You remember that week a little while ago when London was hot and sunny for a whole 5 days??? Well just as that glorious time ended we hopped on a plane to an expected 25 degrees in Barcelona. What awaited us was actually a consistent 33+ degrees and a lot of techno.
I first went to Sonar in 2005 and had not been back. I've either not had the funds or not liked the line ups and only last year did I venture back, for Off Sonar. In 2005 I heard rumour of Jeff Mills playing in a small bar round the corner from our hostel for free entry and thought it was lies. Off Sonar was not so much of a thing then. Last year I discovered it was a big deal and this year it appears to have blown up out of all proportion - everything decent sold out really fast and ticket prices (thanks to a new tax from the Spanish government, are now also far higher than previous years. 2012 was like my techno re-birth. I've always loved techno but had not been hanging out with any real techno fans for some years and Off Sonar 2012 with DSL and friends was me diving right back in. I had no idea who I was seeing DJ most of the time and was taken to nights I knew nothing about. It was generally amazing aside from the fact that the boys favoured night events so the only daylight I got for 5 days was the walks of shame home and coffee on the terrace when we got back, before sleep. You can go clubbing in London over a bank holiday weekend 3 nights in a row and probably get a roof terrace venue involved these days. Why bother going abroad for that?!
