Orbital blast the first night as London Freeze goes on the piste
London Freeze 2009 review
Wednesday 4th November 2009
The London Freeze Festival returned to Battersea Power Station at the weekend to turn South London's most iconic structure into a ski resort for three days. The event is the UK's only snow and music festival and is used to showcase some of the world's best ski-ing and snowboarding talent as well as host the UK leg of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup. The main focal point for the weekend is the 32 metre high ramp with a kicker 17 metre's up from the ground which provides the riders with over 500 tonnes of real snow.
On arrival at the site on Friday afternoon, it was clear that the organisers like to make a big deal out of the weekend. The Power station is lit up in purple, there are lasers firing into the South London skyline as far as the eyes can see and the bass blaring from the speakers in the main tent is enough to send members of the Prodigy into re-hab. Inside is a retail village featuring clothing, boards etc. from independent designers to more well known brands. Alongside these are two stages for music and a number of bars including the Après Ski bar which literally transports someone from Central London to the French Alps as they enter - ok, not literally, but it certainly captures the spirit of an Après Ski environment. Add to this a few eateries and a Jaeger stall and you have yourself a fully fledged pop-up ski resort. It's a quite stunning setting and the people flocking in (around 13,000 on Friday night) have an excitable look on their faces – and so they should... Orbital are playing tonight!
'The Freeze' is gradually becoming the chance for 'seasonaire's' (past or future), to meet up with other 'seasonaire's' and party like there is no work on Monday. It has a wonderful feeling of familiarity about it. Friends greet each other and begin to look towards the new season just around the corner and the powder that awaits them.
The temporary pop-up world full of beanies is treated to a show of incredible jumps, tricks and 1080's off the ramp for the majority of the evening and when Pendulum kick off their DJ Set youngsters are literally running to the tent to catch a glimpse and have a dance at the front of the stage. Finding Pendulum anything but overrated and generally an ear-sore for me is incredibly hard. However much I am told that they are the new Prodigy, I just can't see it. So at least to have them DJ, and not make us all listen to their music in particular, was relief for myself at least! Filled with bass heavy beats and a few of their own back catalogue, Pendulum race through their set with, to their credit, incredible energy. It gets the (surprisingly) very young crowd in a dancing and jumping mood and seems to leave everyone in the tent happy. Maybe it's just me, but it kind of just all sounded like one annoying noise.
It suddenly struck me that I may be the one missing something and so raced to the nearest bar to get a fashionable energy drink. Feeling young again, re-invigorated and up with the times, I return to the tent to catch dance legends Orbital. The tent is busy with a slightly larger mix of young and old(er) congregating together to see one of the pioneers of dance. Their trademark headlights beam from the front along with the lasers and monumental light show on offer. The music matches the setting with classics such as 'Chimes' and 'Satan' flying out the speakers and demanding a reaction from the crowd. They react in flailing armed unison and seem to be enjoying every moment. It's clear that Orbital are well loved. After a long break from music, their tour was a welcome reminder to anyone that they are still up there with the best dance acts around today. Their music still sounds fresh and as a unit, their sound is indestructible. The music lasts long into the evening, although you can't help feeling that once the music finishes, the party is only really just getting started. For seasonaire's there's the catching up / meeting new people to be done. For a vast majority, there's the anticipation of what their up-coming ski holiday will bring. For everyone else, there’s a ski holiday to be booked.
On the face of it, London Freeze is a brilliant event. It fuses a great soundtrack with a fabulous sport in an epic setting. In short, it captures the spirit of everything that is great about a holiday in the mountains. If this is your thing, then you have to go next year. If not, well you don't know what you're missing!
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