HOLI ONE Festival: After

On Saturday, Beth and I attended the HOLI ONE Festival in Southampton. The tickets were offered to me as PR passes and being the first time that this has happened, I would consider it be a rather large milestone in my life as a blogger. More to the point, the festival was a unique experience that I am going to share with you over the course of two posts. This one as a little writeup and the next that will only consist of photos from the event.

The idea is that everyone goes in white and comes out colourful. Simple really. To go along with this I wore a white Oxford shirt from Next (found here) and some jean shorts which I cut from some slim jeans from Next that I don't wear any more (found here). 

For shoes I wore some beaten up blue suede brogues from Shore Leave. I bought them a few years ago and I have always been in love with them, however they're far too torn up to wear now. I felt like HOLI ONE would be fitting for their final outing (image later on).

The day started out with an impressive rainstorm, which easily dampens spirits when you know you're off to a festival. Somehow the sun was blinding people by 12pm and by 2pm it was as if there hadn't been rain in weeks. What did this miraculous turn of events call for? Yes, you guessed it: Alcohol.

 As with all festivals there tends to be a main beer sponsor and for HOLI ONE, it was Singha. The only beer available. I will admit that it wasn't to my taste and I felt a little cheated when spending £4.10 on 330ml of the stuff (the food pricing was rather steep as well). But beer is beer when you're in the sun and surrounded by happiness. I also don't know why I expected any cheaper from a festival.

The second picture was a taster of the cider sponsor for HOLI ONE and that was Savanna Dry. I am not a cider man and generally don't touch the stuff. The first time I was truly drunk was on cider and it was not pretty. Contrary to this I actually quite liked this cider, it was smooth and sweet, but I couldn't have had a whole can.

If neither beer, nor cider are to your taste and you fancies more of a frolicking fruity number, have no fear.

Cocktails and mocktails - for the designated drivers - were available to suit every tastebud (they were vile in my opinion but I don't like sweet things so my opinion doesn't count).

Next time I go to HOLI ONE Festival, I'd love to go to either the London one or one abroad. Southampton was fantastic but I felt like I wanted to be with more people at a bigger venue.

Furthering this, the music (apart from one or two groups) was founded on DJs and felt rather repetitive. This was not helped by the guy who was on the stage all day continuously shouting the phrase 'What is it?'. Seriously, that was pissing me off by the time I left.

On the other hand...

... The powder was freakin' awesome.

For about fifteen seconds of each hour, hundreds of people held their breath, thrusted upwards and launched powder of orange, yellow, green, blue, purple or pink into the air. This proceeded to consume everyone with vivid and glorious colour, making for some rather awe-inspiring photos.

I'd recommend that if you ever go (and I think you should), definitely wrap your camera. That dust is harmless to your lungs and eyes, but will seep into every nook and cranny of your camera if you don't cling-film the shit out of it. What you see below was not enough to stop the pesky powder.

Luckily I didn't have my camera on me when this happened...

This is the product of mixing pink powder with water and having someone throw it at you (overarm).

HOLI ONE is a festival for anyone who wants a unique experience and I would definitely recommend going. If there's one around you this year then go to it and if there isn't, find a way to go next year. You'll want to go with a group of friends to make the most of it, each with at least five bags of powder and go nuts.

Poor shoes.

Cheers guys,

O&U.

(All images of me were taken by Beth from The Vintage Youth)