Keith Henderson
Fire, fire and more fire would be an easy way to describe this year’s Rustlers Easter Festival. It became quite clear by the end of the four-day festival that tricks involving paraffin, chains, sticks and clubs with burning ends are in vogue, so to speak, as well as a healthy dose of juggling.
Last year, the only fire seen at Rustlers was executed by a small number of mad people that everyone was in awe of – this year the number of mad people had increased considerably – a stall selling all the accessories had even popped up – even more reason to rekindle those long-forgotten drum-majorette skills.
Regular festival-goers would have noticed the layout of the festival had changed – the World Stage had found its way up to the lodge and the Green Field had established itself down at the dam – previously the site of the main festivities. The trance area had been placed over the hill and rested in a smaller valley which had never been used before and the Comet Caf found its home at the end of the market area at the top of the valley – just below the lodge.
The reason for the change was to give the sensitive dam area a chance to recover from the traffic it experienced for two festivals in a row. This ultimately meant Rustlers was more spread out, which led to festival-goers being able to immerse themselves in one activity at a time.
The Green Field, for example, was purely performance-oriented and lovers of drumming were guaranteed non-stop entertainment without the hindrance of thumping trance (that took place place over the hill and far away). Camping in this area was also a lot more peaceful than for the those who pitched their tents near the trance area, where a number of brightly decorated tents churned out music day and night.
The gods (take your pick) smiled on the festival, blessing it with sunny weather from Friday to Monday. The odd bit of rain cropped up once or twice, but the nights were clear and the full moon on the Saturday night was the stuff dreams are made of. There can be nothing more ideal than dancing under the stars.
Highlights of the festival must be the Friday night performance of THCon the World Stage and the parade of fire from the Green Field to the Comet Caf and on to the trance area on Saturday night. And Rustlers has never seen an act like that put on by the Amsterdam Balloon Company. They did everything with fire, from breathing it to twirling it to throwing it and beyond.
To see a large number of hijack-weary individuals come together and spend four days in relative peace and harmony is a great thing. We have forgotten the concept of being part of a tribe in our modern age. One moan however: whose idea was it to let in the morons driving screaming off-road bikes?