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I woke hot and sweaty in my van to the sound of my mobile phone, it was G wondering if I had his lost goods from the night before (see Meanwhile story). I looked at my phone and was dismayed to see that it was 9am, I felt like shit, serious sleep deprivation, but there was no way I could get back to sleep. I gained entry to my house and had a much needed wash before calling up Pete begin the process of gaining free entry to the Essential Festival. This was done very easily and with excellent organisation (for once). Just as I was about to leave G phoned to say that he wanted in, after waiting around for him forever we got on the way. Once in Hackney the van was boarded by Carter and his crew, who proceeded to display their range of Cannabis Liqueurs, which helped passed the time as we sat in the queue. The observation was made that the VIP parking was a very short walk from the gate, whereas the commoners parking was not, I think you've guessed where we were parking. After explaining to the security men that we the skaters for the demo we parked no more than 200m from the entrance (this would work out doubly well on the way home as we didn't have to queue for hours to get out the car parks either. Once inside we headed straight to the vert ramp, which was a monster. There were some serious names in attendence and the skating was predictably sick. As well as Bexleyheaths finest Mr Pete King, there was also Dave Allen and Ali Cairns from England, Sergei Ventura (USA), Renton Millar (Australia), Terrence Bougadour (France), Jocke Olson (Sweden). Since we had gained entry with VIP passes we thought we should really see how far we could get with them and took ourselves off on an unnofficial back stage tour, we soon got bored of this because there wasn't a lot to see and it became obvious that we could go wherever we wanted. I spent most of the day alternating between the hip-hop tent and the vert ramp, which meant I got to see some real good bands and some real good skating. Any spare time was spent sticking Sidcup Massive stickers to people. Here is a compressed run-down of my day:-
Ugly Duckling:- Performed all the best songs from the album, had a presentation of Einsteins Dookie Gold rope from under the decks. Probably the best act I saw all day. To learn more about Ugly Duckling have a look at www.freshmode.com Pete King:- Lip trick bonanza, pulled a nollie heelflip tailslide, thanks for the pass in! Biz Markie:- The old school legend, he's a big guy (gorrilla sized), did some amazing DJing, then beatboxing, then rapping, then did them all some more. Absolutely brilliant, true showman. Amused everyone by pretending to storm of stage if people didn't shout loud enough, also made the crowd shout "Yes motherfucker" or "No motherfucker" in response to his questions. Dave Allen:- Just recovered from blowing his leg to peices. Sick inverts to fakie. Ali Cairns:- McTwists every go, killed himself on a f/s 540. De La Soul:- This is the one everyone was looking forward to, lived up to expectations. Had the crowd eating out their hand from the second they walked on the stage. Did some of the older stuff off of 3 feet high as well as all the new stuff. Absolute legends. Caused me to break out some of my freshest dance moves ever seen. Sergei Ventura:- Did big airs and showed off a lot. Bad dancing at beginning and end of runs etc. Living proof that you can take the American out of America but you can't take America out of the American! Renton Millar:- The absolute master. Did some runs that had me wondering if i'd actually understood them correctly. Kickflip nosegrinds being a favourite of mine. Terrence Bougadour:- Does a lot of bizarre crowd pleasing varials. Goes very high. Jocke Olson:- Went very high and very fast with a lot of style. Ice T:- Walking parody of himself. Middle aged man talking about gangsta shit. Provided us with enough quotes for a lifetime, my favourite being- "My crew is called S.M.G which stands for Sex, Money and Guns" he also went on about bitches and all the usual crap. I've since started my own crew called SMG but mine stands for Sidcup, (Your) Mums and Gold. I think we're going to go head to head with Ice T's mob at Reading.
I didn't go and see anything else due to a tiredness/stonedness combo, but I heard that George Clinton was amazing and Guru wasn't. That was it, a mellow day compared to Saturday, but Sunday is a day of rest. Thanks to Pete and Megan for the entrance and to Jules from Southampton who somehow managed to plaster everyone in sight with Sidcup Massive stickers.
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