This Is Jersey

By Ramsay Cudlipp

IN every club, there is always one poor drunken soul who just cannot dance.  You know the type – arms flailing everywhere, heavy clumping bear-steps and a manic grin never wavering on his blissfully oblivious face.
It almost seems as if he is dancing to a different song to everyone else. Now, imagine if he really was moving his feet to an alternative beat (and so was everyone else).
Gallery Magazine are this year running probably the most original tent ever seen at a Jersey Live festival. The innovative bods from the mag will be hosting a Silent Disco, where every guest dances to different music via headphones. The concept is based on an idea that started in Glastonbury in 2005 when the idea was trialled as a response to noise pollution. It has since become an annual feature and is available at a number of festivals because it allows people to carry on partying late into the night without disturbing anyone. The event will be perfect for Jersey Live because the Royal Jersey Showground is quite an intimate arena and sound can easily travel on a still night in the countryside.
Gallery editor Ben Davies first saw the idea at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark two years ago.
‘I tried it out and thought it was excellent,’ he said. ‘It is such a different experience to a normal nightclub. You see people jumping up and down to different songs. It’s mental, unique and really enjoyable.’
Ben bought the specialist equipment and 500 sets of earphones to be used for future events but only plans to make 150 available at Jersey Live.
‘We didn’t want too many people because we want to keep it raw,’ he said. ‘We will be using Delta’s Igloo tent which is dark and intimate and hopefully people will feel free to dance.’
Clubbers will be able to switch between two different types of music which will be of starkly contrasting styles. There is also a button on the side of each headphone set to mute all sound, allowing the wearer to talk to others or order a drink at the bar without removing their ’phones.
It’s quite a departure from the hospitality tent that Gallery have hosted backstage for the last three years and Ben is looking forward to interacting with the magazine’s readers, four years since Gallery launched at Jersey Live 2004.
We want to reach as many people as possible,’ he said.
‘This is a change from what we’ve done in the past and we hope to see our readers enjoying themselves.’

Anyone who has ever lost items of clothing at a festival due to mud, moshing or being mindlessly mashed will probably appreciate the tent raising money for Jersey Hospice Care next weekend, Cream Tease.
At the tent’s entrance is a dressing room where only those who purchase the fancy dress clothes for sale (all carefully chosen from the rails of charity stores) will gain access to the exclusive garden party held behind the tent where they will find DJs, a private bar, teas, cakes and games, including a giant Twister mat and croquet.
Cream Tease was the brainchild of Beth Gallichan, who based the idea on a similar tent at Glastonbury called Las Vagueness. She said that she wanted to provide an ‘injection of kookiness’ to Jersey Live and raise money for a good cause at the same time.
‘The dress code is strictly weird and wonderful,’ she said. ‘We will have something for everyone to dress up in, whether they want a vintage, outrageous, smart, sexy or glamorous look.’
Beth said that they want everyone to follow the same guidelines: ‘Dress up in something, leave your inhibitions at the door, join in the fun and give generously to Jersey Hospice Care.’
She has spent hours diligently sorting through the piles of clothes donated to Jersey Hospice Care’s charity shops to find enough silk, leather, feathers and sequins for the event to guarantee that all who enter the tent will exit in new eye-catching attire.
The marquee will be decorated with a bizarre range of curios including vegetation, giant insects and picnic blankets which are designed to fashion a fantastical Alice in Wonderland / Mad Hatter’s Tea Party atmosphere.
The organisers of these two quirky tents should be applauded for bringing something different to the festival experience this year. So, grab the silliest glad-rags you can find from the Jersey Hospice Cream Tease tent and make your way to the Silent Disco for a unique boogie. At least you won’t be able to hear people laughing.

Pictured: Claire Campbell, Ben Davies, Ceri Milner and Russ Atkinson of Gallery Magazine practise for the Silent Disco

Article posted on 27th August, 2008 - 3.00pm