#freekuency

Our Freekuency posts are nearly at an end and we hope you’ve enjoyed them; these scenes look as iconic as Glastonbury 20 years ago did, but they can in no way do justice to the size of this incredible free festival.

30,000 people in just as many vans, 5 days of music, 1 enormous field and 1 muddy swimming hole to cool off in. 4 music tents, a pirate ship, a Transformer, a fire-breathing dragon and a burnt out car. 2 blinding nights, 3 sleepless ones, 1 big group of friends and a thousand memories to last a lifetime.

Thankyou Portugal, for being the most amazing country once again.

Freekuency felt less like a festival and more like a gathering of like-minded people, a sort of autonomous community that sprung up overnight just for one weekend of crazy fun. There was simply a good feeling in the air, a sense of mutual respect and understanding among vandwellers. 

Campfires and BBQs sprung up and smoked in the dusty Spring air, people sat talking among the fields of golden wild flowers, heavy drumbeats from an array of music genres wove together and drifted over from huge circus tents.

As many vans as there were arriving, there were just as many cars setting up their tents, lorries roaring by, assortments of vintage buses and removal vans and army trucks and even a handful of LDVs clustered together. One lorry got itself stuck in the mud and spent the subsequent weekend digging himself out with the assistance of tractors. By Sunday a group of 4x4s had sunk up to their bumpers in mud when the rain hit. A few brave people swam in the murky, freezing lake- we were not one of them.

So many stories, so many memories, one unforgettable weekend.

As we wandered around dusty dirt tracks, we marvelled at this festival the scale of which we had never seen. It was a paradise for free spirits, a haven for hippies young and old, a creative space, a grassy field flattened by thousands of muddy bare feet. There were stalls selling vegan food, quirky clothes, glow sticks and goggles and “magic balloons”. There was a fire-breathing dragon, a life-size Transformer, acrobats and even a rusted out car which quickly became an art project.

At first it sat in the field, looking as though it had been dumped before the festival set up, but we later realised it may have been put there on purpose. People started gathering around it, covering it with spray paint graffiti and Sharpie marks, until none of the corroded metal was left. The next time we saw it it had been turned upside down and a fire lit inside, two or more people sat in the boot warming their fronts against the cold. By the end of the weekend there was nothing left of it, a hollow shell, and it seemed obvious now that it had been intended as some kind of collaborative art project.

That just seemed to sum up the weekend for us; a gathering of people not with one vision but with many different, unique visions, all coming together to celebrate, create and be free.

We never built our van with festivals in mind, but now we've experienced them with her it would be hard to live without. Our van is a home away from home, bumping eagerly down dirt tracks and across farmer's fields in search of the next party. She sits proudly amongst the sea of vans, not the biggest, not the brightest and certainly not the loudest, but quietly self-assured, a testament to sloppy rusty British engineering. We pile into her at the end of the night or when the rain hits, her floor and wheels caked in muddy footprints, and sometimes when the party falls through she becomes a six man self-contained rave with her soundsystem and flashing lights (FYI they're not meant to flash, it's just dodgy wiring). She's always with us, always waiting, a safe, cosy little space we can call our own. Home in the middle of a muddy field.

Shoutout to @the_mebster and his girlfriend @sukiinwonderland for recognising our van from Instagram and coming over to say hey at Freekuency Festival They’re a Portuguese couple converting their Iveco truck while living in it in- good luck to you both, and stay awesome.