This time around it seemed that the Bugged Out Weekender (held March 7th to 9th) appealed primarily to the new, younger generation of clubbers; people in my age group from late teens to mid-twenties. It may be that the event wasn’t necessarily targeted at this age group, but this was definitely the type of crowd that it attracted the most.
Nevertheless, despite the vast majority of revellers being quite young, there was a wide range of other age groups represented at the event, and I don’t think older clubbers would have felt out of place, particularly as this was the 20th anniversary of Bugged Out – some of the people there had clearly come to celebrate an event that been familiar to them since the early 90s.
Both the venue and the location/setting for the Bugged Out Weekender were absolutely ideal. It’s just a five-minute journey to the Pontins Resort from Southport’s main train station via Ainsdale. The resort is very easily accessible from all the UK’s major cities, either by car or train, and the number of partygoers who had travelled long distances to be there were testament to this. A surprisingly large number of people had made the journey from the south, and perhaps this is due to the recent Bugged Out events that have been held in London.
Once you’re there, it’s a mere four or five-minute stroll to the beach if you need to get away from the crowds and have some chill-out time, or if you fancy having a walk into the town centre for a change of scenery or to pick up supplies, that will take you no more than fifteen minutes.
Now, onto the actual event… The production in the main arena was tremendous and really brought to life what is normally used a family entertainment room at Pontins. I was standing at the front quite close to the DJ booth for the majority of the night and from that position the visuals were captivating. The LED displays were fantastic and really jumped out, however the lasers were something else. It struck me that they’d really put a lot of effort into the overall production, with the sound quality nothing short of superb, a huge and powerful system ensuring it was not outshone by the spectacular lighting displays.
DJ wise, one of my favourite sets from the weekend has to be Green Velvet’s performance. For me, this confirmed his position as one of the very best DJs for pounding, energetic and driving techno. Sasha also played an outstanding three-hour set and was on amazing form, dropping lots of new material. Unfortunately the crowd during his set was not at it’s fullest and most responsive, and I could tell by his reaction that this was something he was not used to. Perhaps due to the fact that he wasn’t a typical Bugged Out booking, I don’t think the crowd quite appreciated his music enough. For me though he was definitely the highlight of the night, finishing his set with a personal favourite of mine – his Invol<3r Remix of ‘The Healing’ by Ananda Project.
Paul Woolford also played an excellent warm-up with plenty of melodic cuts and a motivational vibe, ready for Green Velvet to take over and blow the main arena to pieces. Dusky was rather good as well, I must say, although I didn’t get chance to catch all of his set. From what I saw he seemed to have really got the party moving, though, and I certainly enjoyed what I heard, he just didn’t stand out quite as much as Green Velvet or Sasha.
In conclusion I would thoroughly recommend the Bugged Out Weekender to anyone who’s looking for a slightly more practical and comfortable way to enjoy the festival experience with a dance event promoter that really has their finger on the underground pulse. Admittedly, if you’re used to luxury hotels then it may be a slight shock to the system, but for many people it would beat camping in a tent. If the Bugged Out style of music is for you then this is the ideal way to enjoy it – not to mention the numerous chalet parties that you’ll inevitably end up visiting!
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