#luckily the venue isn’t HUGE so I’m still gonna be close to the stage

[louisloulouie]

Front row tickets for Niall not achieved because they’re already reselling for $1000 but I was able to get a floor ticket!!

[motleecrue]

Brother’s Best Friend - Chapter 3

Warnings: Language, Drug use, some nudity, shitty writing

•••

Your pounding head wakes you from your slumber, and you let out a groan when the sunlight hits your face. You stumble out of Vince’s bunk to find everyone still asleep, besides Doc and the bus driver, who are conversing over which exit to take. You yawn quietly, deciding to freshen up before the boys wake. You change out of your sleep shorts and your brothers tank, and into a pair of leggings and a distressed black top. You exit the bathroom and you’re met with Vince, who’s nursing a bottle of beer at the table.

You slide across from him, hoping to clear the air from last night. “Morning Vince, how ya feel?” You ask, watching as he holds his head. “I’m alright, just a bad hangover.” He reassures, sending a smile your way. “Do you remember anything from last night?” As the question leaves your mouth, Vince perks up. “Dude, don’t tell me we fucked last night, Nikki will kick my ass!” Your hands fly to his mouth, hushing him. “No, idiot, we didn’t fuck. But you did mention something about Tommy and I.”

A smile creeps onto Vince’s lips, as he takes a swig from his bottle. “You said Tommy has a crush on me, is that true?” You cross your arms in front of your chest, almost ready to slap Vince when he smirked at you. “Stop looking at my chest and answer me!” “Why not ask him for yourself?” He teases, pointing over to the lanky man who was entering the back room, presumably to change. After giving him a moment to change, you knock on the door. “Tommy? You in there?”

He opens the door with a smile, and you return it weakly, anxiety coursing through you. “Can we talk?” You ask, and he nods, allowing you to enter the room. You close the door behind you and sit on the couch, inhaling deeply. “What’s up, Y/N? You’re acting strange.” Tommy asks, placing a hand on your shoulder. “I-Vince... I need to know how you feel.. about me..” You stutter, looking up in his eyes. “Well I think you’re absolutely amazing and-“ “No Tommy, I mean.. how do you feel about me?” Tommy stills, looking everywhere but your eyes. “Vince told me that you have a thing for me, but he was drunk. I didn’t know if he was being serious and I just needed to find out from you.” You ramble, Tommy reaching up to scratch his head.

“Well.. I uh, I do like you but.. No. I don’t have a thing for you.” He says cooly, refusing eye contact. You can feel your heart sink and you nod, exiting the back room without another word. Luckily the bus has just pulled into tonight’s venue, so you took the liberty to hop off the bus and take a seat outside, your back against the side of the bus. The more you think about how cool and dismissive he was, the harder it is to hold back tears. “Y/N? What are you doing out here?” Nikki’s voice asks soothingly as he comes and sits next to you on the ground.

“Everything okay?” You look at him and burst into tears, holding onto him for dear life. He hugs you tight, rubbing his hand soothingly on your back. “It’s.. it’s just that time of the month.” You lie, wiping your eyes. Nikki is none the wiser and offers a soft smile. “Do you need anything?” He asks, still rubbing your shoulder. You shake your head and force a smile. “Just needed my brother.”

—————

You did your best avoiding Tommy, but by avoiding Tommy, you avoided everyone. You secluded yourself to the back of the bus during parties, staying to Nikki’s side of the stage and running off before the show ends, and when you had no other choice but to be with the boys, you only really talked to Mick and Nikki. Currently the boys were all on stage, and instead of watching the show tonight, you decided to nap in the back of the bus, headphones over your ears.

Just as you drift to sleep, Nikki bursts through the door, shaking your body. You rip your headphones off, looking at him with a confused expression. “What the fuck?” “We hit number one in America!” Nikki yells, jumping up and down like a child. You jump up and hug him, Nikki lifting you off the ground. He twirls you happily, then sets you back onto the couch. “We’re gonna throw a huge party, it’s gonna kick so much ass. You have to come!” He rambles. You shake your head, toying with the blanket that was covering you.

“I can’t.. I’m proud of you, really, but I can’t.” Nikki slumps down next to you, a hurt expression on his face. “Y/N, this is so big! And you’ve been avoiding people for the past week like the plague! Shouldn’t you be done with your.. lady problem now?” You chuckle at his boyishness, but he keeps up the puppy dog face. “Please come to the party?” You sigh and give in. “Fine. But don’t expect me to be too social.. it’s not really my scene until i’m boozed up.” He jumps up off the couch and smiles. “Guess we’ll start early then, you have to be drunk before the party even begins!” “Don’t push it, Nikki.”

—

You arrive to Vince’s house clad in a deep red dress and your go-to leather jacket, accompanied by your favorite chunky heeled boots. You give yourself a pep talk before walking into the house with confidence radiating off you. You’d be damned if you were going to let Tommy ruin your good time. Heads turn as you make your way through the house, finally stopping once you get to the kitchen. You pour yourself the first drink of the night, and set out to find your brother.

“Y/N?” Vince calls from behind you, tapping lightly on your shoulder. You spin on your heels, flashing him a smile. “Wow, you look fuckin’ hot.” He flicks a wink your way, which makes you giggle. “Gotta dress to impress, Vince.” You tease, pulling at his collar as the other three boys walk over. “Y/N, you look great.” Mick says as Vince pushes a piece of hair behind your ear. “Doesn’t she? God, if she wasn’t-“ Nikki cuts Vince off by clearing his throat.

“Still my little sister, and I’ll still kick all of your asses.” Nikki threatens, placing his hands on Mick and Vince’s shoulders. “You’re awfully quiet over there, Tommy. Cat’s got your tongue?” Vince teases, and you take a sip from your cup. “I’ll catch up with you guys later, i’m gonna go have fun.” You say, winking at Vince as you walk away. You find yourself a few minutes later tucked back against a wall, watching scenes unfold in front of you. One couple is face fucking, and to your left there’s a bunch of groupies doing lines.

“Well well..” A low voice breaks you from your trance, and you turn to meet the man. He’s tall, but still shorter than Nikki, with bright blue eyes and brown shoulder length hair, and a smile that could charm any girl within a two mile radius. “What are you doing here alone?” He asks, sipping from his drink. “What makes you think i’m alone?” You cock your eyebrow, looking the man in the eyes. “Well, you’re standing all alone in the corner, watching everyone else. So either you’re alone or you’re really thinking about something.”

You smile at him and sip from your cup. “Y/N, and you are?” “Derek. You look like you could use another drink.”

After four or five drinks, you lost count, you had gotten comfortable around Derek. “You know, you’re fucking beautiful.” He slurs, arm tight around your waist. You giggle, looking around the room for any sign to stop this man from holding you. “So i’ve been told.” “You wanna get out of here?” Derek asks, placing small kisses to your neck. “Get me another drink and maybe i’ll say yes.” He smirks, placing a kiss to your jawbone before walking into the kitchen.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tommy asks from behind you, his breath hot on your neck. “What does it look like i’m doing? It’s called flirting, you of all people should know what that is.” You snap, turning to face him. “I didn’t think you’d care, since you don’t have any claim over me.” Tommy sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t care, he’s just not the guy for you.” You cross your arms over your chest and lean back against the wall. “Really. So who is? ‘Cause it sure as hell isn’t you.”

“Y/N, I never said-“ “Really? Because i’m pretty sure you rejected me. Vince told me that you.. You’re all fucking with my head!” You exclaim, holding your hands over your face. “Just.. just leave. He’s a nice guy and we’re going to hang out after this so..” You push yourself off the wall and away from Tommy, but he grabs your wrist and spins you around to face him. “You’re much too drunk for that, Y/N.” He pleads, looking genuinely concerned. “I’m an adult. I can do as I please.”

You begin to walk away again, but this time Tommy pulls you back by both of your wrists, holding you to his chest. “Y/N. Listen to me, would you?” He pauses, looking in your eyes. “Come take a walk with me.” “But what about-“ “Fuck that guy. You’re not thinking right.” He pushes a path through the people and leads you out onto the balcony. You cross your arms and Tommy lights up a cigarette, taking a drag before he opens his mouth to speak.

“Do you want some water? I can grab you some water.” Tommy rambles, running away and coming back with a cup of water before you can comprehend what’s going on. He hands you the cup, watching gratefully as you drink it. “Why were you talking to that guy anyways? He looks like a jerk.” You scoff at his words, placing your hand on your hip. “Why does it matter to you? You don’t care about me.” Tommy runs his hand over his face, sighing frustratedly.

“Stop saying that.” He says through gritted teeth, looking down at you. “Why?” You exclaim loudly, “Give me one good reason why I should stop saying that.” Tommy looks around at the crowd you two are gathering, and takes you over to the chairs on the balcony. You sit down, scowling at the man in front of you. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you.” “What you need to tell me is why you’re acting so jealous when you don’t care about me!” You flail your hands drunkenly in front of your face. “Y/N..”

TAGS: @drummerchick27 @kawennote09 @slowandangry @superstitiousinstincts @killer-queen-ofrhye @divaanya @tamedhearts

[queen-of-hearts92]

Revue Starlight Theory: The Tower of Venus.

My theorizing normally goes in my write ups, and I have talked about this a bit in my episode 10 one but I. I gotta post this separately. I gotta let everyone know, that I think I know where the stage came from. Cause I think the show has been hinting at it and the proof is mounting up. I’m about to lose my fucking mind in the best way possible so just gotta share this theory!

We’ve seeing these Venus De Milo statues every time we are on campus and while yes they are used to represent Maya, there can be more than one meaning to an object or symbol. So, there is one Venus De Milo placement I’ve thought was very weird. In episode 7, during the after party for the Starlight play, we see a Venus De Milo right in front of the Star Tower prop.

But, this statue isn’t featured in the Starlight play at all. Nor is said love goddess present. So, why the fuck is it grouped with the other two props? I was stumped on this for quite awhile until episode 9 when we see the book Starlight is based on, the passage below caught my eye.

It says here that the Star Tower is on another planet. After learning this, I slowly realized why that Venus De Milo was there. Hell why they are here in the first place. And theres so much that points to this conclusion that I must share it! This is gonna sound kinda nuts but, here it goes.

Theory: The underground stage, and in turn the giraffe, is from outer space. Specifically the planet Venus, and the show has been foreshadowing that it’s from Venus this the entire time.

I know! I know! That sounds wild, like a space giraffe? Really? But ohh boy there is just so much shit related to Venus in this show I can’t help but think that this theory is fucking possible! So, all my proof has been gathered here in this post!

Note: If you have read any of my meta before then you’ll probably see repeated information (or just wholeass taking my info from my previous posts) but I gotta put it in here for clarity sake. Plus it’s a good reminder anyways. 

Let’s take a look!

>The stage’s connection to Starlight

-First off we know that the stage is closely connected with the Starlight play. The stage is connected to it due to the constant presence of the Star Tower. The tower that holds the star is in the London stage even though the Starlight play isn’t being performed at that school so we can assume that it’s present in all the auditions that happen here. And the tower in the Starlight play itself and it looks the same as the one in the underground stage. Therefore the Starlight story probably really happened and now the Star Tower is here in this stage.

Note: I’m very positive the stage is alive so I will be treating it like it is a living creature with wants and desires, just to let you know.

>Aphrodite’s symbols

I swear I’ve went over these several times, but! I shall do it again. Let’s go over all of Aphrodite’s symbols that appear in the show one more time so we all know what they are. And of course this involves Maya and a reason why she has this connection with the goddess in the first place.

-Aphrodite/Venus is the greek/roman goddess of love, passion, and beauty. Of course she’s associated with the planet named after her. The biggest show of her symbolism is during Maya and Karen’s duel in episode 3. Most of her symbols have been heavily associated with Maya in particular. Maya’s stage is covered in greek/roman architecture for starters, and also birds. Particularly swans, the swan are one of Aphrodite’s symbols. Maya descends from the ceiling riding a fucking swan, and there is ancient art of Aphrodite doing just that. Maya chucks Karen into a huge swan at the bottom of the stairs, there's also a curled up swan right here before Maya opens up the stage. The smaller birds on the stairs and one as a gold statue could indicate two different bird symbols, either sparrows or doves. I’m leaning towards doves since we see white birds earlier in Maya’s room. Doves are also one of Aphrodite’s symbols.

-Another symbol is the white myrtle flower, Maya has a white flower in her hair during the flashback. While its not the same type of flower the fact that it’s a white one indicates to me that it was meant to represent the myrtle flower. The statue(s) we’ve seen all around the school is Venus de Milo, and in episode 3 Maya stands right next to in the similar pose increasing her connection with the goddess. Additionally we have seen the statue more when an episode more heavily involves Maya in some way, we see that in episode 7. Funny we don’t see the statue in episode 10 yeah? I’ll get to why in a bit.

-Aphrodite/Venus is also associated with water since she was born rising out of the sea, there is water all over the stage and the series in general. On Maya’s stage, there is a fountain by the golden dove during the duel. Speaking of gold, Ode to Aphrodite is the only full poem that Sappho wrote that survives to this day. The word “chryse” in Greek means golden and it’s used in the poem to describe the goddess. The dove on the stage is golden, also Sappho is a very famous lesbian so there is that.

-So, why does Maya have all of these symbols? Maya has the Aphrodite symbolism because she herself was a symbol for the stage. She’s everything the stage could want for a Top Star including accepting the loneliness that comes with the position. But, we all know by now that she isn’t really ok with that. Maya very much doesn’t want to be alone at the top, especially since she has fallen in love with Claudine. 

When Maya made the choice in episode 10 to not be alone at the top, she lost favor with the stage and it dropped her as a symbol since she no longer fits what it wants. Hence we see less of Aphrodite’s symbols around her. Hell in the 2 vs 2 duel the only prop that belongs to Maya that appears is the stairs, nothing else. 

-Also it’s not just Maya that has an Aphrodite symbol around her, Nana has one too! Frogs! The Greeks and Romans associated frogs with fertility and harmony. And with Aphrodite because frogs were associated with licentiousness aka being promiscuous. Uh, yeah it’s not a perfect fit but the presence of frogs I think is still notable.

Let’s go on to the next goddess shall we?

>Inanna’s symbols

-Inanna has her symbolism all over the place too and she shares some things with Aphrodite/Venus. Both of them are associated with doves and of course love and passion. Inanna is also a goddess of the sky, war, and combat. The connection to Inanna and Aphrodite/Venus is pretty intense, which is because Aphrodite/Venus is a descendant of sorts of Inanna. The planet Inanna is associated with is Venus, and this association leads to a primary symbol of Inanna. It’s an eight pointed star called the Star of Ishtar/Inanna, also called the Star of Venus. The star is in the show itself! It’s in Karen’s gem on the hilt of her sword. This gives her and Karen a connection.

-The most they have in common besides the star is a parallel with Inanna’s famous decent into the underworld. In the myth, Inanna goes to the underworld to rescue her husband. She has to strip off her clothing to get through the seven gates of the underworld but gains her clothes back when she leaves much later. Inanna’s trip ended up being a failure though, her older sister is the queen of the underworld and she said no fuck you and skinned her and hung her body on a wall. Yup. Luckily her sister in law bailed her and her husband out so it’s fine. 

In Karen’s story, she descended into an underground theater and falls below to rescue her love Hikari, and she also loses her clothes and gets new clothes. And as of episode 11 Karen is doing it again but going up instead of down this time. Also, in the Starlight play. Claire and Flora also have to pass through seven gates to get to their goal, just like Inanna did.

>Hikari and the Morning Star

-Hikari’s gem symbol in her weapon is the Morning Star, which is another name for the planet Venus. I say this because in artwork (if you can’t see it, look at the top by his arm) the Morning Star is portrayed like the symbol in her knife, usually in paintings regarding the greek god Phosphorus. He is the god of the Morning Star. And yes I know Lucifer is the other name for the Morning Star, Phosphorus also has that as one of his names. The Morning Star here resembles the greek/roman version of Lucifer, not the christian one. Mmmkay? Anyways, Hikari’s name even has a connection here! Hikari’s name means light and Phosphorus/Lucifer means light bringer. What are the odds eh?

-Karen and Hikari have the Star of Inanna and the Morning Star respectively because I think thats the stage’s way of marking them as the couple to act out the tragedy it wants. The stage does provide them with their weapons after all. Hikari’s weapon didn’t have the star there during her first audition and none of the other girls have clear symbols in their weapons like they do (trust me, I checked a lot gdi). And yes Karen and Hikari are the main pairing in the show but I don’t think thats why they have them. These two have these symbols that are the same star, and that is very significant in a show where a couple wants to be stars together and share the same stage.

So we have not one, not two, but three gods that are associated with the planet Venus that have their symbols in the show. That many references to this fucking planet indicates to me that the planet Venus is important here. And, it’s not just mythos that are indicated here.

>The planet Venus in real life.

Aspects that the real planet Venus has ties in with shit we’ve seen in the show too! 

-Venus is extremely hot temperature wise, so much so that we can’t land anything on the planet for very long if at all cause it will melt. It’s covered with volcanos and boy does it have a lot of fire there. In Rev Star, the scenes with the literal giant stage hands in episode 8 were very much on fire. Kirins are also associated with fire, and would you look at that theres a Kirin being a spokes animal of sorts for the stage. And ofc there is the golden bird statue in episode 3, it shot fire out of its back to invoke the image of a phoenix. Which is another being associated with fire.

-The reason why Venus is pretty much on fire all the time is due to the greenhouse effect. The gas that surrounds the planet is so damn thick that heat can’t escape into space, just like how greenhouses trap in warmth for plants to grow. In Rev Star we’ve seen plant life growing indoors and underground, so you could say it’s like a greenhouse housing plants to grow.

-Venus wasn’t always a fiery hell scape, it used to be a water planet. Lots of oceans and shit like that. That would match up to all the water we’ve been seeing in the show, maybe the stage took the water with it lol.

-You know that symbol on Claire and Flora’s outfits and on the giraffe logo? I think I finally figured it out! It’s a phase of Venus, but flipped so it isn’t on it’s side. And it’s orange in the play because the planet itself (and its surface) is colored orange.

-The Star Tower has a strong association with the color pink, Venus does too in terms of its planetary symbol being one that also is used to mean a female person and pink is very strongly associated with those who consider themselves female.

-Venus is the brightest star in the sky, its why theres so many mythos surrounding it. The star in the tower is also extremely bright and brilliance/shining has been a consistent theme in this show. Shine bright like the planet Venus!

>Space theme is already there.

Rev Star involving things like stars and starlight gives it an automatic association with space so we do already have a space theme. Here are two examples of it’s space theme meaning the stage is from the planet Venus.

-Looking at the giraffe logo you can see that the giraffe’s neck has stars on it. If this is the logo for all the revues then this could indicate that this is a space giraffe. Yup.

-The ending theme is Fly me to the Star, note how star is not plural. That’s a little weird isn’t it? Specially since in the Starlight play there are two stars not one. But! There is only one star in the Star Tower. So, the star that we are really flying to is the Morning Star aka the planet Venus. WE GOING TO SPACE MOTHERFUCKERS!

>IN CONCLUSION!

As you can see, theres a TON of things associated with the planet Venus in this series. Hence I think this is all foreshadowing to where the Star Tower and the stage is from, motherfucking outer space! But there is still the question of how it got here and why it ended up here in the first place. I’m very curious to learn more. In the meantime, I gotta say if I’m right, I hope we fight the giraffe in space. Thanks for reading! Let’s see if I’m right or not! \ouo/

[thatfestivallife]

Girls all in independent designers: Kokomo Design perspex dress, Palace Flophouse skirt & Duvet Days trousers & Rosa Bloom top!

Delicious music, culinary delights, more than a dollop of cultcha and an escape to the far-flung deserts of Morroco at the end of miserable March?? I didn’t need much persuading to ‘buy the ticket and take the ride’ to the innaugral Beat Hotel festival, in Marrakech.

The Beat Hotel was already well known to me for their big venue near Glastonbury’s pyramid stage – but apart from a few showers of rain over the weekend, this offering, couldn’t have been much further from its Pilton partner…

Those Festival Facts

What? Beat Hotel Marrakech “A long weekend of live music, DJs, one-off culinary collaborations and a talks programme featuring some of today’s great minds and voices.” Inspired by the ‘Beat Generation’ of poets and authors.

Where? The Fellah Hotel, a 20-minute drive outside of Marrakech in Morrocco…. my first festival in Africa! (ticked that off the bucket list!)

When? This year it was the last weekend of March – 2020 festival not confirmed yet. It ran Thursday through Sunday with music and wellness programming from 9am – 4am.

Who? Organisers are Brits and the audience (in my experience!) were mainly from the UK with a smattering of locals and attendees from across the globe to make up the neat 2000 capacity. 

Set in the Fellah Hotel, a 25 minute drive from the outside central Marrakech, the festival site was a resort made up of winding paths lined with rosemary and cactuses, cosy bedouin tents decorated with golden lamps and opulent Moroccan textiles, shimmering swimming pools and hidden indoor rooms. Within this paradise, the programming blended together the worlds of art, literature, wellness, and music.

“Follow your inner moonlight”

Skip straight to practical tips for attending Beat Hotel next year!

Undoubtedly ’boutique’ (whatever that even means any more!), this isn’t a trait I’d usually be mega keen on but here it came with the territory, a festival held in a 5-star resort is gonna have a 5-star feel! The resort setting reminded me a little of beach festivals I’ve been to in India like Sunsplash but 20 times more lavish…

What was best about this boutique-ness was the size. Apparently, a compact 2000 revellers attended Beat Hotel, which was super intimate compared to Oasis, a techno festival on the same site which has a cool 8000 guests! Whilst having the classic where have we met before / have we met before? chat with a fellow dancer on the first night…. he hit the nail on the head when he said it was the best festival he’d been to in years because it recaptured a feeling “like someone had put on a party for you and your mates”.

Thursday Opening Concert

After a day of taking in the gardens and museums of the festival’s culture-rich neighbouring city (stay tuned for my Marrakech itinerary!) we headed for our first evening at the Beat Hotel site just in time for the magnificent red and pink clad Deep Throat Choir in the ‘Interzone’, a beautifully dressed clear marquee that served as the festival’s main stage.

I’d wanted to catch them for ages after seeing their live session video from Greenman festival…  the combined raw power of their amazing voices singing original material and choice covers like Little Dragon’s Ritual Union was such a perfect opening to the festival. 

Deep Throat Choir

In homage to the festival’s home, The Master Magicians of Jajouka were next… which was an experience. They are a legendary family from rural Morocco who play some of the oldest musical styles still preserved on the planet! At first we thought the complex rhythms and the loud wail of their instruments (imagine the sound of 20 bagpipes, if they were Morrocan?!?) was a pretty strange choice for a 2 – hour – booking when this was the only stage open….!

BUT we decided to get stuck in at the front of the crowd and actually it was amazing… to punctuate the 4000-year-old music a small man in a fur-covered costume came onto the stage (basically their hype man) and had us totally transfixed. apparently, he was the fertility goat and everyone he hit with his stick in the crowd would soon be with child!!! Queue side eyes for two of our mates who got a solid smack…

Closing was Awesome Tapes from Africa – and he did not lie, they were awesome tapes! If you have never heard of this selector and label owner, he mixes only on cassette and has a huge collection of rare tapes that he has found from all over Africa ranging from traditional music to African disco and pop, which were all blended seamlessly and left us at the end of the night with sore feet and raucous shouts of “one more cassette, one more cassette!”

Friday Photo Tour

On Friday I headed into the medina for a tour with “conscious creative collective”; Patternity.  I’m not usually one for guided tours, preferring to get to know a place myself, but with limited time for exploration this was actually a perfect opportunity to be spoon fed a speedy introduction to the city and connect with the area we were in before fully submerging ourselves into festival fun… and a nice chance to meet fellow festival goers!

View from the carpet shop roof…

Two of many cats on the Cat-ernity tour

Touring the beautiful tiled Dar El Bacha museum

We met at a beautiful palace turned museum for some tile goodness, wandered around souks, got a tour of a carpet shop, gathered on rooftops for mint tea and enjoyed a demonstration of Moroccan tinctures in an apothecary… Anna from Patternity was a wonderful host and it was definitely one of the best decisions I made on the trip – all festival should have a local tour on the first day!

We finished up with cocktails on the rooftop of some fancy riad and then I hopped in a taxi to site with some girls I met on the tour just in time for sunset over the pool… 

Malika & cocktails by the pool

Zac in the lazzzers

The Friday headliners were Maribou State who were extreme levels of lush as always, a more intimate version of the magical first time I saw them, dragged to the front row of the main stage at Secret Garden Party… 

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                  🌞 @mariboustate at @beat_hotel with all my gorgeous pals 🌞 #BeatHotel#ThatFestivalLife

A post shared by Dulcie Horn (@du1cie) on Apr 17, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

Later on, we headed through the winding paths to a tucked away stretch tent that housed the second stage ‘San Remo’ which was absolutely bouncing for Andrew Weatherall. We drank ‘Ballantines Moroccan mules’ from the sponsored bar next to the stage –  there were plenty of brand partners on site but luckily it was done in a classy not overbearing way (reminding me a bit of Magnetic Fields festival actually).

The interzone adorned with Morroccan lamps.

Closed the night dancing to Hunee from the pyramid stacked next to the main stage, reminiscent of the Glastonbury Beat Hotel…  Made it home and had an impromptu house party (riad party?) with a group of our lovely neighbours.

Saturday Showers

Saturday evening started with some torrential downpour and classically getting to the festival later than we meant to meant we missed a talk from Irvine Welsh (the Irvine Welsh!!) and ‘disco naps yoga’ in the wellness area Spiritlab which sounded like just what I needed tbh…

Speakers Corner

Luckily we hadn’t missed all of the non-musical entertainment and popped in to listen to a bit of a talk in the Speaker’s Corner from Scottish writer John Niven and a lounge on the luscious Morrocan rugs in the space… 

The skies cleared so we headed to the San Reo for some reggae by the pool… Shout out to the best food on site, the Berber and Q stall by the San Remo bar, I had a DELICIOUS mezze plate which was 1 zillion times more amazing than the photo shows… plus top marks and bonus points for silver plates and real cutlery – the rest on site is plastic, unfortunately.

Steph by the pool

Berber & Q Mezze DELICIOUSNESS

Emma’s nailzzz

Full of food and heavy with last night’s excesses we sheltered again in the Speakers Corner for a really interesting discussion on “Music, Fiction and Mythology” from another Scottish Author (the theme of the day!?) David Keenan and last night’s best DJ Andrew Weatherall.

As the lamps were lit and the sun went down the rain came back with a vengeance (go to Morrocco for your holiday they said!) and Friday night was still taking its toll so I went for dinner #2, a veeery delish lentil, beetroot and goats cheese salad with sautéed potatoes… and then just as everyone was discussing calling it a night I decided to book a tarot card reading for 1.30am…!!

San Remo closed due to the rain and the terrain so all of the programming was moved into the pool / bar building to make a club-esque setting.  As some of our pals went home we stayed for an amazing night of dancing at the Ransom Note takeover, punctuated by a couple of intense tarot card readings with David Keenan – our third Scottish from earlier!

Tarot Reading with *** in the beautiful Beat Hotel Tea Room

The last dance

Got to site late again… the problems of having your own super luxurious riad and a fridge full of food and booze!

I would have loved to have caught the writing and drawing workshops in Speaker’s Corner – but that is my constant refrain at all festivals… I always wanna do all the workshops in the morning but unfortunately, I also wanna party all night and these things don’t always go hand in hand! We got there just in time for an incredible, intense set from Young Fathers who totally blew me away.

Young Fathers

Beat Hotel

With San Remo back in action, we danced to whoever the excellent Dj was there around midnight and settled into the best night of the festival… 

Me and my friend Amie stumbled on the secret room, which was above the pool bar – but apparently had moved from underneath the San Remo building into the pool bar when it rained which was originally where the cinema had originally been (wrap yer head around that)…

My favourite set of the festival was from another unknown DJ in the secret room who opened with Bronski Beat and later played a timely Prodigy track to a wild crowd (of about 30) and two tracks of the drum n bass I’d been hoping for all weekend… someone put a star sticker on my face, someone else gave me a branch of rosemary to brandish like a shaman… it was so great.

The rest of the evening included a lot of cocktails, rolling around on the beds beside the pool and disappearing for an hour because I was learning Arabic and chatting football with the medical staff…

Amie in her Duvet Days halter

We found the full crew at the main stage for the close and danced for the rest of the night (to Gerd Jansen? Maybe? There’s a theme here…) The night ended in a stage invasion and us enveloping each other into a giant group hug – bringing that proper festival flavour I have mainly only experienced in UK fields 💖

San Reno vibes

It was wonderful…  so smooth for an inaugural year in a very culturally different country.  They obviously cared about their audience, all the staff were lovely – for example, there were plenty on hand at the end of each night checking if people could get home okay.  You could tell they’ve done festivals before, accreditation was soo smooth, the info point was informative, it rained but the stages were all undercover and any hiccups that came along (unavoidable in a festival first year) were dealt with really well.

More toilets would have been great – and compost loos would be even better,  I would have liked it if they had booked a few more females across the programming… and I would have liked to have dipped my toe in some more of the wellness and Speaker’s Corner, but that might be my own fault for not getting out of bed sooner! Attention to detail like secret rooms and offsite activities meant it was so much more than just a music festival…. can’t wait to relive it at the Glastonbury version in a couple of months!! 

Top tips for Visiting Beat Hotel Festival in Marrakech

Getting to the Beat Hotel

There are loads of reasonably priced flights into the local airport Marrakech (RAK) – I flew from Stanstead and then returned to Bristol. Getting from the airport to your accommodation might not be quite as easy though – we’re pretty sure everyone in our group got separately mugged off for our taxi fare… to top it off, we didn’t even have the right address for our riad, doh! Our driver did give us oranges and play some bangin Arabic tunes in the taxi though so all was forgiven…

Where to stay in Marrakech

So, we booked a couple of months in advance as we were out there for a mate’s 30th… we struck gold on our accommodation and had an incredible riad, 11 of us with a huge pool, massive kitchen and a gorgeous rooftop overlooking the Atlas mountains! And it was just over £100 each for 6 nights… If you’re in a big group I would highly recommend hunting on Airbnb to see what comes up. Most of the accommodation in town wasn’t as private as this was so it was worth being a bit out of town – it was about half an hour drive South of the city but only 10 minutes South of the festival site. 

Tricky to leave your hotel when it looks like this…

If you’re on your own or in a pair it would probably make more sense to stay in town because of traveling into the festival each day, which leads me on to… 

Getting around in Marrakech

This bit is important! We struck gold with our riad location and the fact that it came with a driver. We got one free return ride into town / the festival a day and then could book later pick-ups with our legendary taxi driver Ismael. 

Top tips for getting around the city and getting to the festival:

Do a bit of research on how you’re gonna get in and out of the festival, see if your accommodation can recommend your transport.

Make friends with people staying close to you and buddy up to make it cheaper. It could be a pain in the butt and really sting you for cash if you haven’t organised it properly.

The festival did put on a shuttle which you could buy a wristband for – I didn’t get it myself so can’t really feedback but speaking to people it was apparently quite sporadic and only stopped at a few places so depending where you were staying you’d probably have to find a taxi to get you through the middle of town.

Getting around town itself whilst sightseeing is pretty easy as long as you know the names of the places you’re going.

Make sure you haggle with your taxi!

Taxis can’t go down most of the winding souks and streets (but watch out for mopeds!) so download Marrakech onto the HERE we go app and mark all your landmarks on it before you’re out of wifi – this top tip courtesy of Sophie from Saints on a Plane!!

I had a couple of experiences when I was stopped in taxis from the city by a police blockade at the end of the road to the festival – the driver was made to get out and once I was… Still not entirely sure what it was all about and it felt really sketchy. 

What to bring and what to wear

Weather-wise you can expect temperatures in the 20s but dropping down to about 10 at night so come prepared for both! If you’re unlucky like us it could also be a wee bit rainy… 

I packed one small sized cabin bag for the duration of the trip and brought the following stuff to Beat Hotel: 

Modest clothes for exploring the city – Morrocco is a Muslim country so keep your legs, shoulders etc covered when wandering the city.

But less modest clothes/bikinis etc. totally acceptable for the festival site, like Lannah’s Kokomo ‘Sunset Boulevard’ perspex dress above! 

Swimwear.

Light jacket for the evening – I brought a denim jacket which was enough to keep me warm in the chillier nights but I could have done with a scarf too.

Bumbag for the festival – I brought my trusty tasseled Beksies Boutique Bum Bag.

What to Eat and drink

The food offering is not mega veggie friendly but there were a few good options which I’ve mentioned above! The stalls were run by the popular Marrakech restaurants Nomad, Cafe De Espices & Le Jardin and there was also the Berber & Q stall running int the day time. You should expect to pay UK festival prices for meals. As well as the stalls Beat Hotel also curated a series of pre-bookable banquets but at £80 a pop these were a bit out of our price range. 

The Beat Hotel bars were plentiful but did run out of stock a few times and the cocktail bar staff had noooo idea what was going on for the first few days!! Was kiiind of funny being brought the wrong drinks three times in a row until I remembered I was paying a tenner a go… you aren’t allowed to bring your own supplies in so we spent a lot on the bar… 

Also worth noting that Morrocco is a Muslim country so there aren’t a huge amount of places in town that serve alcohol. As we were in self-catered accommodation we bought all our food and drink from a local Carrefour which did serve booze.  

Money! What to bring and what you can expect to spend… 

The festival is totally cashless, my first experience with RFID wristbands! It was actually really smooth and pretty nifty but I did spend a lot, especially considering I was having most of my meals and drinks back at our accommodation. I topped up on site but the wristbands could be pre-loaded before the festival which meant you got a bonus and the chance for a refund.

£1 = 80 dirham

It’s a closed currency in Morroco so your best bet is just to get your ‘dirham’ for the ciy and taxis etc. from an ATM when you get to the airport – bring emergency cash to exchange in case your card doesn’t work or that ATM’s at the airport are out of use!

Personal Safety

As with all other festival travel – be extra careful if you’re indulging, keep your passport, spare money etc. safe at your accommodation. A good idea is to whatsapp your friends a scan of your passport and your flight ticket details and make sure you get travel insurance!!

Some specific advice to Beat Hotel Marrakech:

As explained above, get your taxis sorted, watch out for getting scammed – haggling is a part of life here don’t be shy to walk away if you don’t think the price is good, it will usually be agreed to if it looks like you’re leaving! 

Cover up – there were a lot of similarities between the covered streets of the souks to the winding markets of India, but in India it’s just never-ending staring, in Marrakech it was lewd words muttered by most men we passed and swear words shouted at us down the street when I glared at them… not pleasant!

Be careful in the Medina at night time – I only went in the day and I don’t think I’d be comfortable on my own at night at all. 

Similar to the urchins at Love International festival… this time watch out for the spiky cactuses!! If you do get some in your leg/arm/butt just pop into the lovely friendly guys in the well equipped medical room, they’ll have it out in a jiffy and if you’re lucky like me they might give you an Arabic lesson in the meantime! 

Some more general Marrakech tips coming soon in a separate post… you can find more festivals around the world here! xx

Beat Hotel Festival, Marrakech Morocco '19 Delicious music, culinary delights, more than a dollop of cultcha and an escape to the far-flung deserts of Morroco at the end of miserable March??