In 1996 the event took place in Norfolk and in 1998 a new home for the event (now known as "The Enchanted Garden") was found at Larmer Tree Gardens in England where it was held for five years. During this time the festival slowly developed its hallmarks, such as high quality visuals, an excellent range of food stalls, highly unusual line-ups and a Body & Soul field with many healers, masseurs and alternative therapists. In 2001 a second summer festival was also held at Lulworth Castle in Dorset. In 2002 the festival moved to Eastnor Castle where it remained until 2011. In 2002 PK Events Limited was liquidated and 50% shares were sold to the Cantaloupe Group, a company that managed a bar chain. A new company, Chillfest Limited, was created, with Katrina Larkin and Pete Lawrence each owning 25% and retaining a controlling management role in the company. The Big Chill staged many events around the world, in locations such as Naxos (Greek islands), Austalasia, Japan, Goa (India) and all over Europe. In 2007, the Cantaloupe Group bought out Pete Lawrence, who left the company, and some of Katrina Larkin's shares, to become the majority shareholder. In 2009, the festival went into liquidation and the brand was bought by Festival Republic. Katrina Larkin moved on to work with Festival Republic as creative director. She handed over creative direction to Festival Republic in 2010.
Throughout its history, The Big Chill showcased a variety of different music, uptempo as well as ambient. Live acts and DJs like Norman Jay, Mr Scruff, Hexstatic, Mixmaster Morris, alucidnation, Laura B, DJ Derek, Leggo Beast and Gilles Peterson were regular performers, but the festival also provided a diverse range of music from folk and jazz to African and dub.
The festival was situated in the grounds of Eastnor Castle near Ledbury in Herefordshire. The grounds are normally used as a reserve for deer. The organisers encouraged a "leave no trace" policy to dissuade people from littering the site. Camping was divided into Red, Blue, Green and Purple areas, as well as Family Camping, Quiet Camping and Accessible Camping.
Sale to Festival Republic
In September 2009, Chillfest Limited - the company responsible for running the festival since 2003 - was placed into voluntary liquidation by its owners. The rights to the festival brand were purchased by Festival Republic.[4] Vantis Plc - the company appointed as liquidators - released a statement blaming poor ticket sales for the 2009 festival as the reason for liquidation.[5]
Cancellation
In early January 2012, the managing director of Festival Republic, Melvin Benn, released a statement outlining that the 2012 festival would not be going ahead:
I looked long and hard late last year at moving the date so it didn't clash with the Olympics but the mix of the festival fans desire to keep the date, and an inability to find an alternative date that works, I plumped for maintaining the existing weekend. Sadly, the artist availability and confirmations we were achieving led me to conclude that I couldn't risk going ahead with the event this year.
Although there was speculation at the time that a smaller indoor event could see the festivals return in 2013, this was revealed not to be the case the following January when the organisers released a statement informing there were "no plans"[7] for a return that year.
In August 2013 it was again announced that there were "no plans" for a 2014 festival,[8] leading to doubt that the event would return again.
World record
In 2009 Chris Boyle, the filmmaker for the independent film I Spit on Your Rave,[9] collaborated with The Big Chill to break a Guinness World Record for "Most Amount of Zombies Captured on Camera".[10] 4,206 people showed up for the event, breaking the record for any previous gatherings recorded by Guinness.[11][12] The unreleased film is currently being re-developed as a potential six-part TV series for E4.[13]
Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop, soul, funk, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin, "in '87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for 'DJ records'".
Mixmaster Morris is an English electronica DJ and underground musician who has also recorded as The Irresistible Force. His work in the 1990s blended ambient music and chill-out influences with UK dance styles.
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
Kruder & Dorfmeister, named after members Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, is an Austrian duo, known for their trip hop/downtempo remixes of pop, hip hop and drum and bass songs.
Andrew Carthy, better known by his stage name Mr. Scruff, is an English record producer and DJ. He lives in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. Before he could make a living from his music alone, he worked as a shelf stocker in the Hazel Grove branch of Kwik Save.
Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva, is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial success with albums Run Come Save Me and Slime & Reason. He has been described as "one of the most influential artists in British music history." His most recent studio album, Bleeds, was released in October 2015.
Hexstatic are an English electronic music duo, consisting of Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brunson, that specializes in creating "quirky audio visual electro." Formed in 1997 after Hill and Brunson met while producing visuals at the Channel 5 launch party, they decided to take over for the original members of the Ninja Tune multimedia collective Hex that had disbanded around the same time. They soon collaborated with Coldcut for the Natural Rhythms Trilogy, including the critically acclaimed A/V single "Timber".
The Gent Jazz Festival is an international jazz festival held annually in Ghent, Belgium in mid July. It lasts two weeks and the programmation is divided in two parts: the first week, called All That Jazz., unites some of the best jazz performers in the world while the second week, named All That Jazz?, gathers groups playing music related to jazz, e.g. soul music and electronic music.
Peter Kruder is a Viennese artist, producer and DJ. Together with his partner Richard Dorfmeister he is the founder of the duo Kruder & Dorfmeister and the record label G-Stone Recordings. Since the release of the G-Stoned EP, Peter Kruder has produced a broad range of work.
Dominic Francis Glynn is an English electronic composer.
Sónar is a festival dedicated to music, creativity and technology, founded in Barcelona in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau, and Sergi Caballero. The festival has been divided into two parts since its inception: Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night, with a three-day congress, Sónar+D dedicated to Creativity, Technology and Business running concurrently since 2013. As well as the flagship event in Barcelona, Sónar hosts events around the world, with annual festivals having taken place in Bogota, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong and Reykjavik. In 2023, editions are planned for Lisbon and Istanbul, as well as the 30th anniversary of the festival in Barcelona.
Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland.
Xen Cuts is a compilation album released by Ninja Tune independent record label on their tenth anniversary. The album was released in a four-piece vinyl recording (ZEN49), as two-disc CD (ZENCD049) and as a three-disc CD (ZENCD049X) versions, with the third disc "Xen Cuts Missed Flipped and Skipped" also released separately (ZENCD49C). The compilation consists mainly of B-sides and other tracks previously unreleased on CD.
Chillout Sessions is a series of compilations released by Ministry of Sound that focus on songs from the chillout genre. Songs on Chillout Sessions compilations vary in style from lounge to electronica and are released by many different artists.
The UK Festival Awards are awarded annually, with various categories for all aspects of festivals that have taken place in the UK, and one category for European festivals. The Awards were first established in 2004 by Steve Jenner and his team at Virtual Festivals.com. They are voted for by the public via the UK Festival Awards website. To ensure fairness, the votes are weighted to take into account the event capacity.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Café is a series of nu-jazz compilations distributed by Wagram Music. Its name evokes the cafés of the area in Paris associated with the existentialism movement. As of 2016 the series includes eighteen volumes, and has sold more than 950,000 copies worldwide.
Grasscut are a musical group featuring composer/producer Andrew Phillips and musician/writer Marcus O'Dair. Phillips writes and produces all Grasscut music; he also sings and plays various instruments including guitar and keyboards. O'Dair manages the act and contributes keyboards and double bass. They are based in Brighton, England.
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