Secret Garden Party; Poppers, Partying & Food Partisans (Part 1)
Published
Let’s face it, the line-up for Secret Garden Party didn’t really have the big music guns this year. However the fact the festival still sold out in style lets you know that that’s not really the appeal of this party, and we do mean party.
The site is full of organic adventures. One friend talks of a secret Chase and Status set, one’s found a secret ice rink, another saw Prince Harry being refused entry to the exit of the Colo-silly-um. Everyone is covered in glitter, I mean EVERYONE.
The boys are lusting after a giant inflatable water slide and some sort of recreation of Robot Wars. A secret door in a portaloo leads to a huge sunflower field where we wildly skip around delighting in our discovery. The giant hay fox on a hill offers shade for an afternoon doze. My plus one decides to get spray painted gold – it’s a good look. Everyone has a different story from a different corner of the playground.
The Colo-silly-um is always an excellent destination at Secret Garden Party (SGP) to get you into a mad mood, and Subba-Cultcha’s first visit does not disappoint. The game is called “Do You Want to Get High?” and is hosted by a lively bunch of silver clad MC’s, strumming up the crowd to excessive levels.
By the time we arrive they’ve been playing for around two hours, trying to whittle down to the winner. The game is: each participant (there are three left) has to inhale poppers for ten seconds, get spun for ten seconds, and then jump the impressively high high jump, which is encroaching 4 feet.
One man falls by the wayside leaving a 40 year old man dressed as Super Gran and a boy dressed as Swampy with a rat tail ponytail; apparently not a costume. It’s hard to choose between the two of them, high as kites after hours of inhaling poppers, still impossibly scaling the ever higher high jump. Finally Swampy assails the target; the crowd goes wild with the ludicrous nature of his victory.
To read Part 2 of the review click here.
Written by Amy Vickery
Photos by Matt Bundy
