- What started in 2009 as a small gathering of friends is now Farr Festival, a three-day dance music event held annually in the Hertfordshire countryside. Numbers were recently capped at 5,000, a size that gives the organisers the clout (and resources) to book the acts they want, while ensuring the event remains intimate. Onsite, there's the woodland area, which has four stages, and a large open area that resembles a country fête as much as a cutting-edge electronic festival. But for all its prettiness, Farr is serious about club music, which was evident just from looking at this year's stage partners. From Dance Tunnel and Electric Minds, to Sub Club and A Love From Outer Space, the hosts were all highly-regarded names in their respective fields.
I arrived early for Thursday's pared-down opening night and channel-surfed between Jungle (who were DJing), Detroit Swindle and Birmingham's Shadow City Soundsystem without finding anything to hold my attention for long. The evening was most memorable for its rambunctious atmosphere, with many punters prematurely plunging head-first into the action. Thankfully though, Thursday's zombie movie-like scenes of crowds tripping over roots and crashing into trees weren't repeated later in the weekend.
Friday felt like the start of Farr. Deep in the forest on the Hidden Palace stage, Funkineven's set was tightly wound and exhilarating, with Jeff Mills' "The Bells" and the snaking 303s of Funkineven's own "Dracula" among the standouts. The day's bill was dominated by a six-hour back-to-back-to-back set from Ben UFO, Midland and Joy Orbison that, surprisingly, was staged at The Terrace, one of the smaller stages. Ben UFO and Midland's selections, which pivoted on soul, house and honey-fried disco early on, followed by banging techno, rave and ghetto-tech, were more to my taste than Joy Orbison's, though his and Boddika's "Mercy" was an early highlight of the weekend.
I dipped in and out of The Terrace during their set, and found Move D's mid-evening performance down at The Shack to be a particularly cosy place for a time-out. Entering to an ecstatic hail of piano keys, I spent the next 90 minutes dancing to the utopian house of Joe Smooth's "Promised Land," the elastic bump of Cajmere's "Let Me Be" and more euphoric piano lines via PiMO's "Calling Earth."
Back at The Terrace, Ben UFO was orchestrating the set's peak, moving from the ghetto house filth of Paul Anthony & ZXX's "Fuck" into the poppy gold of Bizarre Inc's “I'm Gonna Get You Baby." At The Shack, Hunee felt like a no-brainer, but the early rounds of his set were oddly laboured and chugging, with nothing to suggest that the energy was going to lift. I'd been on my feet for 12 hours by that point, so I cut my losses and wandered home. (On the same stage roughly 24 hours later, Job Jobse showed a keener appreciation for what was required at that time, throwing down rapturous cuts like Underworld's "Born Slippy," Bronski Beat's "Small Town Boy" and John Talabot's glowing refix of Teengirl Fantasy's "Cheaters.")
On Saturday evening, Auntie Flo played what I later learned was a largely improvised live set alongside Golden Teacher drummer Laurie Pitt. Both musicians' natural rhythmic abilities captivated the crowd in the This Must Be The Place tent, the only major stage situated outside the woods. At The Shack, the Sub Club-curated lineup lured in big crowds for a visibly delighted Denis Sulta and, later on, Palms Trax, who dropped Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You" and Submission's “Women Beat Their Men."
Many of the weekend's darkest offerings were to be found on the Adventures In Success stage. Paranoid London's live techno walked a murky line established by ItaloJohnson the previous evening, but it was Helena Hauff's bruising EBM and acid that ended up as the weekend's predictable highlight. As Hauff dropped Front 242's "Headhunter," I heard a girl confide to her friend that "this is making me feel really uncomfortable"—a sure sign that the German was on top form.
Aside from the occasional strange bit of scheduling, my only issues with the festival were small logistical ones. Late-night taxis were all but non-existent, so a shuttle bus to the nearby towns would have been helpful for those not camping. I also found the Hidden Palace impossible to get into at times because of the size of the queues—a problem that might have been alleviated by opening the area out a little more. That aside, though, my experience tells me that Farr has the atmosphere, personality and bookings to ride its current wave of success well into the future.
Photo credit /
Jake Davis and Michael Njunge / Here & Now
On Saturday evening, Auntie Flo played what I later learned was a largely improvised live set alongside Golden Teacher drummer Laurie Pitt. Both musicians' natural rhythmic abilities captivated the crowd in the This Must Be The Place tent, the only major stage situated outside the woods. At The Shack, the Sub Club-curated lineup lured in big crowds for a visibly delighted Denis Sulta and, later on, Palms Trax, who dropped Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You" and Submission's “Women Beat Their Men." Many of the weekend's darkest offerings were to be found on the Adventures In Success stage. Paranoid London's live techno walked a murky line established by ItaloJohnson the previous evening, but it was Helena Hauff's bruising EBM and acid that ended up as the weekend's predictable highlight. As Hauff dropped Front 242's "Headhunter," I heard a girl confide to her friend that "this is making me feel really uncomfortable"—a sure sign that the German was on top form. Aside from the occasional strange bit of scheduling, my only issues with the festival were small logistical ones. Late-night taxis were all but non-existent, so a shuttle bus to the nearby towns would have been helpful for those not camping. I also found the Hidden Palace impossible to get into at times because of the size of the queues—a problem that might have been alleviated by opening the area out a little more. That aside, though, my experience tells me that Farr has the atmosphere, personality and bookings to ride its current wave of success well into the future.
Photo credit / Jake Davis and Michael Njunge / Here & Now