Review : Arcadia 10th Anniversary Festival London, 5th May 2018

The infamous Spider landed in London

The world famous Arcadia Spectacular made it's long awaited and highly anticipated debut in London last weekend. The one of a kind creation boasts intriguing custom-made industrial stages and eccentric theatrical performances. After a decade in the game they've made quite the name for themselves, with regular stints at Glastonbury Festival and Ultra Miami, as well as shows in Bangkok, Taipei and Taiwan. Marking their tenth anniversary saw the Spider land in London, with co-promoters LWE curating the event on their home turf, and bringing quite the line up between them.

Along with the widely recognisable Spider came a new and exclusive concept for the London debut; an immersive indoor stage dubbed The Reactor, which promised a 360 degree audiovisual experience like no other.

Venue

Set in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the area was built for use as a sporting complex during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Since the games, the large green open spaces within the grounds have come under regular use for event organisers, including a previous LWE curation; Elrow town, which will be returning to Stratford this coming August. The space made a perfect fit for Arcadia's tenth anniversary celebrations, however one consideration for future instalments would be around mapping out the stage distancing, to ensure there's no sound crossover from separate stages within the event.

Drink prices

As is a common feature with LWE events, a token system was in place for drinks. There were several bars around the site, one of them being inside The Reactor saving you a journey through the crowds to an outside bar. Expecting the prices to be set at a standard London price range, we were happily surprised to see a far lower priced bar in action. A mere £5 would get you 4 tokens, with water being 1 token each (the equivalent of £1.25). Beer and ciders were priced at 2 and a half tokens each (£3.75). Mindful of it's environmental impact, returning a plastic beaker from a previous drink would also save you half a token on each drink - great touch.

Venue staff Staff were welcoming and helpful throughout, fast on their feet to get the many thousands of ravers through the doors and once in, heavily staffed on the bars to keep the crowd hydrated and fed! Serving time took a maximum of 5 minutes.

Heat
Being the hottest May Day Bank Holiday on record, controlling temperatures would prove to be a difficult task, especially within The Reactor. On such a sweltering day, the thought of entering a dark indoor arena packed out with sweaty people sounded anything but cool. However, each entrance of the indoor tent saw large fans blowing ventilation into the space to control heat levels. Although the area wasn’t cool, it was a more than comfortable temperature to rave in.


Crowd
A diverse and clued up selection of ravers were in attendance, many travelling far and wide to witness their favoured event, others experiencing the spectacle for the first time on their doorstep. A prime example of music bringing together a community of varied cultures as one.



Production & Sound

Production The core of Arcadia is centred around it's jaw-dropping production, the custom made stages and theatrical performances have redefined the game as we know it. Acting as a benchmark for creativity and environmental ethos, the designers pioneered the use of recycled industrial components, which have since become sculpted into the world class structures we see today. Their most prized asset; the iconic 50 tonne spider, is comprised of ex-military machinery such as helicopter tails, jet engine afterburners and cranes. This high-octane industrial arachnid fired flames over 50 foot into the air, and blasts Co2 from it’s mechanical arms into the crowd. Rigged with an assortment of lights, lasers and fog machines, it's nothing short of incredible.

Partnering the Spider for today's shenanigans saw a new stage to add to Arcadia's growing collection, an indoor concept known as The Reactor. Set within a large tent and giving no access to exterior light, entering this void is like walking into a another dimension. Beginning with complete darkness as you enter the space, the stage opens into an enclosed three dimensional arena, with a central raised DJ booth, mimicking the likes of a nuclear reactor. The room was equipped with an army of lasers which entwined with the immersive scenery in fantastic fashion. Beams of light shot across the room, synchronised with the high paced electronic music.

Sound

The Arcadia Spider's iconic and signature stage positioning, which allows ravers to circle the entire structure makes the sound set up far more complex than a standard event. Choosing to opt for the common festival speaker brand of choice; L-Acoustics, saw K1s and KS28 subwoofers circling the outside of the floor space, facing inwards towards the spider. The interesting idea enabled sound to reach all corners of the stage space, however volume levels were noticeably low at times, likely being down to the city's sound restrictions.

DJ Sets

With an early midday start time, the crowds at the two main stages were still building. A mellower, disco vibe flowed through the site to warm up the first arrivals. Passing through the Spider and The Reactor, we came to the smaller "Bug" stage, which had caught the eye of most early ravers. Built from the use of an ex-military truck and submarine, The Bug takes the form of a giant beetle, with the structure's wings enclosing a powerful Funktion-One sound system. Up first as we approached The Bug saw Kent DJ and veteran of the scene; Paul Johnson bringing a selection of upbeat summer vibes. "Saxophobia" by Morris T (The Cube Guys Mix) and Octave One – "Blackwater" were the perfect mood setters on such a bright day. Paul’s feel good house kickstarted the proceedings on a high, fuelling the crowd with energy before the next headliner climbed aboard the adjacent Spider stage; the iconic duo that is, Groove Armada.

So far the vibe across the festival had been cheerful and chirpy, but nothing quite fist-pump worthy. As we crept up to 4:30pm, Groove Armada had just the tools to crank things up a notch. Dropping their own belter "Superstylin" was instantly recognised by the crowd, the drop erupting through the KS28 subwoofers up and drawing floods of ravers towards the main stage. Following on from Groove Armada was London duo Dusky, who since their inception in 2011 have grown to become one of the leading lights in electronic music. Nothing could've been topped the goosebumps from hearing their very own melodic masterpiece "Ingrid Is A Hybrid" as the sun began to set.

Towards the end of the day saw Tristan Ingram closing The Bug stage in style, opting for atmospheric classics such as Laurent Garnier's "Man With The Red Face" and Energy 52's "Cafe Del Mar" to end the stage on a high, before the famous metamorphosis show would later begin.

Metamorphosis

Known as the jewel in the crown of the Arcadia production, metamorphosis is an action-packed performance designed to round off the day's proceedings in spectacular style. The vast and intricate show utilises a team of engineers, production technicians, performers, stuntmen and huge amounts of planning before meeting thousands of ravers. As the lights began to erupt and the crowd became silent, we knew we were about to experience something extraordinary.

The 50 tonne spider's animatronics sprang into life, performers flew down towards the crowd and smaller spider-lings crawled towards the main stage, we wasn’t sure where to look next! The crowd was hooked, as were we. As the show began to hit it's grand finale we were hit with lasers, lights, fire & an entertainer making music in a metal suit of electric, before an eruption of snow machines (yes, snow) filled the crowd with white. The gasps and awed reactions from London’s bustling crowd confirmed our feelings; an amazing show that sent shivers down our spines.

Overall An inspiring and productional masterpiece, packed with creative eye candy. The forward-thinking brand have developed a concept which can only continue to grow, with more ingenious designs likely on the horizon. Arcadia's environmental ethos make it a future-proof spectacle, responsible and memorable. Considerations in terms of sound restrictions and site layout are worth looking into for future instalments, should the spider return to London - which we have no doubt will be the case. Here's to the next 10 years Arcadia. 7.5/10






Image credit :
Arcadia
The Ritchie Collection