Low End Lowlife Presents: Outlook 2011 - Day 1 & 2

So with a chronically under packed rucksack featuring little more than ostentatious underwear, over priced trainers, 2 of the most illegitimately obtained press passes in history and a cameraman who had never seen a camera Bearded's Low End Lowlife hopped on the last train out of GY on a damp bank holiday to sample the bass fuelled magic of Outlook Festival, in Fort Pula, Croatia... Clearly this was all going to go off without a hitch...

DAY 1

Many airport floors and mullet driven busses later it's day 1, and the perfect festival start could be found on the Main Stage with a sun soaked two hour set from the final name in reggae DJ'ing; Mr David Rodigan. Clocking in at age 60, Rodigan charges into his set with an enthusiasm only outdone by the sheer number of tunes the man packs into the beefy two hours that feels but ten minutes. From the classic tunes of Desmond Dekker, Sly Dunbar & Bob Marley through to the modern stylings of everyone from Toddla T through Rusko to Alborosie truly no musical stone is left unturned by a man who is almost as much a historian as he is ridiculous party starter. The set comes to a poignant close as Rodigan urges the crowd to turn away from the stage and soak up an almost Photoshop fiddled sunset across the placid Adriatic ocean and feel the love. Just as things are set to get a little too arty however the crowd is sent into one final frenzy with the inspired dropping of Johnny Cash's classic Ring Of Fire. The fact that it is one of the most enthusiastically received tunes of the show somehow sums up why 'Ramjam' is the undisputed king of the Reggae vibes; he can even generate them with country numbers. As darkness sets in so does a bout of raw, untapped journalistic professionalism, so Bearded decides to pop his trousers back on (they went missing sometime around the dropping of 'Return Of The Hotstepper') grab a cheeky Mojito and pop for an interview with Hyperdub label honcho Kode9. I even found my cameraman... One surrealistic and somewhat slurred discussion on everything from Bass music to bearded folk muscians later and it was down to Mungo's Arena where German dub/reggae come dubstep producer Disrupt, ably assisted by Scottish born mc SoomT, was sweating down both a tightly packed crowd and a meticulously well tuned soundsystem, itself shipped piece by piece from Scotland, to rapturous response.

Keeping things on a strictly Croat-Scot vibe it was then time to head down to the Fort Arena to catch a blistering set from Kode9, which kicked off with a full capacity riot through the dropping of Hyperdub enigma Burial's claustrophobically anthemic 'Archangel'. From there it was a diverse journey through a particularly playful selection of funky, dubstep, house and towards the end, a throwback to a bit of the old skool jungle style Kode9 cut his teeth on. Sadly, and as would prove to be the case for many artists over the course of the weekend, the tweaking on the Fort soundsystem was a little off in this humble Beard's opinion, resulting in a level of bass which veered dangerously close to hitting a 'brown note' on heavier tracks, and also left much of the high end sounds obliterated, which was a particular shame in context of the sonic detail much of the Hyperdub back catalogue is revered for. We all know we love heavy bass, but it seems a little pointless without any other sounds. Whilst the Fort area gamely attempted to shake itself to death down at the Dock Stage UK vocalist frontrunner P-Money could be spotted tearing into everything his DJ for the evening; the always impossibly heavy N-Type, pulled out of his potentially concrete reinforced record sacks. Both men carrying far more energy (not to mention vocabulary) than a now completely rum, dust and sweat soaked Bearded reporter and, aptly followed by a preposterously hyper set from Newham Generals (met voraciously by the crowd with trademark shouts of "bluka bluka!") are the perfect selection to see a elegiac (and admittedly bloody blurry) sunrise at 6am after a furious opening night.

Acutely aware that tomorrow was another full day, including all the press related events for the weekend that would require both Zen like focus and stamina the Low-End Lowlife got his professional cap back on, took down his trousers and went and found a strategically placed late hours beach bar to drink at alone until he couldn't feel his beard. The cameraman would probably show up again in the morning...

DAY 2

Day 2 began more or less exactly as day 1 ended. On a beach, sans trousers with drink. After a cursory look round the immediate area (the 180 degrees my neck would turn without me actually having to get up) for my ominously absent cameraman I decided it was high time I found the rest of my contingent to relax with for the day until the afternoon's press event and the evening's music got underway. As luck would have it I found my crew and then we fatefully stumbled upon a lovely little Croatian lady who was selling an alarmingly cheap and label free wine at roughly two English pounds per litre. I still hadn't found my cameraman at this point but I feared for the worst he may also have found the wine lady too...

Afternoon rolled by swiftly with the aid of numerous bottles of the recently christened Neuf Du Pap '86 (our palettes are nothing if not deftly refined) and after a mercilessly free bar in the press area (where I finally found my cameraman a mere 24 hours after our last conversation) it was a 2-step stagger down to the dock area of the fort in anticipation of the Rinse FM boat party. Suffering from a lack of sea legs and a surfeit of Stella Artois it was guaranteed to be nothing if not interesting...

As with all things Rinse there were no half measures on the lineup, what with their employment list more or less carrying every big name in UK bass music at one point or another and saw sets from Alexander Nut, Chefal, Plastician and Skream. Variety was the main strength of these sets, Alexander Nut in particular digging out some classics from every genre and running through a particularly fine selection of hip-hop sounds was a highlight, as was Plastician dropping some old school Joker with '3K Lane', the crowd response to which only exacerbated the boozy sway of the boat. After the massively populated main stages of the festival which could occasionally leave a punter with an impersonal felling and sore feet the boat parties, which hold around eighty people, were the perfect way to warm up to an evening and converse with other festival goers in a slightly more relaxed manner. It was also a pleasure to watch a clearly pissed Skream and Plastician fall about with just as much boundless enthusiasm as the crowd.

Fresh off the boat and possibly my tits it was then double-time down to the Dock Stage where the Deep-Medi crew had just begun their evening takeover with veteran hosts Sgt Pokes and Juakali on front man duties. Silkie & Quest, both adorned with fetching hi-vis jackets and caps, proved to be a perfect partnering for a friendly clash as they spun their melting pot style of funk and R&B flavoured dubstep to an already busy and energetic crowd off the back of a razor sharp and claustrophobic set from Distance. Tracks such as 'Get Up 'n' Dance' and 'Boogie Boy' from Silkie's newest City Limits 2 LP providing the perfect mood lightener after the much darker vibes of the aforementioned. Carrying on the cheery vibes provided by Silkie and company came Loefah opening with the inspired oddball choice of Ludacris' club hit 'What's Your Fantasy'. Dropping straight into Coki's restlessly heavy wobbler 'All Of A Sudden' it proved to be the perfect musical red herring for a set that dodged and bounced through everything from Dizzee Rascal, to Distance, a brutally effective 'Jah Man' by The Bug & Flowdan and a predictably troublesome spin of Skream's 'Midnight Request Line'. Following on from the high energy of Loefah's set was destined to be a difficult job, but the schedulers wisely opted to send in Deep Medi label owner and DMZ member Mala, whose Bob Marley medley entrance instantly gave him control of the crowd and held sway until the reigns were handed over to Coki, who Pokes introduced as 'Dubstep's Charlie Sheen' to the sounds of Coki's own 'Madman'. At this stage it seemed only appropriate that a festival goer wandered past in a Boris Johnson-esque bowl cut wig thrusting a broom into the air. After a literally smashing hour or so in the context of both ear drums and bowels with Coki at the controls a more laidback vibe was needed, if only for a half hour. Thankfully some classic 60's reggae vibes were on hand courtesy of The Twinkle Brothers, whose energetic yet altogether more gentle works emanating from a thankfully not over crowded Main Stage calmed things down wonderfully. After some engaging onstage chat from frontman Norman Grant, also deftly handling a generous array of congas, the general ambience of the now packed stage was promptly trampled by the stomping rhythms of The Bug, joined for his set by toasting legend Tippa Irie, performing simmering protest track 'Angry' to crazed response and an apparently rocket fuelled Daddy Freddy before duties were handed over to long-term collaborator Flowdan, of Roll Deep fame, who showed off both lyrical and vocal flair with his trademark elasticated flows, many of which performed in a tense patois style that only served to ramp up the aggression on The Bug's near apocalyptic style. In need of both another round of drinks (probably) and one last hit of that Deep Medi sound it was once again back to the Dock Stage, where by this point attendance had reached what some scientist's may call critical mass, to see the particularly cavernous, techno infused sounds of Goth-Trad and Vivek. Down at the front Pokes and Juakali, who after seeing the sheer length and enthusiasm of their performance may actually be robots, were gamely pouring straight rum and Jack Daniels into the mouths of a somewhat rabid crowd. Keen to immerse myself fully in the Deep Medi spirit (purely for journalism's sake) it was a trip to the front for a sample of the aforementioned beverages followed by another trip to the floor to await day 3.