Set in the beautiful Wasing Estate Nature Reserve, the site was large enough to easily accommodate various dance stages, market places & a few thousand happy campers without feeling cramped, but small enough to avoid the major treks between stages, so typical of some other festivals.

This was perhaps the most glorious weekend of the year so far. The sun shone brightly on us, providing us the most perfect of camping conditions. After all, who cares about hot showers (which were available this year at the modest price of £1.50 a go) when you can cool off from the heat of British summertime (and imitate a Timotei advert!) under the numerous and deliciously cold stand-pipes around the site.

The whole site had been decorated with love, imagination & flair. Endless rows of multi coloured flags marked the way, shimmering and billowing in the gentle summer breeze. All around the site, inflatable shapes abounded, the most notable of these being the giant octopus, climbing up the main dance tent roof, perhaps in an attempt to escape the rising heat generated by the frenzied crowds!

The festival was full of typical yet somehow essential shopping opportunities, a chance to splash some dosh on clothing, jewellery, CDs & records or perhaps some (legal!) herbal substances. Some of the stalls were so delightfully colourful that they could have been mistaken for part of the festival decorations. Once the dancing, shopping and sunbathing had been exhausted for a while, there was a plethora of cafes and bars serving a diverse mix of cheap and yummy food and drinks from across the globe.

With 7 main music stages and several smaller areas, Glade provided a wide range of electronic dance music, from breaks to house to psy-trance with lots and lots in between. In fact, as promised, there was something for everyone within the realms of electronic dance. The main dance stage possibly hosting the most diverse range of acts, including Dreadzone, “Superstar” DJ Sasha and the brilliant DJ Pathaan (my mate Bill’s festival highlight), who played a wicked set of beautiful tunes to wind down the festival on that sunny Sunday afternoon.

In addition to the expected big top style tents, the Pussy Parlure offered a little glamour, showcasing cabaret acts throughout the weekend to a “lounge” style soundtrack of Soul, Latin, Jazz, Disco and lots more. All this performed inside an amazing, dazzling and extremely rare 1920s Mirror Tent, a surreal and incongruent sight in the middle of a field!
New to Glade 2005 was Golden Syrup stage, providing non-stop but un-programmed music 24 hours a day, a possible launch-pad for any aspiring musicians out there. Seeing as this was one of the warmest weekends of the year, the outdoor stages hosted by Origin, Liquid Connective & ID Spiral certainly attracted the crowds. What can ever be better, in our cold climes, than to spend a weekend dancing to some wicked tunes? After all, we Brits spend most of our lives inside avoiding the rain!

The best of the psy-trance for me was the Origin stage where some amazing acts including Silicon Sound, Protoculture, Joti Sidhu, Eskimo, Son Kite (to name just a few) wove their magic on the crowd Hypnotic beats reverberating in the sunshine ensured that we danced wildly like the truly tribal beings that we are.

The music at the main stages promptly ended at 4am. Then time to chill with ID Spiral, set at the far end of the site in a tranquil forested area, all the more enchanted, amazing and ethereal after partaking of some “magic” chai or perhaps a few (then legal!) magic mushrooms. A long standing festival favourite, featuring global music, djs and even an acoustic set from Eat Static. This was a 24 hour music and chill out zone with its renowned and well stocked café. Surrounded by glistening hanging decorations, soft lights twinkling in the approaching morning light, listening to blissful beats, in a comfy, colourful chill-out area reflecting all the very best of nature, what could be better? Time to make a wish, write it out and tie it to the very magical wish-tree and wait (they DO come true!).

The festival ended Sunday night at 8pm, just in time for those extremely unfortunate individuals having to return home in time to do the sensible “Monday morning” bit. So glad that wasn’t me!! Sunday night the festival spirit continued with the ID Spiral chill-out providing the tunes and many of the cafes providing food & chill out space. Many thanks to ID Spiral for providing us with several free cups of their delicious and legendary chai to warm our hearts!

All in all, Glade 2005 rocked! And what with the wonderful weather, Glade 2005 will be a very hard act to follow. This one gets my vote for festival of the year so far.

Unfortunately, my camera gave up towards the end of the festival (along with many of the people who had perhaps rather overdone things!) and so my photo memories were lost. I have included a few photos taken by Bill Vincent, which he has kindly provided.
For more photos of the festival, why not visit the Glade website www.gladefestival.com and also Access all Areas, who were on hand to provide useful festival information and advice www.accessallareas.org
The end of Glade 2005 also marked the end of the legal sale of magic mushrooms (and other freaky fungi) and therefore the end of an era of the harmless hallucinations enjoyed by so many. It was interesting to see so many mushroom sellers hawking their wares on Sunday, prices getting lower and lower, quantities getting larger and larger, in the attempt to sell all before the laws changed or the mushrooms went off!

So typical of our government to decide that a non addictive substance with no proven adverse affects should be criminalised. After all, a babble of giggling mushroom munchers is surely such a large threat to the stability of the nation eh?

Eli Saikadeli