Lock up your grandmas and rip up your frocks! Halloween is here and Zombie Fest is back – bigger and more terrifyingly hardcore than ever, and I cannot wait to get on that scary dance floor and boogie on down with the ghosts and the ghouls.
Now in its third year, East Anglia’s biggest Halloween music festival has expanded again, with ten arenas and 150 artists performing through a 12 hour extravaganza from 6pm till 6am on Saturday 28th October at Mildenhall Stadium.
After missing out for the first two years and hearing from all how great last year’s sets from Nicky Blackmarket, Slipmatt and Vinyl Vera were, I am literally gagging to get my sweat on to some grinding bassline, especially after the depressing ‘end of festival season’ vibe that seems to have been going around the east like the flu these past few weeks.
Catering for all dance music fans, the range of music at Zombie Fest is immense and the artists seem skilfully chosen (more by someone who likes a good rave rather than a bunch of rapacious fat cats) to create a plethora of stomptastic tuneage across the world stage of bassy beats.
Bought to us by BIG, East Anglia’s award winning dance music promoters, Zombie Fest has some thrilling acts. Teaming up with Cambridge’s talented ‘Warning’ crew, the main stage hosts world famous Drum n Bass legends Pendulum – an epic show if you have never seen them live, and probably the main reason it’s going to be so packed – 2000 tickets sold so far and still over a week left to go. I’ve seen them a few times and am still very excited.
Although, you would think one big name would be enough wouldn’t you? Apparently not, as BIG have even more lined up to get our spooky senses tingling.
MOBO award winning, 90s chart topping Baby D (let me be your fantasy) are also headlining along with DJ and radio one presenter Grooverider, Kenny Ken and Ratpack, so prepare to go back to the old skool with club classics and ragga jungle vibes. RnB soul-girl Shola Ama also returns to the garage stage along with Lisa Mafia and Romeo from So Solid Crew.
If dark and dirty is a bit more your thing, there is plenty of hard house, techno and psy trance to raise your arms and stamp your feet to to, with acts such as Benny Page, Mark EG and Andy Whitby ready to vibrate your eyeballs and organs in full Zombie Fest fashion.
And importantly, the whole venue is filled with Void sound systems, so acoustics are guaranteed to be clear and loud as the stars are bright in the Suffolk village of Beck Row. So many venues make the mistake of booking top acts and failing miserably at providing them with the sound they deserve – this is not going to be a problem at Zombie Fest.
This year brings a new VIP Prosecco Bar, complete with house and club classics from Jac Fest and live percussion from Nicey.
Aside from the thumping baselines and thousands of dancing shoes, BIG have also organised a scary funfair, stilt walkers, Halloween dancers, fire breathers, LED screens and face painters as well as food stalls and fully licensed bars. What more could we want? Best get some sleep…
For tickets and further info go to www.zombie-fest.com and practise your spookiest bass face!
