Tribal Gathering

Tribal Gathering
File:Tribalg.jpg Tribal Gathering 1995 album cover
Genre	Drum and bass, techno, rave and house
Years active	1993-2006
Founded by	Paul Shurey, Rob Vega

Tribal Gathering was a dance music festival that catered for different types of dance music cultures such as drum and bass, techno, rave and house.

History

The original promoters of Universe (Paul Shurey, Rob Vega, Roger Spurrell, Tennant and Jill Trick) had been organising events since the heady days of 1989 when raves such as Sunrise, Raindance and Perception were in their pomp. They wanted to organise an event to bring together the different sub-cultures of the dance world and also to have a festival feel to it.

The first Tribal Gathering took place Friday 30 April 1993 at Lower Pertwood Farm, Warminster, Wiltshire, England. 25,000 people attended to see acts such as diverse as Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox, Slipmatt, The DiY Sound System and Pete Tong.

In March 1994 they opened the legendary London night club 'Final Frontier', at Club UK in Wandsworth. Weekly nights ran for several years, relocating in 1997 to the Complex Club in Islington. Each week featured numerous headline dj's and live acts, the likes of which had never been seen before. A proud moment for the promoters was when 'Final Frontier' was voted number 5 in Musik Magazines top 50 clubs of all time, just behind Studio 54, Dorian Gray, Paradise Garage and Limelight.

Also in 1993 the Universe - World Techno Tribe compilation CD was released in Europe on Rising High Records, on Sony Music in Japan and Moonshine Music in the USA. Compiled and mixed by Mr Oz it reached number 4 in the Gallup album charts. Subsequent CDs were later released on MMS records and FFRR.

The Criminal Justice Bill of 1994 discouraged massive outdoor raves. In 1994 Tribal Gathering moved to Munich Germany and in cooperation with "N.A.S.A/ Hannover Nice And Safe Attitude" managed to stage one of the most exciting event in Munich and Universe/Tribal Gathering was selected as the best event in Germany in 1994.

In the UK Tribal Gathering teamed up with the Mean Fiddler organisation to organise more legal festivals. The next event took place in May 1995, UK Tribal Gathering at Otmoor Park, Beckley, Oxfordshire. Headline acts included The Prodigy, Orbital and Moby

The 1996 version of the UK Tribal Gathering, took place in June at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire with 30,000 turning up for to see sets by Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, Black Grape, Goldie, Daft Punk and others.

In 1997, at Luton Hoo, Kraftwerk were the headliners of the festival, playing for the first time in the UK since 1992. The show was a monumental success, even though there was no new material released since The Mix.

By 1998, the Tribal Gathering name had grown into a brand. There were albums, a TV Show and plans to establish events worldwide in the pipeline. However their things did not go to schedule and the 1998 event did not take place due to Universe and Mean Fiddler's legal battle of the Tribal Gathering name.

By 1999 David Vincent's buy's the Tribal Gathering name off Paul Shurey & Ian Jenkinson with the aim to bringing the event back to life.

The Tribal Gathering name was revived in 2000 at the legendary Sankeys Soap club, Manchester. The "Tribal Sessions" event took place at the club with DJ's generally playing Acid House. In 2003 Tribal Gathering held the first legal warehouse party for over 10 years in a "secret" Manchester location, which turned out to be a warehouse previously used as a set for the movie 24 Hour Party People, in which it was decorated to replicate The Haçienda nightclub.

In July 2005, a Tribal Gathering festival was organized, in aid of the war victims in Darfur, Sudan, to take place again at Luton Hoo but it was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks that took place on July 7 in London.

See also

• List of electronic music festivals

External links

• Flyer for the 1996 Tribal Gathering event