The 2016 edition of Bloc, an annual weekend dance party held at Butlins resort in England, wrapped up a fortnight ago. The festival will not be returning in 2017, with the founder George Hull outlining why in a highly critical article in UK magazine The Spectator.
Hull outlines in the no-bars-held opinion piece that the core reason why he will no longer be organising festivals and raves is that “young people these days don’t know how to rave.”
Among a plethora of controversial thoughts in the piece he reminisces fondly about a time when raves felt like “unsafe spaces” where there were no rules and you stayed up all night “surrounded by questionable people, loud music and a battery of strobe and laser lighting.” According to Hull, the ’80s and ’90s were about “staggering around in the dark being sick all over your new trainers”. This was, he contests, “the point” of raves, as he goes on to criticise the introduction of safe spaces at festivals.
Hull explores some more relatable ideas as well, longing for a time before regulatory pressure meant that most raves and festivals wrap up before midnight, “which is when a proper rave should start”.
He is also sick of the influence of “hipsters” a subculture he describes as “so spineless that it had to borrow its name from its parents”. “Hipsters are an uptight bunch,” he adds, who “like dance music but lack the sense of abandon that made raving so much fun”.
Hipster organisers, he says, detest big business and “fetishise the authenticity of an independent operator. Yet they expect a level of service that can only be delivered by a multinational corporation”.
Under the influence of the aforementioned hipster, Hull suggests that “dance music has become tedious and dilute”, due to essentially being too organised.
A number of DJs and musicians including Ben UFO and Paul Woodford, hit back at the remarks on Twitter.
You’ve got to laugh at George Hull’s comments – after taking everyone’s money last week he then coats all his customers off. Class act.
— Paul Woolford (@PaulWoolford) March 18, 2016
would rather hang out with kids who understand safe space policy and what it’s for than a grumpy old cunt who writes for the spectator
— Ben UFO (@BenUFO) March 18, 2016
IN MY DAY WE HAD REAL DRUGS AND REAL MUSIC WITH REAL KICKDRUMS AND PONTINS DIDN’T EVEN HAVE BEDS
— Ben UFO (@BenUFO) March 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/SeanPStanley/status/710837051709636608
Whether Hull can see the irony of being a festival organiser criticising festivals for being too organised, or of his seemingly genuine contempt for those who’ve paid him to do so is another question. Regardless, it is a certainty that Bloc will be sorely missed.
