret Tent by a pig lady with a massive strap-on I ended up back at the Sika Studios Stage where we stomped on the half-pipe to some cheeky speed-garage. We double checked the programme and it was time to run to the power station for some of Sheffield’s finest bassline, courtesy of Squire of Gothos. With the skies really throwing everything they had down at us I was incredibly grateful that the powerstation had a roof! Still not willing to go to bed I hovered around the Hot Damn! tent and listened to some funky tunes. After not a lot of sleep, making friends with my neighboring tents and putting on copious amounts of glitter, I decided to go and buy some food. Once again sorted out by Simon’s Big Breakfast, I was ready for the day. Today’s headliner was Black Sun Empire and they treated us to some mad drum and bass! I spent most of Saturday lounging round by the Lake Shack and hooping, until I remembered that Sika had their own stage. Like a moth to a flame I found the hip hop; luckily the likes of Music Lessons and Cracker Jon were there to help me through the day. After being dressed up as a witch and heading with other witches back out to the festival I was ready for some dancing...we found some jungle and we danced. Later that night it was back to the Cabaret area for P.A.I.N, who were BRILLIANT. I slept like a log after all that dancing. Sunday came around oh too quickly and it was off to find something chilled to aid my hangover. I found wine. After creating a contraption to carry my wine in I headed to the Powerstation for Ed Cox, where I danced to clowncore for a very long time. My Sunday is a bit jumbled up (probably because of the box of wine I was carrying around with me) but I know for certain that Gypsy Unit were awesome, I danced a lot to Ed Solo, I stumbled across Dub Pistols and had a wicked time. Then it was time for the much anticipated Slamboree. I have been to events/festivals were they are playing but always manage to miss them. I was not missing them this time! They came on with a massive bang and absolutely captivated every member of the audience, with every song along came a different circus/freak show/dance troupe act and it was absolutely jaw dropping! I found myself just standing still and staring at some points at the amazing acts going on on the stage. If you ever get the chance to see Slamboree live, DO IT! After all the music had turned off I walked back to my campsite on the hill. For the whole weekend there had been some large letters spelling out S.Y.M.M.E.T.R.Y; as I walked by this time it simply read ‘Y REST?’ so I took the hill's advice and found some more music in the campsite, and partied on until the early hours of the morning until it was time to go home.