Welded, melted, moulded, soldered, and mesmerizingly mutated from the scrapheap up, Arcadia is truly a transformational experience – both in its construction from abused military refuse back at HQ and the overwhelming flow of the Spider, their largest structure, as it oscillates spectacularly between the best trip you never did, the most unlikely bit of interstellar travel you never piloted, the most reassuringly bass drenched monster you never did a runner from, and the most awe inspiring, earth shattering party you’re actually going mental at. We interviewed Pip Rush and Bertie Cole, the gloriously down to earth lunatics behind Arcadia last year after their epic performance at Glastonbury 2010 (see Issue 5) and having dropped back in to this year’s Glasto to reconnect with and relive the Arcadia experience – our minds were blown yet again by the sheer, all encompassing frenzy of it all going off. You never quite get your head round the structure itself, let alone the awesome basslines its hammering out, the acrobatics, the lasers, the precision lighting, the bolts of lightning sizzling across the night sky....and then of course.....there’s the explosions.....Fucking hell.......The explosions..... It’s a constant battle between dancing your nuts off and just standing still for a second, taking it all in and shaking your head in utter, wide eyed, sparkling disbelief.
If this was some commercial construct with no heart and soul – well – it would never have happened. You do have to be a certain shade of complete nutter to even dream it up, but in combining the DIY ethic of the old school with the sheer vision of their own mission, the technical know how and complete professionalism required to pull it all off, Arcadia have managed to harness the magical through the mechanical. Not to mention nutmegging Health and Safety with the fact that despite looking like a genetically modified spaceship that’s whistled into a rammed field through a tear in the space time continuum, every last bolt on the Spider is rock solidly precise, and, of course.........throwing the best party this side of a supernova.
Engineering Ecstatic Experience. Liquifying the Limits
Could keep going until the superlatives run out, but bottom line, it really boils down to Arcadia being at the apogee of underground creative culture – where the consciously commercial is blown clean away through sheer imagination, pure vibe and an absolutely slamming inter dimensional groove. It’s just unique.
To be honest – describing it has a certain pointlessness. You can’t encapsulate it. You can’t define it. You can’t explain it. And you can’t really believe it. You just have to live it and cling on for the ride.
Now check this video ;-))))
