A MELTing pot of experiences

Long time no blog. Reason being I've only just got my Internet connection sorted at home, and it couldn't have come any sooner.

So anyway - yesterday I flew back from Germany with a tear in my eye and dirt embedded into my feet. I've been away for a week, first of all to go to Melt festival, then 3 days in my favourite city in the world - Berlin.

Melt was amazing. The weather was shit, it was almost as wet as Glasto - but that venue is something else, and the line-up (for what I actually saw of it) was the best I've seen in a while at any festival.



The joy of the Melt for me was that the smaller venues were better than anything on the main stage. You just don't get the atmosphere on a big stage that you do when hundreds of sweaty, completely hammered people are heaving together in a small space. My favourite example of this being the Red Bull stage on Saturday night, where Daniel Haaksman, Edu K, and Bonde Do Role were back to back and just so good I held piss in for 3 hours and got other people to go to the bar for me. Berlin Battery on Sunday night were awesome too. The last act of the festival, full of people who didn't want to let go.



Hot Chip and Bjork were on before them on the main stage, and while they were both amazing and I really enjoyed them - you can't help but have people that aren't into it hovering around and talking over the top. This really annoys me but hey - that's the craic with a festival.

The camp site we set up for ourselves was an absolute shit tip by the time we left. We had trolleys from the local Lidl as chairs, and we'd sustained a camp fire by burning left over face wipes - but for 4 days that place was home. I was sad to leave, but when you're going to Berlin instead of back home then you can't really drag your feet can you?



I went to Berlin in February, so it felt a little like coming home when I got on the s-bahn from the airport and saw the graffiti plastered on every available wall, and the clash of modern architecture with derelict building shells. We spent most of the day times walking around the vintage shops and art squats, occasionally stopping to drink beer and eat. We also visited the Hamburger Bahnhof to see the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition, which was breathtaking. He's my favourite photographer, but when you see works you've only ever seen on the Internet or in a coffee table book in large format on a mass of white walls - it's pretty incredible.

Me and Cat went to Berlin Zoo on our own on Wednesday. It was unlike any zoo i've ever been to. Unless strictly necessary to avoid escaping, most of the animals weren't in cages, but in large outdoor areas with a sort of unfilled moat to stop them getting out. It took five hours to walk round, and we didn't even go to the aquarium. If you're in Berlin - go.



The highlight of my whole trip though was Tresor on the last night. Oh. My. God. We queued for over an hour to get in, but it was worth it. Have you ever seen Irreversiblé? Well that's the basement of Tresor, but replace the S&M for sweaty ravers. Pitch black but for a strobe light and some red lights towards the entrance/exit. Even if you're not hammered, the lighting and music combined distorts your perceptions so much you'll feel fucked. Or so I imagine. Upstairs was minimal tech, and although it's not my favourite style of music it was amazing. We were there till 8am, slept for 3 hours and then left for the airport. Felt like shit all flight, but it was worth it. I think it even topped Panorama/Berghain in February.





So there we have it. Germany, done. Can't wait till next time.