Ozora Festival 2008

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:53 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

some thoughts, quite possibly long and meandering ones!....

firstly, ozora loses non of its magic and beauty when experiencing it for a second time, put simply this is an awesome festival, it's hard to imagine there being anywhere which can compete with the spirit this place generates. the beauty of the location and the people contained within is literally breathtaking. it invokes a sense of total freedom and relaxation.
you arrive in your own transport or by foot with your tent, nobody ushers you to segragated areas or rips you off with extortionate fees for campers. you're trusted to build huge camp fires (they even provide mountains of logs for doing so) and despite the lack of ludicrous health and safety restrictions people do so without burning down either themselves or their neighbours. you leave your campsite unattended, nothing gets stolen. the security folk are totally unintrusive, there's no police presence, the showers are free, the toilets immaculate. think of every gripe you may have about british fetivals, ozora has none of them. if you haven't been here before... GO!

had a whirlwind drive (or as rapid as a 10 year old transit will allow!) down there through france, germany and a beautiful austria before visiting lake balaton and arriving finally at the festival site on monday night just as a thunderstorm kicked off. feared the worst at this point for what might be ahead after last years biblical rains, but as it turned out this was the worst rain in what was a week of almost unbroken blue skies.... idylic!

i thought the new (and i'd imagine permanent) giant wooden, round straw thatched main stage was superb and fitted in completely with the organic feel of ozora although i think it would've benefited more with tribe of frogs butterflies and inflatable flowers etc than the array of different uv drapes which were hung amongst the circle of trees, eye catching though some of them were. be nice to think jason and the frogs will be back next year.
all in all though apart from the main stage nothing really had changed from last year, but why should it? nothing should really distract from the natural beauty of this site.

musically, on the whole it provided a good mixture of different genres of trance. personally i favour more full-on stuff with a twisty edge and would certainly have liked the festival to have ended with a more upbeat set like this rather than a more progressive one, but hey, one mans meat is another poison equally applies to musical taste which is gonna make what i write next seem massively hypocritical.... a couple of times during the middle of the night when i ventured to the main stage they were playing VERY dark and minimal 'technoie' type stuff, fuck me, it makes your ears bleed with its assortment of tuneless clanging noises. maybe it's because i'm old that i don't appreciate this kind of stuff but i reckon i'm not alone judging by the way it managed to empty what was normally a vibrant dance floor. maybe it should have its own stage next year? preferably in bulgaria or some other neighbouring country!!

thought the avenue of stalls was again magical especially on a night time when it's lit up by lanterns, badly missed the superb indian curry stall though which there last year (maybe it went to boom?) and hope it reappears next time. all in all a good selection of food and stuff to buy, although it did seem quite expensive, not their fault though, just a reflection on the shite exchange rate for the pound!

a few characters along the way...

cheers to all our fellow campsite folk, was a pleasure being in your company. christoph (sp?) the austrian, still deeply regreting not getting you to pipe up with 'i'll be back' as you said your farewells!

the folk in the 'copulating' tent (you know who you were!) for providing hours of mirth as your tent gradually shook its way round the campsite. hat doffed for you having the energy!

adam and clare from brighton, was again a pleasure spending time in your company. hope you go on to have a superb, profitable and mud/rain free beautiful days festival and that it's a long way short of a year before next time our paths cross. lovely people. pass on our regards to ian and hope he's feeling better soon.

the geordie bloke with mass of grey dreads who'd been busted in germany on the way down. was a surreal experience to be stood on a dancefloor in hungary getting all nostalgic for the old leazes end in a 70s newcastle united football ground! this blokes genorisity with his seemingly endless supply of mightily impressive quality charis knew no bounds. top hat well and truly doffed sir!

massive, massive thanks to austrian bloke who visited us on a number of occasions, he'd read the book on 'how to be a hippy' in his hair style, clothes, organic drugs only, save the whale and rain forests and general woodstock demeanour. only to turn up with his two mates in the biggest, noisiest american gas guzzling dodge pick-up truck you've ever seen in your life and tow my transit off site when the battery was discovered to be flat. (front seat squatter are you looking?!) hope you made it to boom, shudder to think how much it would've cost you in fuel!!

this truly is a fucking gobsmacking festival, a week of heaven on earth and i can't recommend it highly enough. i reckon it was slightly bigger again than last year despite the obvious competition and lure of boom. ozoras reputation continues to grow and deservedly so.
will be interesting to see what happens next year when the site celebrates the 10th anniversary of the soulclipse festival and has no boom to compete with....

counting off the days already till ozora 2009.

STUNNING.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:04 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

Looking fabulous as ever Shiva.

Glad to hear you had much funz.

Too true about our nanny state!!!

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

what a great review shiva, excellent stuff yes

can't wait for the piccies yes

welcome back Hug

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

So glad tara and alan had a top time, it sounds perfect. Am thinking of a festival abroad next year so may well try this one. One ques tho: is it all psytrance?? Whilst i don't mind a bit, i like other stuff too and the full on psy at Voov 2 years ago did my nut in tbh. Sometimes you just want a live band doing a bit of live ska or reggae on a sunny afternoon innit.

Looking forward to the pics! Would love to come over at some point and have a chat about your trip Wink

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

yeah its a psy trance festie fc yes

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

Rude Mamma wrote (View Post): › what a great review shiva, excellent stuff yes

can't wait for the piccies yes

welcome back Hug

T'was Alan's review Very Happy

festivalchooks wrote (View Post): ›
So glad tara and alan had a top time, it sounds perfect. Am thinking of a festival abroad next year so may well try this one. One ques tho: is it all psytrance?? Whilst i don't mind a bit, i like other stuff too and the full on psy at Voov 2 years ago did my nut in tbh. Sometimes you just want a live band doing a bit of live ska or reggae on a sunny afternoon innit.

Looking forward to the pics! Would love to come over at some point and have a chat about your trip Wink

It is psytrance .... though in itself it is quite a diverse genre, but essentially it is trance. The likes of Juno Reactor have a full band on stage and quite a 'rock' element. Daytime generally ranges from fairly full on (like Origin Glade Stage) to very proggie quite chilled sunshine music. The chillout was diverse to say the least ....

In fact one of my stand out memories of the festival was Saturday evening before the main stage reopened in the chillout, Youth played the most fantastic, eclectic set I've heard in ages. Funky house meets Psytrance meets all sorts of everything! - it was a fantastic set spanning nearly 2 decades of dance music .... even a bit of Madonna in there. Had the whole place erupting, hands in the air grinning from ear to ear .... certainly wasn't chillout Laughing

As our friend Matty said - "He's playing old fashioned tunes" .... his girlfriend pointed out "you mean old skool mate" Wink

Still collecting my thoughts and memories to actually try and review the festival .... be back when I do Wink

Oh and Chooks - I know I keep saying this but you are always welcome hun Hug

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

sounds promising Very Happy

, diversity i can do and i like trance music in general, sometimes psy can be a bit slow and samey tho i suppose that can be true of any dance music genre tbh. i'll def pop over to learn more...after i've got soaked to the skin at beautiful days this weekend Rolling Eyes

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:03 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

hehe!! great review to alan then thumbs up

very happy that you both had such a great time!!
that teaches me to pay more attention to the avatars Rolling Eyes

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

Woah, lovley review Al.
I most defo will be attending next year,as i have a longing to do the euro festies.
Nice to see you both back and so glad you had a wonderfull adventure.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

It was amazing Smile

I also enjoyed Youth's set despite his ironic name! And Juno Reactor rocked.

Ahhh... definitely the best festival I've been to!

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

twirlygirl wrote (View Post): › I also enjoyed Youth's set despite his ironic name!

That just made me laugh out loud. After being around as long as he has, maybe he should graduate to the next stage.

We have Ozora pencilled in the diary for next year now we've finally sorted nologo's passport.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:40 am Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

Glad you had a wicked time guys. yes

Welcome back, although I'm sure you wish that wasn't the case!

Shiva, you look in your element there, I hope the memories & smiles don't fade too fast.

Thanx for posting your excellent review Alan, Nice One. thumbs up

(BTW: How long time/distance wise was your journey?)

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:53 pm Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

John and I flew to Budapest (2 hrs), stayed for a night then travelled down to Ozora, which took about 3 hours. I'd be interested to find out how long it takes to drive and how much it costs petrol-wise.

The whole trip was so cheap, relaxing and awesome that I'm sure we will do it again next year. Would be even better with more festival weatherers! Everything was sparkling clean compared to english festies and the location is just as magical as everyone says.

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:37 am Post subject: Re: Ozora Festival 2008

Well from the Eurotunnel (French side) I'd say a conservative estimate is about 20-25 hours of driving - but bear in mind we were in a diesel transit van averaging 65-70 mph. Cost depends on the efficiency of your vehicle, think it was £350/£400 there and back for us (be cheaper in a car) so if theres a few of you sharing fuel costs it's cheaper than flying, bus, train etc

Also you don't have the hassle of parking your car miles from where you're going to camp, you can pitch your tent next to a car, build a fire, bring your dog, sleep in your van WITHOUT being charged, and just generally have a better time Wink

So whose joining the Ozora convoy next year then Wink