Our last night at the Soundwave Festival – and what a night it was too !!

Well, what a special end to a really memorable festival…(an ending we literally did not expect).

For days on end, the weather had been pretty much perfect as Kez and I meandered our way down the Croatian coastline. However as soon as we got to Petrcane, the weather became rather more changeable! Unbelievably powerful electrical storms were interspersed with beautiful sunny days…the weather literally turns on a dime around here.

So it was, with bated breath, that we looked forward to the last big night at the festival. With a headline act of Roots Manuva, it’s fair to say that we were all pretty excited about the whole thing. But then, many thousands of kilometres from home, some typically dreary English weather rolled in. A constant drizzle of rain and high winds meant the main stage at the festival was closed down and shrouded in tarpaulin. The only alternative venue was ‘Barbarella’s Discotheque’ – a quaint but crowded ‘nightclub’ that inhabits part of the festival site.

Maths alone dictated that there would be many disappointed people. 3,000 festival goers in a club with a capacity of just 500. We were already queuing on a one in one out basis by the time the very first acts were getting on stage. What’s more, Barbarella’s doesn’t do air conditioning. It was fusty and sweaty with all of the accumulated heat of 500 weary revelers. It reminded me of grimy university nights at Fifth Ave in Manchester. It wasn’t what the doctor ordered!

Our little clutch of friends decided to give up our hard earned spot in the club…deciding instead to hope for better weather back at the campsite. It took a long time to arrive…a very, very long time.

But fortunately;

Waiting at the campsite was a pretty frustrating affair…particularly as everyone expected the weather to scupper our final night at the festival. We were resigned to a fairly sedate final night – that was until Boom138 pulled out their Saxaphone and egg maraca from the tent three doors down. & so it was that our night turned on a dime. Right outside the door to my tent, we were treated to the magic that these two guys laid down. Song after song conjured up from the dark recesses of our collective minds.

It reminded me of the musicians that performed at my going away event at Wellingborough School – unbelievable talents, and yet so unassuming. It’s fair to say that our random assortment of friends were equally blown away. Celeste, Andy and Estelle – our Ozzie neighbours – were clamoring just as much as me for the music that they were delivering. & as for our Nottingham friends – well they were totally blown away by it too. In fact, Ash (a burly rugby playing lad) and I both said it was the absolute highlight of our festivals.

& what was even better was that they started playing when the rain was falling…and a couple of hours later, finished with the sun setting over an almost clear sky. Thanks to George and Dom, we had the most amazing of final nights…one which continued up at the festival to the sounds of Roots Manuva.

You can see George and Dom (Boom138) on Youtube 
 

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