It's been rather quiet around here at the Media Underground Nerve Centre for the past week. That's because I took a small vacation at the beginning of last week and went up the hills for a few days, bagging some bothies around the Schiehallion region and enjoying the solitude of being alone in the middle of nowhere.
After a couple of day's rest and a few much needed showers, it was off to Dumfries & Galloway for the annual countercultural Wickerman Festival.
This was my first time at Wickerman and indeed my first time at any kind of music festival. Being a somewhat loner and antisocial creature most of the time, the idea of camping in a field with thousands of other people never really appealled to me, but on this occasion I decided to grit my teeth and see what this event had to offer.
The turnout, I estimate, was probably in the region of about ten thousand - a nice amount by all standards with music and entertainment tents all within easy walking distance of each other. Mohawks, hippies and all round general weirdos seemed to make up the vast majority of the crowd, whilst the festival at the same time managed to maintain a family friendly policy with an environment that was suitable for all ages.
Police and security were also quite relaxed and only idiots who promoted their substance use were busted upon entering the site. Instead the festival maintained a policy of tolerence, concentrating on drug education and support rather than coming down heavy on users and abusers (if only that policy could be adopted for the rest of the country we might have fewer casualties).
Top favourite artists: Neville Staple (The Specials), Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) and Gary Numan (whom a friend said "performed the kind of material Nine Inch Nails could be doing if only they weren't such pretentious pussies").
The mainstream media has largely ignored the success of Wickerman and I'm glad. With no major incidents taking place it would be a shame if the festival became as popular as the likes of T In The Park or Glastonbury, both of which have become mainstream, commercial and over-populated by morons.
I'll be there next year for sure and will probably continue to return each year until it has been ruined by popularity and hijacked by popular culture.
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