VUUV Festival
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
132
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Near Putlitz,
Germany
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Grit and Katerin´s gift to us, two amigas
. Our neighbours were mainly German but also included some Irish pixies. Germans call the parties "Goa" parties, we call them "psytrance". It was interesting to see how Germans party. They are a little bit rude to each other and fairly quiet although there was some random play time too. The crowd is quite young and lots of boys. There is a mix of hippy, earthy, spiritual types and also the more hardcore raver types, maybe this is because of the close proximity to the city.VuuV Festival unites the international trance tribe of people, who's passion is music, dance and celebrating life. The festival is living and emerging from the creativity of individuals from the most diverse cultures and ethnic groups you can imagine: from Inuit to Kiwis, Swedish to South Africans, Brazilians, Nepali to the Japanese posse- people from almost all countries of the world united for 5 days of celebrations. Sharing their love for music, dancing together under a sky full of stars and exchanging their ideas for a different, holistic world. This year the festival was held under the influence of the summer new Moon in Leo, feels like a specially energetic event.
VUUV festival has a reputation for being the best organized festival in Europe however some things could have been improved. The toilets were 50 cents every time you went and there was cash exchange happening within the bars. We prefer the no cash method. There was not enough shade on site. Also, there was alot of emphasis on sound system and laser show and not so many performers of the fire and juggling kind
mirror on dance floor
. We were not so keen on the layout either with the market section being in the middle and the stages set around it. Still, there were some great DJs and we spent most of our time at the smaller, more intimate open mind stage that seemed to attract a diverse and interesting crowd of freaks and funsters. We saw three ambulance victims and some aggression. At one point a fight broke out between four people inside a tent next to us and also a psycho couple had a domestic in a Winnebago van parked next to us. However, we seemed to attract some wonderful people including the eccentric, lovable and charming 58 year old Momo (Juan Florenco Morres) from Amsterdam and Katerin and Grit from Germany who are begging us to go and stay with them. Momo made our festival shine and we loved every minute spent with him. Momo is famous on the party circuit in Germany and doors opened wherever we went with him, you just had to keep up with him and let him wander on his way and exciting things were sure to happen.As soon as we arrived at Europe's most established summer trance event we were greeted by a friendly guy on a retro bike who sold us some pixie food packaged in tiny little glass jars and sealed with red wax. I gave him some flowers for his bike. Our camp was next to a large forest. The party was supposed to start the next day after the opening ceremony but the music started the first day and most fraggles started early too, the dance floor being full before the decor was even finished
clouds and blue sky
. We got a glimpse of the laser lights set up and knew we were in for a big one. Crews of people flocked in to the festival all day and set up their camps. I met a 78 year old guy named Jim who is an authentic North American Indian. Jim has 17 children all over the world and i suspect he has many girlfriends too. Interesting guy though despite his "free LoVe" attitude. Jim was waving at me from the top of his orange and lime green psychedelic-painted bus where he was sitting with long rainbow dreadlocks and wearing skin tight, rainbow coloured velvet pants that he had had since he went to Woodstock. He pulled me up onto the roof and i had a good chat with him on top of the van from where we could see the whole festival site. We ended up partying with Jim later on in the festival. Jim made us tea in his bus, gave us fruit, some jewellery and danced with us. We gave Jim an Amazon necklace that is decorated with seeds and coloured feathers. Jim has the body of a strong, tanned 50 year old and one time he put me on his shoulders to dance at the front of the DJ box for a few minutes. Jim travels in his bus from party to gathering to festival all over Europe and offered to take us to Ozora in Hungary for 100 Euros each. Ozora is 2000 kms away and if we weren't already booked in to BOOM festival we may have considered an adventure with him and his psychedelic bus. I also met a girl with an ostrich bird puppet the same style as our Indigo (really yellow coloured but colour blind) who is now in Margs care.
The festival was set up for night time partying with lots of lights and UV blacklight installations
main floor
. The shops and restaurants were open all night too. We prefer to sleep at night and party during the day and this is possible with the party being open 24 hours with no stopping for breaks. We visited the chai marquee many times but were disappointed in the quality of the chai and the trashy decor found there. The owners had nice Turkish rugs laid out on the floor, candles and small tables for chilling but ugly flashy lights and UV lights too, this destroyed the ambience that we believe the chai area should be. We mainly ate at a place called the "Tibet Corner" that sold Tibetan vegetarian food like noodles, rice, tofu and mango lassi drinks, the place was dcorated with UV Ganesh and Shiva banners and the lads who worked it were friendly. We shopped quite alot and spent all the cash we took with us because the clothing sold here is all handmade, unique and original and not found anywhere else on earth. We bought pixie dresses, vests, a leather belt, bangles, bindis, waistcoats, genie pants and headscarves and we were left with giant smiles and backpacks too full to carry. A German television crew interviewed us whilst we were having coffee about the festival, the police presence and about drug use at festivals. The opening ceremony was an important affair with a gig called Star Sounds Orchestra feat. Irena Mikhailova and Johann Bley and some splendid fire shows on the podiums surrounding the main floor. There was an insane laser show prepared and once this was fired up, it didn't stop
decor
. The opening act was a woman dressed as a white witch with a haunting voice, a DJ and a man who looked like a centaur creature bashing on a whole string of different sized gongs. I danced with a life-sized, glow in the dark, UV mushroom. The podium in the middle of the dance floor was filled with dancing bodies and muscle men. There were some banners of a castle and forest lit up beside the stage. The lasers were incredible and were the focus of the main stage. Smoke machines were used to put emphasis on the lasers as they reached high up into the sky and way into the field and made designs on trees behind the stage. The lasers made giant shapes of figures like shiva, the VUUV sign and intricate orbs and pattrens. We visited this stage every now and then during the night but the music was fast and a little harsh for our tastes plus there was garbage all over the ground and no-one likes to dance on glass bottles. DJs on this stage included Sun Project, Sangeet, Shane Gobi, Xerox, Tikal, Hopi, Koxbox, Ryder, Sabai Sabai and DJ Scotty. The Djs came from Israel, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Chile, The UK, France and Thailand. We bought Mono Loco an earring for the festival so he could get into the festival vibe.The second day we dressed our straw hats in flowers and put on our new threads, face paint and bindis, grabbed our aviator sunnies, chairs and umbrellas and made the dash for the open mind stage where the groovy beats were starting to roll. Not long into the day a man danced past our chairs and was delighted with our set up
lazers
. A minute later a large smiling face was looking into ours and introducing himself........MOMO. What a theatrical character he turned out to be and a wonderful, natural and free dancer. We have not so many photos however some video footage. The weather was sunshine happy and then the clouds would move rapidly to bring in grey sky and rain then more sun, a nice mixture of temperatures. Our tent held up in the rain and didn`t leak much at all. We spent some time at an old silver caravan that sold juice and there was an Absintheria painted with green fairies that sold Absinthe shots to Bohemian types, a gimmick i believe. There were some awesome restaurants and chillout areas designed to feel like someones lounge room complete with fluffy couches and communal tobacco hookahs on tables. There was someone selling some good mobiles made from metal that moved in the air, giant moving slinkys and crystal balls. There was also some great UV string installations of a pyramid and a diamond. Monkey was enjoying himself by entertaining the masses with his monkey dancing and stomping, he was wishing for a gumboot. Monkey also did a huge leap upwards in front of DJ Shiva Chandra and ended up dangling from some electrical wires in front of the DJ decks until a blonde haired Swiss guy with newborn triplets rescued him. I had a few mojitos (fresh limes, Havana white rum, sugar) from a bar set up like a beach bar with deckchairs and sun lounges. Nadine got on the German beers. Showers were a communal style job with fresh water to rinse off with and naked people wandering around
space tribe shop
. In the evenings we would wind down at the chai tent and chat. One night we met a genuine German journeyman (carpentaria??). These guys are part of a very old tradition in which they leave their family home for three years and one day to travel the world. They also follow other rules of faith including the wearing of a costume that is black pants and brass buttoned waistcoast plus beard. Almost pirates. The wearing of the costume means they are recognizable wherever they roam and are often offered a place to sleep and food for a night. One of the rules is that they cannot use money on their journey. The idea is that they are messengers bringing stories from place to place. A nice concept i think. This guy was nearly at the end of his journey but will remain in the role forever. I gave him a Joker card because he reminded me of the Fool from the classic tarot card deck.
The third day was spent with the German girls Katerin and Grit at the Open Mind stage where we did alot of dancing and random fun things. The girls had to leave with their driver early but we gave them some bells for dancing and they gave us some little string amigos to add to our toy collection. When they were leaving, Katerin was hanging out of their bus door shouting and waving like she was Miss Germany. We followed the bus all the way to the front gate. Katerin put a spell on us that states if we return to Germany that we must stay with her and if we don't then we will get old, ugly and wrinkly!!! I wore a genie costume this day that included large gold pants, headscarf, bells, bindis, face paint and mirrored vest
tunnels
. Momo and I made a magic carpet so we could pretend to fly everywhere, everyone wanted a ride. Another funny thing was the presence of some people on the dance floor who had made cardboard cut outs of their own faces in big head mode. Classic. The DJs featured on this stage were Amphiptere, Pied Piper, Atmos, ZEn, Symphonix, Kularis, Prahlad, Daksinamurti, Siddharta, GMO, Shiva Chandra, Mapusa Mapusa and Liquid Soul plus others. The rest of our time this day was spent with Momo who was still with us on the last day after the sound systems stopped and we were left on Turkish rugs in the chill out teepee. We had been running around in the lasers all night and Momo took us to meet all the celebrities like Koxbox and other peeps backstage. We stole some water from the crew tent and danced in the rain near the mixing decks where you could see the lasers in full flight. Momo was allowed to have a go at controlling the laser show for awhile. Some people think Momo is the famous Raja Ram, maybe he is his brother. Momo dances like a 25 year old even though he is 58. We all ate our last breakfast together on the last day and tearfully said good byes after he gave us his queen size blow up mattress and his last bit of hommus dip. We love you Momo man, the coolest cat in the universe and some day we may get to Amsterdam to visit you. Momo has promised to cook us his famous dish and chocolate layered slice and take us bicycling around the canals of Amsterdam one day. The festival wouldn't have been the same without Momo man and we felt blessed to have had the pleasure of his company for a few days. What a cartoon character. Momo is Billy Connelly mixed with Charlie Chaplin mixed with Raja Ram thrown into the pot of a psytrance festival. The perfect dish to order. Momo has told us he has a business called RENT A MOMO for parties and we are getting the t-shirts made. Love it, how much for a whole weekend? Sold! Wherever people saw Momo he would be greeted with hugs and love from people who adore him. He gave us alot of fun times. Thank you Momo. We love you.Now, back to Berlin and recovery in time for BOOM festival in Portugal. We are trying to evaluate how we can RENT A MOMO for this event too.
