HiFi South 2006 Festival at Matterly Bowl, Winchester

27/05/2006 - 28/05/2006

HiFi Festival was new for 2006. Two festivals hosted on the same weekend; one in Newcastle - HiFi North and another in on the former Homelands festival site, The Matterly Bowl near Winchester - HiFi South.

Niether a dance festival or a live music festival HiFi festival was intended to fill the void left by Homelands by catering for a variety of music tastes. Full details of the line-up can be found here. A brave move by promoters of the massive Global Gathering, Angel Festivals, to create another 2 festivals in an already crowded festival season. And whilst not the greatest festival I've been to you cannot judge it too harshly as this was its first year.

Having never been to Homelands I had no idea what to expect. Clearly the years of running Homelands on the site showed in the organisation of the festival. Parking was quick and easy and there was next to no queues for anything. This may be a good or a bad thing but it did seem quite empty at times. None of the tents were bustling quite in the way you might expect at a festival. Perhaps some people had been put off by the miserable weather and downpours that made the site pretty muddy. That said the stmosphere was warm and friendly in a typically British "I don't care if it's raining I'm going to do it anyway....."

The live music arena was hosted indoors in a large marquee and I've got to admit that the sound quality was excellent, far out-stripping any of the other tents. It played host to live acts such Super Furry Animals, The Go! Team, Hard-Fi, Ian Brown and many more.

The Godskitchen tent played host to an exciting mix of trancey beats that was able to keep the hardcore clubbing element happy whilst the drum n bass and electric arenas provided a good mix of genres to keep everyone happy whatever their mood.

Other facilities included a fun-fair with an insanely, stomach emptying bungee ride, an outdoor cinema for the evening and after hours and a well catered camping area for those with weekend tickets.

In short a fine, well organised effort despite the weather and I'd definetly go again.

You can check out photos in the UKCD photo gallery.

Review by UKCD