FLY: Open Air round 2 did NOT disappoint. Having started my summer with FLY at Houpeton House back in May, this one marked the end of my summer season. It seems it was also the end of the sun as it has pished rain every day since then.
Saturday 22nd
The first Saturday act we had a wee dance to was 90s house DJ, Kerri Chandler. It was one of those kind of surreal moments seeing him in the flesh having heard a lot about him and his influence on the evolution of house to sub genre - deep house by infusing house with funk, soul and jazz elements. So aye it was mental to see him in Princes Street Gardens opposite River Island.
The bar was great, not too expensive, no long queues and none of they bastard paper straws.
That in depth review of the bar is the reason you're no getting a review of the next 2 acts in the line up.
Moving on, Theo Kottis the presenter of the Saturday line up then took to the decks and was a crowd pleaser and his new album 'Beautiful Strangers' and a few extra mixes added in such as 80's classic 'Tell Me Why.'
Sunday 23rd
Fueled up on a spoons breakfast and left over drink we headed back for day 2. Even though the Saturday was packed the Sunday turn out felt even bigger. Peggy Gou was fresh out a summer in Ibiza and one I was really keen to see. She includes a lot of Korean cultural influences in her sampling which I really like as mixing with an old school disco sample in electronic dance music (which even though I do love I'm about to slag off) is now becoming about as common as ASDA. So although Gou's stuff might seem a bit weird/odd at least it's original.
Hunee the second act from closing and one I had not really heard of before but really enjoyed. He mixes rustic African style samples in his new work into his deep house roots with funky basslines and distorted guitar resembling the late 70's Detroit music scene transition from disco to jazz and soul infused dance music. Having later listened to the recordings his latest album has really stuck out to me as a proper piece of art.
As it hit Jasper James' set it was fair to say it was absolutely chilly baltic but the 2000+ dancing crowd did help and they were right to keep dancing, Jasper played a great set. Not all DJ's especially those not at total stardom level ,like Fatboy Slim, can properly interact with a crowd and build atmosphere but Jasper James pulled this off. He was one I did slightly over look in the preview in fact I took the piss out him a bit for travelling the world DJing then playing in places like Arbroath and Kirkcaldy but he was actually class. He has a more commercial and contemporary approach in his tracks and although it's his Spotify I'll link here he can't be done full justice until you see him live.
I had a proper wee escape weekend at FLY: Open Air and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Until next summer..
LINKS N STUFF:
FLY: OPEN AIR: https://www.facebook.com/FLYOPENAIRFESTIVAL/
LINKS TO ARTIST SPOTIFY BY NAME:
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