boohooMAN have pretty much had a summer of a lifetime; we smashed most of the major UK festivals this year by hitting up Bestival, Leeds, Parklife, V-Fest, MADE, Creamfields and even spending a weekend with the Mambo Brothers in Ibiza, but there was one weekend which stood out the most. We traveled all the way down to Maidstone, all the way down for us being based in Manchester, where lies a small tech and house weekend called The Social Festival. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of this festival before as I tend to stay fairly local with my events, but the invitation and line-up was too good to refuse. The Social Festival was celebrating it’s 5th birthday, and over the years, they’ve seen some of the biggest names in tech, house and dance music grace their stages. Legends like Carl Cox, Black Coffee, The Matinez Brothers, Nina Kravis, Jackmaster, Bicep, Hot Since 82, Sante, Sidney Charles and many more have joined festival owner Nic Fanciulli to shut down the Kent County Showground.
So, after travelling six hours on a mega bus, an hour and a half on a train and a final 20 minutes in a taxi, we finally arrived for the weekend. Now usually I’m used to unfolding my one man pop-up tent and spooning my rucksack to sleep because of the lack of room, but this time we camped in style. We were greeted with a pre-pitched teepee kitted out with two double beds, courtesy of Tangerine Fields.
So after awing over our VIP teepee and sinking few drinks, it was time to scope out the grounds and get ready to watch two of my favourite acts, The Matrinez Brothers and the one and only Carl Cox, who were playing at the stage named The Meadow, which felt like a smaller version of the famous steelyard. On the way to The Meadow, we thought we’d stop off to check out the party going off in the woods.
Having to drag myself away from this, it was time to watch The Martinez Brothers & Carl Cox. Here are a few short clips of their sets:
Waking up on a blow up double bed certainly helps cure a hangover. Feeling well rested and refreshed, it was time for day two! We managed to catch up and get exclusive interviews with Mark Fanciulli, William Djoko and festival owner Nic Fanciulli who was a pleasure to talk to kind enough to provide us with AAA wrist bands which allowed us to stand side by side with some of the acts playing day 2.
Overwhelmed by the AAA, and after sinking a few more drinks, it was time to meet up with the famous duo Sante & Sidney Charles, who had one hell of a night a head in store for us.
The pair were on their way to play The Caravan stage. Yes, you guessed it, the two of them played their set in a quirky caravan!
After smashing their set, and myself smashing my head a number of times on the caravan roof, we raced our way to the airport to catch our private jet to Rotterdam, where the two were due to play at the famous Elrow. Oh sorry, did I skip over that part? Yes, a private jet to Rotterdam to play ELROW!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t wearing my pajamas and missed out on the epic Instagram picture with the caption “excuse the PJs but i just got off the PJ”. However, there was no time to mess around as we had to get to the Elrow event which was themed Psychedelic Trip.
I’ve been to a few Elrow events before but this was the biggest and craziest yet. Hosted in a huge warehouse, the three room, two floor venue was filled with trippy lighting, performers on stilts, confetti guns and plenty of inflatable props. So again, after sinking a few drinks, it was time for Sante to hit the stage.
Then it was time to see Sidney Charles close down the main room.
Standing next to Sidney Charles watching the crowd go mad when he drop his signature tracks like Hurricaine, Make Me Move and Ruffline was just out of this world!
So, from the Social Festival, to the private jet and then to watch Sante & Sidney Charles shut down Elrow in Rotterdam, you can tell why this is the ultimate summer highlight! What a weekend!
