Calamity Jo relates her festival experience – the good, the bad, the nosey, and the “rookie” mistakes she made (despite not being one)…
FESTIVALS are renowned for muddy fields, biohazard toilets constructed from pallets (if they exist at all), dust storms (Burning Man 2025!) and a general lack of showers and clean, running water. It was, therefore, a joy to arrive at Planeta Bass Festival at Camping Los Bermejales near Granada. At this well-planned and executed event, the festival arena wasn’t a swamp, we had a bungalow with mod cons, and the vibe was “sound family reunion” rather than “the ego has landed and sailed away”.
Run by the second generation of 90s ravers who came to Granada region “back in the day”, Planeta Bass Festival pulled it off, with sttyle. The organisation was smooth, the installations well-built, and everyone seemed happy to be there. Friends from throughout Andalucía appeared. OK, so there was one trustafarian who’d clearly stayed awake since about 1995 (or at least the previous two nights, before it started!), but it was a great crowd.
Dub Valle HiFi and its crystal-clear sound
Of the three sound systems on-site, the most prominent and finely-tuned one was Dub Valle HiFi. This large red system was playing a selection of dub-reggae on the Friday and Saturday of the Planeta Bass Festival.
Custom built by Phil Vega and and Daniel Dobson (both connoisseurs of their field), this had recently been fine-tuned and delivered crystal-clear bass, mid tones and high notes — there was no doubt that it was in a class of its own!
Both Daniel and Phil looked delighted at the glowing compliments from revellers!
The One Love system at Planeta Bass Festival
Another prominent sound system was One Love, which had DJs such as Rosa Pagano, Shaolin Dubz, Organik, and Dez-R – the promoter, who played a stonking final set at 5am Sunday.
The favourite moment for Calamity Jo was a tune with identification difficulties by Rosa Pagano – Sub Focus, something or other! This was like an earworm, stuck in the brain for at least two days afterwards.
It was a real shame to miss Papa Gumbo’s set. This is the problem with festivals – time becomes linear and you’re in a different place to where the intended DJ is playing (or just confused).
Cheeze and Ease vibes, and Hobbit Sounds by the pool
Two other systems were Cheeze n Ease, with a selection of live bands and DJ sets, and the poolside party run by Hobbit Sounds. The campsite has a large and attractive pool, surrounded by loungers.
Saturday’s pool party was a vinyl-fuelled dip into the 90s throwback classics – until the system blew at least one speaker towards the end. What a shame that happendJ Alex B after his sterling spinning efforts!
Some of the “normal” campers, who were not attending Planeta Bass Festival, probably looked confused at ‘los guiris’ throwing shapes at the far end of the pool, near the facilities block! We didn’t care though!
Nearby, some revellers were enjoying a foam party. Calamity Jo didn’t attend, as it can easily “wreck your silver sliders”.
Survivors, strange stories, and patient staff
There were some odd moments at Planeta Bass Festival for Calamity Jo! It is usual (almost obligatory), at a festival, to have random conversations with strangers during the early hours. However, this time round, a two-hour anecdote ended in the punchline that one person had – in the distant past – bitten another’s nose. “But did they find it? Did they put it back on?” asked Calamity. An anarchist friend found this fascinating, and wondered about the practical functionality of the nose area afterwards. What do you do if you have a cold?
The music wrapped at 6am on Sunday. While Calamity and some of the bungalow posse went to bed, others wandered round seeking fun. By 1pm Sunday, certain areas looked like a polite Survivor Camp.
The campsite staff patiently served pizza to the “survivors”, fuelling them with the necessary carbs required to restore their energy and go home. Our group passed the bungalow inspection with flying colours. Calamity wondered if some did not, having become centres for curating beer cans!
Calmity’s rookie-type failings
Not a newcomer to festival-land, Calamity Jo made some “rookie errors” that could have been avoided. Most falls into the category of “self-sabotage”. These were as follows:
- Arriving exhausted: Over-excitement led to poor sleep the night before the festival took its toll on the Friday. After all the van-loading, the Lidl shopping, and the road trip, good old Calamity was ready for a nice lie down in the three-bungalow bedroom, thereby missing most of Friday evening’s music line-up What a shame!!!
- Missing key sets: A bungalow is a blessing until you start treating it like a convalescent home. Even on Saturday, there were some sets missed that should have been caught, including DJ Alimental (friend) and Papa Gumbo. The other thing is that you can’t always do everything – sometimes two good DJs or bands coincide.
- Drinking red wine on a hot day: Warm beer and Rioja seemed like a good idea on Saturday pm. Maybe it would lead to a restful siesta on a nice sun lounger!? No. By about 4pm, it had lead to nausea and sluggishness. Cheeze n Ease’s industrial-strength Bloody Mary was required as “medicine”. This contained a LOT of Tabasco, to wake you up.
- Strange anecdotes: It has already been mentioned. The nosey business. Noses are fequently a topic at events, but that was next-level!
- Rock on the exit lane: Before leaving on Sunday evening, we took a quick visit to Lake Bermejales – to watch the sunset. The resilience of the Berlingo’s undercarriage was tested by driving over a rock that could not be seen on the exit lane. Mercifully, it missed the sump, flywheel, etc. and the Berlingo (at mechanical inspection) proved undamaged. As were the passengers, after having such a good time!
When is the next one?
Planeta Bass Festival was a resounding success. What we all want to know is: when is the next one? This will be revealed as soon as known.
If you missed it this time, don’t miss it again!