Rototom Sunsplash

[Jakeyboy1986]

Having got home a few days ago, thought I would share a few thoughts about Rotom 2017, at Benicassim.

We were in Benicassim for 5 nights, having spent a few days in and around Barcelona beforehand. This meant we missed the first couple of days, however with the festival being 8 days long this wasn't too much of an issue. We arrived on the Monday, spent about 20 minutes queueing to exchange tickets for the wristband and then about 30 seconds waiting to get into the actual festival.

The festival site was spacious and looked amazing, you certainly wouldn't know you were stood in an old car park. Plenty of clean toilets with only ever a short queue and all blocks seemed to have a dedicated attendant. Drinking water was available from machines at 50c a litre, some of the locals weren't too pleased about this but I believe there was Free water available if you looked hard enough.

There was a sweet sweet smell across the whole festival site  The Guardia Civil were randomly frisking people on the way in by foot, however if you caught the bus you bypassed this. Security checks at the festival were concentrated on glass and weapons only.

We were surprised how reasonable food and drinks were, with Food averaging 5 euros a meal, Beer for 3-4 euro a pint and cocktails for 5 euros. Although some of the regulars were commenting that this was more expensive than last year. Being used to UK festivals we were more than pleased.

We copped out and booked a hotel, it was 32c most days and I don't think we'd have coped with camping. We did bump into some friends that were camping and they said it actually wasn't too bad. Canopies are provided to camp under, there's a large kitchen you can use to cook and plenty of toilets and showers. You can also pop down to the beach and find a valuable piece of shade to kip in, as  a lot of campers seemed to. If you're on a budget camping may be bearable, but on this occasion we were glad to have splashed out on a hotel. The only downside being the distance from the festival site, however as our hotel was on the Beach we were able to catch the shuttle buses that ran every 5 minutes to the town and site until about 10pm. Getting home meant a short taxi ride costing around 6 euros, there was never too much of a queue at the taxi rank.

During the day there is music and dance classes on the beach at various locations as well as meditation, yoga and free massage at the actual festival site. The music started around half 8, which was ideal given the heat. Always plenty of space around the main stage and never felt too crowded. The main stage finished around 2am but many others continue until 6-7am, including the Lion Stage, African Vilage stage, Roots Yard, Dancehall and Dub Academy. A massive variety of reggae music is represented each day.

The Dub Academy was one of the main reasons I went. Powered by Blackboard Jungle's powerful sound system with 3 large, 6 bin stacks it didn't disappoint. A wide variety of selectors and live dub represented but, in my opinion, the best sets coming from UK soundsystems - Iration Steppas, Aba Shanti-I and a rare King Earthquake appearance were all outstanding. It seemed the only area of the site to get a bit crowded around 2-3am but there was still some room for manoeuvre. Apparently, they made the arena smaller this year, hopefully next year they'll make it a bit bigger.

After 5 nights we didn't feel burnt out and could easily have carried on for a few more. This was my first European festival and I'll definitely be back next year.

The festival was tinged with some tragedy, on the Wednesday a young Senegalese festival-goer, Ibra, was found drowned in the sea. As a mark of respect Beach activities were cancelled the following day. There was a collection held at the festival to help with his repatriation and from the generosity I witnessed I expect enough was raised.
The following day news began to spread of the horrific goings on in Barcelona. Having walked down Las Ramblas a few days earlier my partner and I were particularly devastated, not out of fear for ourselves but having seen the sheer number of people in that area- happy, innocent people,  we knew immediately how serious it was.
There was no better place to spend that evening than Rototom - a true place of peace, love and unity. A particularly emotional moment came by the main stage where instead of a minutes silence a minutes noise was held and we sent a message that "we are not afraid"

[Jakeyboy1986]

Sorry just realised I've posted this in the wrong place, any way to move it or should I delete and repost?

[eFestivals]

21 minutes ago, Jakeyboy1986 said:

Sorry just realised I've posted this in the wrong place, any way to move it or should I delete and repost?

Thanks for the review (tho I've yet to read it) .... this is a festival I've looked at doing,m so it's good to hear what you think.

I'll move the topic for you in a few minutes.

[Jakeyboy1986]

No probs, I was in a bit of a rush so if there's anything else you wanna know just ask.

I'd highly recommend it, I'm hoping to go back for the full 8 days next year - just waiting on dates to get the holiday request in early.

[tjamest]

Looks good thanks for the info. Could be where the money i normally spend on Glastonbury goes next year