After having a mixed day the last time I attended SW4 in 2005 I was a bit reluctant to go back again in the future. The soundsystems were too quiet and the atmosphere never really got going but the line ups are always first class and that makes it a tempting proposition.
It was primarily the collection of DJ's booked to play the inaugrel Bedrock Arena that persuaded me to give it another chance this year, although there was a number of other DJ's worth checking out on the Main Stage and the Ibiza tent.
I arrived at Clapham Common a bit later than planned but I still expected to catch the end of SOS who were playing from the planned opening at 12pm to 1pm. However, when I got to the main gate there was a healthy queue along the side of the arena. I walked to the end and turned the corner to see the queue continue on all the way along the other side. I carried on following the queue until it opened out into the main part of the park and there must have been over 5,000 people waiting in the line
I was having doubts whether I'd see any of Sasha who was on at 5.30pm but to be fair the security got everyone in pretty quickly and I was waiting around 35 minutes in the end.
I grabbed a beer and had a quick look around the stages (catching a bit of Roger Sanchez on the way) before heading to the Bedrock tent where Steve Lawler was playing. He was pumping out his usual trademark style of tech/dirty House and the growing crowd was showing their appreciation. The entrance was down the lefthand side of the tent and that got really busy during the day but I spent most of my time down the oposite side which never got crowded at all. The only downside was that for about the first time all summer the weather was boiling and it got unbearably hot at times. I enjoyed Lawler's set and was pleased that there were no issues with the sound - it was a lot louder than last time!
Sander Kleinenberg took over and put on his DVJ show which went down really well. He played a good festival set, kicking off with a King Unique remix of the new Tracey Thorn track. He probably got the best crowd reaction of the day and the tent was jumping for parts of his set. Sander finished off with a couple of remixes of Hard-Fi 'Suburban Kinghts' and Editors 'Camera'. I'm pretty sure he also played a version of Underworld's 'Rez' which went down a storm. Eric Prydz stepped up next and the tent immeditely filled up to it's highest capacity of the day. He played a typically faultless set comprising of many of his own productions, which is by no means a bad thing
Prydz always seems to deliver and was a highlight of the festival for me.
I took a couple of brief beer breaks from the Bedrock Arena during the day and caught a bit of Pete Tong playing Samim 'Heater' and the Plump DJ's also playing a breaks remix of it. I never properly made it into the Ibiza Arena but it was busy all day and seemed to have a good vbe whenever I went past. Josh Wink came on after Prydz and immediately dropped the tempo which resulted in many people leaving the tent. It was a bit unfair as he took things in another direction which was what was probably needed in preparation for Digweed. I headed over to the Main Stage for Sasha who was conducting his own light show with the sunlight beaming off his bald head but the sound was starting to fade and I found it hard to motivate myself for his set.
I stuck around long enough to see the start of Digweed's set but the relentless heat was starting to take it's toll and it was time to head off to the pub and then an afterparty.
I've read some unfavourable reviews of SW4 on GU but I had a really good day and saw some superb DJ sets. I still wouldn't recommend any Dutch people to come over to it instead of Extrema or DV but I might go again in the future if the line up is as good
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