With a phenomenal line up and hot location Chloe Addo was keen to check out the 2008 SW4 festival hype- but was it all worth it?

South West Four otherwise known as the SW4 festival took place on the Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend. The gig formed one day of the Clapham Weekender which saw the biggest names in dance music take over Clapham common on Saturday and indie bands on Sunday.

Despite coinciding with one of the biggest dance festivals in the UK, Creamfields, SW4 hooked in big name acts including Layo & Bushwacka, Fedde Le Grand, Erick Morillo (as pictured below) and the one and only Carl Cox- who all performed fierce sets on the main stage.

The festival was absolutely amazing and the number of dance junkies within the festival grounds was much larger than expected- without being too crowded. Walking from stage to stage was easy and everyone along the way was up for a chat, drink and dance!

While Carl Cox was destined to perform an outstanding set (and lived up to the dream), it was Erick Morillo who pulled out some of the freshest tunes for the summer afternoon, opening his set with remixes of 90’s R&B band Jodeci and their huge single “Freek'n You”. There was no expecting such a slick remix and as usual the crowd loved Morillo’s remixing flair- demonstrating why he’s a true house king.

Other acts gracing the 3 additional stages of the SW4 festival included Armin Van Buuren, Sander Van Doorn, Sister Bliss, Sven Bliss and Nic Fanciulli- just to name a few.

While the line up was packed with stars the gig itself was relatively small, or let’s say medium sized to be fair- which was great. Queues for cider, hot dogs and chips weren’t ridiculously long and if you headed to the loos nearest the main stage you could be in and out in no time (and the loos were pretty clean!).

The crowd here were fun and friendly and mostly filled with twenty-somethings either sporting some luminous item, big shades or the bare chest look.

Drink and food prices were reasonable with beer, wine and cider varying from around £2- £3.80 and hotdogs and chips approximately £3.00.

The 2008 SW4 festival was a huge success and definitely a gig you need to go to next year. To keep your eye on the prize go to: www.southwestfour.com