The Secret Garden Party - 7 Days to Go!!

It’s just seven sleeps until the Secret Garden Party 2009 blooms, featuring a host of eclectic music acts,
Action Camps, Art Installations, not to mention the Fall of Babylon and much, much more…
Legendary blues guitarist Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac has been added to the bill which includes;

JARVIS COCKER
PETER GREEN - RODRIGO Y GABRIELA - EMILIANA TORRINI - PHOENIX - VV BROWN
EMMY THE GREAT - DJ FOOD+DK - THOSE DANCING DAYS - EVIL NINE – CARIBOU – THE XX
ZERO 7’S B MUSIC LIVE - NOAH AND THE WHALE - DELROY WILLIAMS
HEXSTATIC - BLACK PETER – SOKO - WHITE RABBITS - 808 STATE (DJ’S) - THE HEAVY - THE DEATH SET
KING CANNIBAL - SUB FOCUS - TRIP – MPHO - WE ARE ENFANT TERRIBLE - FANCY TOYS
TEN BEARS & REDLIGHT - THEY CAME FROM THE STARS, I SAW THEM - THE BOOKHOUSE BOYS
THIS IS RADIO FREEDOM - FILTHY DUKES – WHITE WEDDING – BOOGALOO – CHOCOLATE THUNDER RAWKUS NOISE - BEANS ON TOAST - HIDEOUS WHEEL INVENTION - LONDON BLACKMARKET
KOKO VON NAPOO - RHYSMIX – ALAN POWNALL – ALESSI’S ARK - ORPHAN BOY – EXLOVERS
BELLE HUMBLE - DUMB BLONDE - GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY – CURRAN AND THE WOLFNOTES
ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR - FREELAND (LIVE) - GOLDEN SILVERS - OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT - SLOW CLUB
CHAIRLIFT - TEAM WATERPOLO – DOGS - SLAGSMALSKLUBBEN - WE HAVE BAND - THE DØ
CHEW LIPS – THE HOLLOWAYS –  DAN BLACK – BAXTER DURY – BICYCLE THIEVES – LITTLE COMETS
CASPA – COCOSUMA – DECODER – DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB – ENVELOPES -  FIGHT LIKE APES
GUILDEAN GANG - DEAR READER - SCREAMING LIGHTS - ONE LITTLE PLANE - AU REVOIR SIMONE HOOK & THE TWIN - JONNY TAYLOR - KILLAFLAW - EDDY TEMPLE MORRIS - OFFICER KICKS
THE HEAD GARDENER - POCKETKNIFE & COUSIN COLE –PHOTOMACHINE - LAIL ARAD
LE CASTLE VANIA - LITTLE FISH - PEGGY SUE – MANO DE DIOS - THE QEMISTS – MIDIMIDIS - MOJO FILTER
MAMA'S GUN - PETER VON POEHL - BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB –ROSIE ODDIE AND THE ODDSQUAD
RUN TOTO RUN – SHUTTLE - SPEECH DABELLE - STEALTH DJS - SAME TEENS
SARA SCHIRALLI - STEREO:TYPE - STILL FLYIN' – MEN AMONG ANIMALS - THE JESSIE ROSE  TRIP
THE MUMMERS – TODDLA T - BACKSTAGE SLUTS – HAFDIS HULD - YEARNER BABIES

This year’s festival offers unprecedented escape from the daily drudge of normality, the state of 2009’s Britain, and invites you into the world of Eden and Babylon, a joyous romp through the light and dark of your soul…

Tickets for this years event have completely sold out, but Gardeners who can’t make it are able to stream a few of the stages straight through www.secretgardenparty.com website, so you’ll still get to hear at least some of your favorite bands...

Through our friends at Awdio.co.uk the festival will be broadcasting The Great Stage, Where the Wild Things Are, and Dance Rocks vs Ninja Tune stages… The Schedule will be posted live on the website.

BBC Cambridgeshire and BBC Introducing will also be going out live from the festival on Thursday night, with highlights from the weekend going out over the coming weeks.

Joining veteran Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green, a man who BB King described as being “the only man who gave me the cold sweats”, we’re also pleased to announce an appearance by music industry legend John Robb and esteemed music journalist Gavin Martin, giving  talks on Sunday  as part of the festival’s acclaimed Action Camps.
 
Eden and Babylon
In 2009 the Secret Garden Party is divided into two tribes, the Edenites and the Babylonians, representing the festivals two faces. Eden embodies a natural beauty and back to nature approach; that Babylon’s 24hour party lifestyle leaves little time to appreciate. Ticket buyers will be assigned to one of these tribes.
In our lovely world the Garden of Eden & The City of Babylon are linked only by common ground that is the Tower of Babel: amazing parties and shows surround this tower in the center of the grounds, but it’s mere existence means that there will never be a balance in the Garden…
The two ideals are constantly caught in peaceful conflict with each other, with no hope of victor from either side, for although Eden is beautiful, the best country walks always have a pub at the end. Similarly decadence is fun (believe us we know) but where’s the fun in biscuits when there’s always biscuits in the tin.
We will marry the two ideals in a large celebration, a symbolic ritual that will maintain a healthy balance and unite Eden & Babylon forever. Activities & spectacles will run throughout the event, telling the story of the two tribes. YOU ARE THE PLAYERS…  Once you have bought your ticket you will receive your tribe with your ticket.  You will either be an EDENITE or BABYLONIAN...
Ticket buyers will receive secret information about their tribe via letter; they are urged to please not discuss this with anyone outside of their tribe... Thank you...
Besides the great line-up, there will be Action Camps, Art Installations, Boudoirs and many other delights, all home grown and hand picked for your visit to the Garden…

We have hand selected more of everything: more of the tiny details, more of the colossal spectacles; more metres of bar and more metres of beautiful Indian marquee to house it in; more green grass with more seating areas; more food, more fire circles and more healers & therapists.

There are more of you - more Gardeners - so we felt we should put your pounds to the best use possible we know: spend every one on creating a magical world that exists for four days and disappears Monday.

Read on for a few details about the City of Babylon, and The Garden of Eden, you will be creating this Summer.

The Haven Restaurant

Fine wines, 3 course A La Carte menu, acoustic music & the chance to have a sit down moment with all of your friends/family or lovers. To see the A La Carte menu & to book your table, visit www.secretgardenparty.com/menu.

Valley of Antics

The Antic Establishment return to the garden with their wonderfully unpredictable and gloriously eclectic Valley of the Antics area… If you take a wander through the valley, you could find yourself chowing down on a carrot stick next to a log fire, bobbing away to a surreal day-time dubstep session in an alleyway or intellectualising over the very finest in performance poetry in a late-night hovel.

The stage is supported and part-programmed by Arts Council England funded project, Global Local (www.globallocal.co.uk) and includes collaborations with the crews from Wormfood Man Make Music, Hammer and Tongue, Movimientos, Muddy and One Taste.

Live Music

Benin City, Brothers Bab, Bunty, Crystal Fighters, Death Ray Trebuchay, Demachena, Foreign Beggars, Gentle Mystics, Isobel Anderson, Jazzsteppa, Latin Dub Soundsystem, Lazy Habits, Los Chinches, Magic Lantern, Mankala, Max Pashm, Nhasitafara, Opaque, Peggy Sue,Portico Quartet, Resonators, Saturnes, Sura Susso & Max Baillie, The Delegators, The Mandibles, The Peeps, The Worm, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur, Transiberian Marching Band, Zej, Zong Zing All Stars

DJs

Ben UFO (Hessle Audio), Blakey, Couscous, Daddy Fe, Honey Weasel Hungry Man, Jackmaster b2b L Vis 1990, Lejazz, Man Make Music DJs (Sketchy, Another Amit, Noel Mas), Movimientos Soundsystem, Murkules,Nico Perez (Mixcloud), Nitro, Paddy Freeform, Reecha (Dirty Canvas), Reggae Roast DJs, Shaggy (Muddy), The Fun Guys, The Heatwave, Wormfood DJs, Yum Yum DJs

Plus... Hammer & Tongue Poetry, Shadow Dance Puppetry, Vegetable Antics, After hour acoustic jams and Workshops.

Action Camps Confirmed

So finally what you have all been waiting for…  Confirmed actions Camps…

Action Camps are the fruit of your fellow Gardeners' uninhibited fantasies – spaced that can be magical, ridiculous, inspirational or slightly terrifying. 2009 sees the arrival of some of the finest camps we have seen to date. Below is a tiny taste of what you will be able to explore come midday Thurdsay, July the 23rd.
Read on…

Explorer Camp

Raiders of The Lost Ark comes to the Garden. Talks, debates and discussions concerning adventures, journeys, quests and odysseys.
Every day there are even pint-sized adventures for the little ones.

The Laa of Soft Things

An area of the Garden dedicated to the softer side of life – an open-roofed 'house' constructed out of hay bales, where the only furniture inside is 500 soft white cushions  (accompanied with 500 felt-tipped pens).

Videopia

Why watch movies when you can star in one? From Spielberg classics to B Movie cult hits, step into this Camp and spend a few hours redirecting Marty McFly…or asking Baby not to be put in the corner.

The Bohemian Artist Studio & Life Drawing Camp

A place to discover your inner artistic expression. Professional life-drawing teachers are on hand, as are costumed and naked models. As a Gardener you can adopt the role of artist or muse. This camp is housed in a beautiful giant yurt, nestled in the green fields of Eden.

Carnie Camp

Carnies, misfits and  rejects of all ages, including the disgraced Adam and Eve, give a sordid respite from the peace and harmony that Arduous Eden exudes. Activities include 'Hook-A-Hooker' , Human Dog Fighting and Bare Knuckle Fighting and the famous Special Brew 'coconut' Shy.

For full list of Action Camp for 2009 is on the Secret Garden Party website.


Art Installations

The art at Secret Garden is founded on one principle – that it can be climbed over, crawled under, burnt to the ground or built  by the audience over the weekend. Below are a few of the installations that will be coming to delight you this Summer.

Fruiting Tree

A large scale interactive kinetic sculpture: the more people that gather around the more productive the piece becomes. A life size replication of a tree that conceals underdeveloped fruit bulbs, these become inflated and accumulate into bunches, producing a magnificent sight of the tree in full blooming labour. As the crowd collects around, the piece responds by accelerating its growth, this is followed by the 'fall', where the tree becomes flaccid and the fruits are deflated, only to repeat the cycle of growth once again.

Lazer Maze

Housed in a geodesic dome this installation asks the audience to play the role of thief, negotiating the lazers to reach the jewels at the centre of the structure.

Papervillan

A sculpture that makes use of a days discarded London newspaper  Papervillan is a vast awning suspended high above the dance floor of our outdoor Musique De Monde Stage. The artists are using origami to create this sun shade from otherwise flimsy paper.

Digital Balloons

As dusk falls, a visually stunning matrix of illuminated helium balloons will come into life over the festival, allowing festival participants to communicate short messages en masse to the world below.  Each balloon will house a super bright LED, and form the basis of a large scrolling-led matrix display. This giant floating display will be capable of displaying scrolling text messages, as well as simple graphic animations.

Through The Fire Place

One side of your standard living room has been transported into the Garden, hiding a flamboyant world that can only be accessed by crawling through the fire place.

Paradise Reclaimed

The decaying interior of a cottage, overrun by otherworldly creatures, will be reconstructed in the woods, encased and reclaimed by Nature. Strangled by vines and flowers, with a deep layer of moss and turf transforming the structures into something foreign and new, with tempting apples growing from the stamen of giant flowers. Riddles, acoustic performances and poetry by candle light will be bring the installation to life as night falls.


Prangsta Catwalk

Prangsta bring a cat walk to SGP this year, showcasing their new collection. There will be two acts:

'Belle Epoque'

The mysteries of Venus are revealed by burlesque beauties in the mythical Garden of Eden. The graceful lines are reminiscent of Classical beauty and Age of Prohibition - projecting a timeless innocence using curvaceous lines, drapes, luxuriously beaded lingerie, scarves and hoops. The audience will be tantalised by the seductive qualities of tactile satins displayed on Arabian princesses, teased by coquettish, androgynous fawns and bedazzled by the dandy Pan.

'Fall of Babylon'

A spectacular apocalyptic post modern circus of carnivalesque proportions. The triumph of the ridiculous, the absurdity of  money and the Rise of the Fool. Armoured transvestite darthvaders  battle the top of the rat race. Grotesque and exaggerated wigs tower with collapsing skyscrapers and bow atop dusty pinstripes, Knights in Shining Showgirl showcase eye-wincing metallics and deranged Dickensian ragamuffins dance in the carnage. Watch with bated breath as an angel falls from a trapeze with grace and singes her wings.

Ticket buyers are urged to book their fittings now, before arrival at the festival. To be dressed by these wizard dress makers please go to  www.prangsta.com where you’ll also receive 20% off, if you take your Eden and Babylon tribe insert into the shop.