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Eddy Says
Eddy Says: Something good is going to happen
By Eddy Temple-Morris | Published on Wednesday 29 September 2010
Several years ago, when I hosted the Breaksday tent at the much-missed Glade Festival, I saw a familiar, smiling face pressed up against the barrier towards the end of my set. It had been yet another triumph ending, as tradition dictated, with some live edit/remixing of Rage Against The Machine (a pre-Losers version), played to a big crowd of very munted people, many of whom had been up for three days. Covered in sweat, I squelched over to the fence to be greeted by a dear old school friend whom I’d lost touch with decades ago, Andrew Try.
Andrew was one of the best looking boys in my school, and I was always a little bit in awe of him, so when he clocked me, with a grin the size of Berkshire, I was somewhat taken aback. He explained that he was putting on a miniature festival in a forest near his home, and that I’d be the perfect DJ for it.
We exchanged numbers and over the next half dozen years he tried to get me there to play. Each year I wanted to do it, but the request would come in too late and I’d be playing somewhere else. This year we re-connected earlier and I asked my agent to please not book any other gigs that weekend.
My god, I should’ve done this YEARS ago. As I write, it’s the day after and I need to share this with you, because it’s special; special enough for you to block out this weekend in your diary for next year. I feel like I felt the first year of Secret Garden Party (and we know how amazing that turned out to be). I’ve discovered something secret, something known only to a select few, and which must be kept close to our bosoms, I think. Let me attempt to describe it for you.
THE SITE: Ancient woodland near Windsor, at the end of a long private road. The garden of an old, ruined, royal residence, and the site of some kind of palatial Roman building before that.
THE SCENE: Beautifully lit Palladian ruins, immaculate lawns, jaw droppingly old oak forest, campfires, beautiful people of all ages.
THE OCCASION: Autumn Equinox, in other words the last day of the year where night and day are the same length. Michael Eavis celebrates this with a party at Glastonbury. It’s the official wave goodbye to summer and hello to winter, until the Vernal Equinox, which happens to be my family’s (and all pagans / Zoroastrians / Iranians) New Year.
I turned up to behold glowsticks hanging from the branches of all the trees in a magical forest walkway leading up to the site of the party, a clearing in the forest at the apex of a big hill and the convergence of major ley lines, like the one at Glastonbury Tor. At the exact apex of the hill stands an oak tree that is over one thousand years old. It’s mindblowing to think that a young Richard the Lionheart could easily have pissed on this trunk 850 years ago, before he set off to attempt to conquer the Holy Land.
There were lights everywhere, projecting images onto screens, bubble shapes onto raised igloos, spattering shapes and colours all over the thick foliage above our heads and even the forest floor. It was captivating, mesmeric, confusing, and beautiful all at the same time. The main tent area with booming sound system had a wonderful, alien shape, reflected in the awnings, and stretched out material screens all over the site. And it was tiny. We’re talking about 300 people. Small enough to get to know almost everybody there, at least enough to smile and nod.
There were fires to congregate around, hay bails to sit on – not straw, but real, fresh, green hay. There were bands, and DJs playing dub reggae off rare seven-inch vinyl, or blissed out house off twelve-inches. There was a food tent knocking out BBQ food, toasties and yummy cakes at normal, village fete (not stupid festival) prices and a bar where you never had to queue for a drink.
I did my DJ thing, played a bit more old skool than normal, and had a wonderful time. I stayed there, eating, drinking and making merry under this colossal, ancient oak, until morning, enjoying every minute of the last night of summer.
I talked to Andrew at length about the back story to the event. This was where he grew up, he’d frolicked in these ruins as a boy and been a naughty teenager in its ruined wine cellar, he’d climbed the trees and lit fires here an age ago. He had no interest in starting a proper festival, certainly not in the way that Bestival, or other formerly lovely gatherings, ruined by greed, have gone. He just wants to have ‘something truly special’ happen there, once a year. He’s got absolutely the right idea.
This year it was open to the public for the first year ever. Just 50 tickets were made available. I think I can persuade him to up this next year so more of us can experience this. The last night of summer deserves more, and so does Andrew, in a sense. Like the Secret Garden Party, there is no VIP area, we all just muck in. There’s no backstage, no exclusivity, we are all humans enjoying a shared experience, a proper meet-and-greet.
Imagine if next year we made a few hundred tickets available here, no advertising, just word of mouth. I persuade a few bands and DJs, the kind who would want to be there anyway, to come and play. Most people there would loosely know about half of the people present, and be like minded souls. I think that’d be rather special. There were quite a few crew there from other festivals, who looked on this as a sort of British Summer Festival aftershow, and I think that’s a really strong pull for a lot of nice people.
I’d love to see the SGP/Glade/Festinho/Standon crews there next year to have a proper party where nobody is working any more, just cutting loose and having a great time.
The promo video for this year features music by two of my dearest chums in music: Utah Saints – the hit they made with Van She, after I’d persuaded them to reform for The Secret Garden Party many years ago. That lyric, “feels like something good is gonna happen” is prophetic, I think. It really is. Watch this space and see you there next year (don’t tell anyone though, this is between you and me, and only PLU – People Like Us)
x eddy
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