Features / Previews
All fired up for Valley Fest 2024
Arcadia‘s Dragonfly was a highlight for thousands at Glastonbury this year, and their fire-breathing spider – the focus of an unforgettable celebration on Queen Square in 2015 – is a festival icon that will go down in history.
But not many know how important Valley Fest has been in the makings of the immersive art spectaculars.
The family-friendly food and music weekend takes place by Chew Valley Lake, only nine miles from Bristol. The festival, dubbed the UK’s most beautiful, is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary over August 1-4..
is needed now More than ever
Arcadia will once again bring their Afterburner stage to the festivities. Built from a Rolls Royce jet engine, the area will be surrounded by a circle of metal trees and flames.
It’s a return home for the immersive art producers that incubated their attention-grabbing stage installations at Glastonbury festival and have gone on to contribute to music festivals around the world.
Initially the team built their structures in an old cow shed on Valley Fest founder Luke Hasell’s farm, filling the yard with prize bits of scrap collected from around the country.
Reusing and repurposing is integral to Arcadia’s art, with their installations often created from ex-military equipment. A piece of Hasell’s grain silo is contained in the Afterburner stage.
Pip Rush, Arcadia co-founder, explained how the new installation came about: “The Dragonfly story began when we found some Royal Navy helicopter fuselages,” he said. “As they were unloaded, they started to look like a dragonfly in the sky.”
The vision prompted the Arcadia team to start scribbling out ideas, beginning with the Falklands helicopter frame comprising the main body of the creature.
“We wanted to repurpose the intent of that bit of machinery, designed for division and destruction, and flip it to create a space that’s unifying,” said Rush.
Arcadia’s Dragonfly in action at Glastonbury festival this year – photo: Chris Cooper
In 2022, the Alchemist’s Playground was born at Valley Fest. The collaboration between Valley
Fest, Arcadia and Woodland Tribe creates a place where everyone can play.
By day, kids build their own stage from reclaimed materials, and the area offers welding, graffiti,
aerial and DJ workshops galore. At nightfall, the baton passes to adults as the Afterburner stage fires up, the DJs play and the party starts.
Meanwhile, Valley Fest has always showcased local talent, drawing from all corners of Bristol’s rich music scene.
The festival’s collaboration with Jam Jar, Bristol’s premier world music venue, sees them join forces with folk specialists Ear Trumpet Music on a stage takeover featuring top quality global music talent.
Their Yard Stage programme features Afro-House duo Raz and Afla and Ghanaian Frafra soul artist Florence Adooni alongside locals China Bowls, Sheelanagig, Ichi and Omega Nebula.
Valley Fest takes place on and around the Community Farm, a working organic, regenerative farm beside Chew Valley lake – photo: Ania Shrimpton
Elsewhere sees performances from Bristol bassist Marla Kether – most recently seen on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage with Little Simz and at Saffron Music‘s summer party – as well as Dark Angels hip hop dance crew and the Bristol Reggae Orchestra and Windrush Choir.
The lineup also includes festival favourites Mungo’s Hi-fi, Gardna, Chainska Brassika, Emily Breeze, Tankus The Henge, Nubiyan Twist, The Nextmen, Stanton Warriors and Fabio and Grooverider.
Expect hedge-to-hedge Somerset sparkle and spectacle with a whomping soundtrack. Weekend Tickets can be bought from www.valleyfest.co.uk.
Main photo: @shotawaydotcom
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