Chemical Brothers at SW4

So, my second festival of the week.This time the dance music festival SW4 on Clapham Common. Now at the outset I must say I only came for the headline act, the Chemical Brothers. Any thing else was a bonus. And one bonus was meeting up with my young friend Leo and his girlfriend. I would like to say another bonus was the weather, but while it could have been a lot worse, there were quite a few showers, one indeed being on arrival. But it soon cleared up. Looks idyllic below, with crowds yet to gather in front of the main stage.

First real act I saw, as opposed to stuff heard in a tent while sheltering from rain, was this lot, the wonderfully entitled Damian Lazarus and the Ancient Moons. And they were actually one of the most enjoyable acts of the day.

Having had a drink and chat with my friends we both went off to explore separately, and me to get some noodles for lunch.The set up is essentially three big tent arenas plus the outdoor main stage.

sated with noodles I headed back to the main stage, took up a place at the front and settled in for the day.

Next up was Black Coffee, a South African DJ. And here comes my problem. All these DJs just sound exactly the same to me.

More popular from size and crowd reaction was Paul Kalkbrenner. A German DJ, except I understand he is a live act and not a DJ. Difference beats me. Just lots of twiddling knobs and pulling a few faces.

 Then the legendary Carl Cox. More of the same.

 But finally 9pm and the Chemical Brothers, coming on direct with "Hey Boy, Hey Girl". And a delightful light/laser show. Its a total art form. By now I had been rejoined by my friends. We really enjoyed the following 90 minutes. My photos don't really do justice to the visual display. Its a bit like taking stills of fireworks. You need to see it all, not just the flashes.

In addition to the lights, large balloons were released into the audience. A nice bit of audience participation.

This faceted mirror was alos a nice effect, just brought down for one track. Its the variety that entertains.

  

 Then came down the two robots. They are really cool with their laser eyes, sort of 50s B-movie robots.

 

Everyone was happy with the Brothers' night's work. Including them.