The doubters thought it would never happen, but with just a few days to go, As One In the Park is setting itself to take gay London & its clubbing scene & season by storm, a line-up of performers and collection of clubs that certain dreams of made of, while underneath the veneer, the cracks are beginning to show, we revealing both sides of this colossal gathering coin in our controversial composition conclusion.
The history of gay festivals in the capital is quite a chequered one, recent times having clouded wave crest halcyon days of nineties London when partying in a park was at its height, the likes of the wealth of Gay Pride events at Brockwell Park, then Clapham Common truly memorable, while a skip over the wet washout’s that were Victoria Park in 97 & Hyde Park in 2003, Finsbury Park re-engendered the magic of those Brockwell days. But there were more, the infamous original “Summer Rites” events, as well as the one-off but outstanding “Purple In the Park” in 2001, the Saturday/Sunday that saw Beyond club launch, while in more recent times, as Gay Pride & other such events have moved away from the park set up, to rather concentrate on central London, the green grass expanses have fallen out of favour. However, with the re-launched Summer Rites plugging away for the last two years & then Lovebox devoting one day of its festival to gay clubs, much credit must go to them for re-igniting this year’s festival fever, Summer Rites landing Gay Pride day, thus harping back to those halcyon times and setting its stool in Shoreditch Park, in the vogue part of London, while there is one massive one dayer coming up this weekend which, on paper at least, looks like totally eclipsing both, a line-up of performers than exceeds the fifty mark.
Spread across four arena’s, a main stage & a village green and taking place at Victoria Park, a space used to holding massive festivals, As One In The Park has all the hallmarks of being one of the biggest ever gay outdoor events to hit the scene and from the moment it was announced, it has been on our radar, although due to other outside influences, it is only now that we have put proverbial pen to paper on this prolific party. Yet, after an initial flurry of Facebook & other advertising activity, it seemed to be “all quiet on the western front”, the main organisers of this huge happening, The Orange Group, going quite quiet on it all, the only announcements being muted & brief in releasing the names of performers lined up for the main stage, Rita Ora the first, while the anticipation of a bigger name, such as Kyle Minogue (she was in the frame until late January) failed to materialise. And as the weeks rolled on, it seemed that the team were beginning to cloud the true identity of the event a little, the likes of Katy B, Rylan, Connor Maynard & Union J, all sending out a message to potential party goers that this was, at worst a mixed gathering rather than a gay one, the announcement of Holly Johnson a further confusing sign, as was that of Roger Sanchez. Indeed, with posters appearing in very public places like the main stations of London, there was no surprising that there was confusion among the ranks, the expected labelling of As One In the Park as an out & out gay festival only breaking the ranks a handful of weeks ago.
That said, with clubbing brands Circuit Festival, WE Party & The Week all making the announcement news, it should have been pretty clear who the festival was aimed and, while looking at the others involved, Paris’s Scream, Amsterdam’s Rapido and, of course, Matinee, As One In The Park has a truly international flavour to it. But London has a bigger say, although as a reported overheard conversation went, “…are you going to As One In The Park?…”, “…god no, it would like be like being at Fire but with the lights on…”, it is heavily weighted towards Orange Nation affiliated clubs such as Beyond, Deelooded, & Salvation, Bearaccuda, while outback behind the main stage, in the VIP arena, it’s all about Gigolo, who are waving The Shadow Lounge flag. However, just like the lack of visible advertising in all the right places, there is little detail available to us on both the girls arena & the village green, the extent of the information at our fingertips being that Madame Jo Jo’s are hosting, while we can only imagine they will be serving high tea in high heels of the drag queen variety on the green at half time , Sandra’s scones, Dusty O’s Orange drizzle cake & The Supreme Fabulettes fondant fancies, three mentions of the performing line-up, the girls arena being your guess as good as ours. But what we can share, is what is very much a star studded London & international D.J. line-up, Roger Sanchez clearly the biggest name, closely followed by Offer Nissam then London’s own Steve Pitron, while Matinee residents Lydia Sanz & Jordi Lights jet in, as does WE P.A. performer Peyton, more D.J.’s bringing an international flavour include Pagano, Paul Heron & Ben Manson, we then counting no less than 34 other D.J.’s on duty and a score of artists & performers, while the latest poster claim that “…over 100 artists, brands & D.J.’s across 9 arenas with more to be announced…” is a tad inflated.
However, even given the clearly scaled down event, this does look as though it will be the biggest gay gathering in years, even if the four dance arena’s, the village green, the VIP area &, naturally, the main stage, happens to be the same sized configuration as last year’s Summer Rites, this scale down due in part to the poor ticket sales compared with lofty expectations for a 20,000 plus turnout, the talk on the ground is that they are struggling at well under half of that figure. That said, we highly suspect that many will be hedging their bets on the weather, a key factor in the success of As One, the long range forecast not looking that promising, although the British weather is a moving target, so if that improves, we reckon ticket sales will too, while in choosing Victoria Park in East London will surely not be a detraction, especially given the huge success of Lovebox’s Sunday’s in the last two years, plus with so many people now knowing its locale, given the Olympics last year, there is every chance that, with a final flurry into the weekend, the organisers are crossing their fingers that the sale quota will soar. So how much is it to get in? Well, this may also be a sticking point, as the main tranche of tickets is a hefty £40, more than Lovebox, while if you want to go VIP, just being able to use a decent loo is worth its weight in gold, while if it’s a bit muddy under foot (likely to be with the huge downpours on Friday and the usually packed out “Field Day” festival goers churning up the turf on Saturday), again the conclave that will be The Shadow Lounge & Gigolo area will be the best place to be for your best boots. And so where do you get hold of an advance ticket?, well simple really, just head to http://asoneinthepark, the official website or, to make it even easier for you, the quickest way is to click on this link, https://facebook.com/AsOneInThePark/app_433949056689325, which leads you straight to the two options, all the other information you need on line-ups, events & entertainment at what should (and we really hope it will be) an exceptional event, out on the official website and through https://facebook.com/AsOneInThePark.
So , with the preview blurb over, we suspect you are wondering what our answer to the title of our feature is, will As One In the Park be a “Fabulous Festival or Failing Flop”. Well, when it was first announced in January, we immediately thought, what a brilliant thing for the gay scene and just the boost that it needed and, if we are honest, that is still our view today, we genuinely hopeful that it will be a fantastic & full looking festival. And if the sun shines & the people turn out, it has every chance of being just thatt, although you cannot escape the fact that it has the Orange Nation label all over it, which is clearly going to divide opinion and so turnout. Furthermore, it is disappointing that As One In the Park has not brought more sections of the scene together, as this would have been a brilliant opportunity to show the world, not only that London clubs & promoters can stand together, united in the cause of colossal clubbing, but the London scene is still the best of all. However the protagonists to this would say, just look at the line-up of D.J.’s & artists, along with the international influences, plus scene sponsors that include Ku Bar, Comptons, Rupert Street, & more, while the so called Orange rag, Boyz Magazine’s support pretty much goes without saying. Then there is the main stage line-up and given the ticket price is £40, do the likes of Skin, Rylan, & Holly Johnson warrant paying that much, while forgive our pop music ignorance, but who are Conor Maynard, Katy B & Union J, the possible only act worth this charge being Rita Ora, although not someone we would call a gay crowd puller like Kylie Minogue would have been. So, we reckon that Roger Sanchez, Steve Pitron, Paul Heron & Pagano may prove to be their draw weight in gold for the As One In the Park purse, the dance arenas/tents, particularly if they are dryer under foot, will be the places to be on Sunday. And as a parting shot, we were pretty amazed by some of the images the Orange Group were publishing of the site being built, blue skies & sunshine in the shots, while the majority of this week’s weather was nothing like it, added to which the lack lustre adverting in March & April & along with those pricy tickets could well be the downfall of this expensive escapade. But, with plenty of choice of where to lay your hat, plus with this frolic of a festival embracing the spirit of clubbing in the open air, even if London can’t quite match the brilliance of Barcelona, the magnificence of Mykonos or the resplendence of Rio.
So, while the doubters will surely stay away, the fervent followers of Fire & all things Orange Nation are sure to flock to this fabulous foray, which we hope, for the sake of the London clubbing scene, is a soaring success, we sadly only able to stand in the wings, wishing it well, as partying in the park for gay gatherers should be here to stay. (DISCO MATT)
