One year ago the residents of Newquay, Cornwall were shocked and dismayed to hear that Run to the sun festival was no more. Noise issues and high crime rates had forced the festival to be brought to an end. However this year came the announcement of a change of management/improvements at the venue and more importantly of Run to the sun - The dawn and with it the promises of a bigger and better year than ever before. As a Newquay local and RTTS veteran I was ecstatic to be reviewing The new dawn and was looking forward to giving it a glowing review. Unfortunately in the spirit of honest journalism, I can't.
Arriving Friday afternoon the first thing I noticed was that the normally choc-a-block camping fields opposite the main venue seemed rather empty. I didnt think anything much of it at the time and carried on to the camping pitch I had arranged with my mates. The build up to the Friday night was just like any other year. Campsite parties in full swing with people milling about from camper to tent all chatting, drinking and generally having a good time. Many groups had brought small speaker rigs along with them and were blasting out the tunes and having a dance ready for the night to come. It was nice to see security being reasonable about speakers and not taking peoples equipment so long as noise levels were kept respectful.
Heading down to the arenas at around 8pm my hopes were high. I was in full party spirit as i walked through the doors of the main arena, but as i entered i was shocked at how few people were in there. I mean half the arena was just open space. A small crowd of maybe a few hundred were skanking out towards the front so we grabbed our drinks from the bar and joined them. The music was pretty good. An excellent line up with early sets from such artists as Cyantific, Groverider and The Brookes Brothers, culminating with Viper and finally the amazing Jaguar skills. Unfortunately the sound levels were comparitively low in comparison tho previous years. Sad considering the friday night line up was one of the best i had seen at RTTS. They did have some really cool fire dancers and breathers along the front of the main stage. Really impressive stuff. I also ventured to the over to arena 2 to see The freestylers. Similar vibe in here to the main arena, not that many peeps and a bit on the quiet side. As Fridays entertainment came to an end at 4 pm we headed back to camp and carried on our own little party. The arenas may have been half dead but the campsite was as good as ever. Finally at about 7am i got my head down in preperation for what i hoped would be a better saturday.
Saturday afternoon we went and chilled at the Shack bar sun terrace, a small pub at the top of the venue being used as the chillout area. Had really nice time in here listening to some cool folky guitar players and bands. Then back to the main arenas for some more raving and general mayhem. Saturday had a similar feel to friday. Still not all that busy and the acts werent as good as fridays line up so it all seemed a bit lacking in energy. Having seen a couple of earlier acts we retreated to the campsite and wandered around various different parties and fires mingling and discussing the festival. RTTS is always amazing on the campsite and at least i can say this year was no exception. It seems a lot of people had decided that with a caravan, a set of decks and a few lights they could have a better time than the arenas could offer. I still went back to catch The Wideboys, Krafty Kuts and Mistajam in arena 1 where tonight the fire dancer had been replaced by 2 massive glowing robots that were dancing away on the stage. These were really really cool and they had the crowds going wild. I also headed to arena 2 to see Anne Savage play and later for Utah Saints (Wicked set!!).
By later on in the evening the arenas were a lot busier and it was starting to feel more like a festival. So as we left the arena at 4 and headed back to some people we had mets caravan for a banging afterparty i was feeling a lot better than on Friday......But it still wasnt RTTS as I remembered it.
By later on in the evening the arenas were a lot busier and it was starting to feel more like a festival. So as we left the arena at 4 and headed back to some people we had mets caravan for a banging afterparty i was feeling a lot better than on Friday......But it still wasnt RTTS as I remembered it.
Sunday came and with it the 'show n shine', an integral part of the RTTS festival. This is where people bring their kitted out pimp wagons (normally VW campers) to show off their individual style and gizmos. Sadly this year the vast majority of VWs had gone to Volksfest in Plymouth, the 'show n shine' was a total flop in my opinion. There were a few nice cars there but we didn't stay to see the winners. Instead back to site for a relaxed afternoon. We headed down to arena 3 for a while to catch the comedy shows they were hosting this year. Some pretty funny people in here it's got to be said. At about 9 we went back down to the arena 2 to support some local DJs; Jello, Grudge and Re-defeat. Big ups to these boys. A lot of Newquay locals were here for these sets and i did have a brilliant time myself but the same fact remained it was quiet and not overly busy. We decided to check out the silent disco back in arena 3. This was interestingly busy in comparison to the arenas 1 and 2. Im not a big fan of silent discos. I find it kinda wierd and anti-social everyone wearing headphones and dancing to different music but it seems to have been a hit here.
Finally we headed over to the main arena to burn the last of our energy away to Danny Howard and Goldie. A really cool end to the festival. Goldie put on a top notch set and it was actually relatively busy in here for the sunday night. No afterparties today. Instead straight to bed. Exhausted after 3 days of partying hard. One good thing about he camping wristbands is that they gave you until the friday after the event camping so Monday morning the true festival veterans remained and we had a small shindig in the daytime. Some people planned to stay the week on site. Although i didnt i do think this was a nice perk for those not from around Newquay
So in summary Run to the Sun - The new dawn wasnt a terrible festival but it didnt live up to previous years at all. It was nice to see it back but it just wasn't RTTS as I remember it. A bit of a dissapointment I have to say especially considering the promises made by Newquay View (the new owners). The noise pollution had been addressed but not in the way we were led to believe it would be and as for bigger and better than ever before i think not. On the plus side the Newquay police operation to keep crime down codenamed Operation Cosmos was a big success with crime down 47% on last year but was that just because of the massive lack of festival goers? I find it hard to say what the main reason this year wasn't as good as previous ones. Maybe Volksfest has taken over the May bank holiday. Or maybe lack of promotion of RTTS itself. What i do know is that a lot of people are saying they felt ripped off. If RTTS returns next year im not sure i will be going - Never thought i would be saying that!!
Written and Reviewed By Keiran Dunne-Davidson
Published on 29 May 2014 by Keiran_D-D
