Friday 23/07/04 Wakestock Festival 2004, Abersoch

All manner of boards, bands and clouds were out to meet us as we journeyed into the Motherland (?!?!?!? – that’s Wales, for non-sheep botherers - ed). After 2 hours of “are we nearly there yet?” and some extremely cool scenery, Gigwise arrived at a field in between Pwllelli and Abersoch for our weekend of debauchery at Wakestock 2004.

Having missed all of Friday’s wakeboarding and the chance to have a go ourselves, we instead got down to some serious drinking in preparation for the trance/happy hardcore/house that we were sure to encounter later that evening from the look of all the made up ‘Crasher kids staggering about.

The three arenas were set out in extremely close proximity to each other, so on the Friday night The Gatecrasher Tent, The Soul II Soul sound system, The Stanton Warriors and Adam Freeland were battling it out for audiences and noise capacity. Unfortunately the Gatecrasher tent won hands down with a mixture of oooo-oooo’s, ‘Blow your whistle’ and mind bendingly crap tunes. Meanwhile Soul II Soul went back to their roots in the Beach Arena with a sound system, live saxophone and MC’s to blow everyone away. Jazzie B was on the decks mixing old classics like ‘Back To Life’ and ‘Keep On Moving’ with some modern classics like Kelis’  ‘Trick Me’ that went down an absolute storm and even enticed a few Crasher Kids into the fold.

In the Hard Wake Arena, Adam Freeland drew big crowds that were loving it. Freeland wowed thecrowd with ‘Next Level’ and his remix of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Surprise guests Soulwax aka Too Many DJs added to the sound and atmosphere that The Stanton Warriors just about managed to top with their beats and breaks that made the Friday night.

Awaking on the second day to grey skies and a rumour that The GLC had cancelled, we took the news on the chin and made our way down to the beach for a bit of Wakeboarding, the Crasherites from the night before had transformed into surfer dudes and were out enjoying the water sports galore.
To our relief it turned out to be The Ordinary Boys who cancelled on us (shame) and not the GLC. We prepared ourselves for the onslaught of fairground chic and entered the arenas.

With no replacement for The (Very) Ordinary Boys all acts were bumped up to a later slot. Therefore McLusky took to the stage after fans had been waiting over an hour for their appearance... luckily they weren’t disappointed.  With Andy Falkous belting out the tunes with the ferocity of a very fierce thing, ‘To Hell With Good Intentions’ went down well with the crowd as did most of their Half-Man-Half-Biscuit-on-crack set, bass player Jon Chapple managing to get through the entire final song with a can of lager in his hand. Tidy.

Kosheen had slowly moved down the line up of this weekend, as they became less and less popular. They did however put on a wicked show, ripping through their entire back catalogue of old favourites like ‘Hide U’ and ‘Hungry’ while the ravers lapped it up and erm, blew their whistles.

Old hand Roni Size made a big impact. OK, so he may have been playing virtually the same set for the past five years, but let’s face it… it still ****in’ rocks. The only act that even attempted to raise the roof this weekend for Gigwise was Mr Size. Tracks like ‘Snap Shot’ still provoke the same reaction in the assembled they did five years ago, making them go just that little bit crazy. His enthusiasm for the gig was infectious and not one pair of feet was not dancing in the Beach Arena on Saturday night.

After riding high from a drum and bass overlord of pure genius, The Goldie Lookin' Chain were a massive disappointment. The ‘old’ hits were there, like ‘Your Mother's Got A Penis’ and ‘Alchemist In Newport’. But for some reason the humour failed to come across in a massive tent. They could not fill the stage and towards the end of their set the audience were getting bored. And that pretty much sums up the GLC, it’s getting a bit boring now. Bit stale, a bit old, and I think they know it: the enthusiasm that they had at the start has all but vanished, what a shame.

Wakestock 2004 rocked. OK, the sound in the arenas wasn’t what it should have been and there weren’t enough food stalls; but it’s big enough to get lost in,  yet small enough to find everyone; it combines the beach with the tunes, and we’ll definitely be going back next year. Surfs Up!

Photo by Fragz / wakestock.co.uk