Laurent Garnier (3hr Set)
The late eighties Manchester club scene has an awful lot to be thanked for, giving rise to everything from the superclub to acid house and influencing countless DJs and producers, but perhaps the scene's greatest and most surprising triumph was the emergence of a young French DJ by the name of Laurent Garnier.
At the age of 18 Laurent moved to these shores after securing a job as a waiter at the French Embassy in London. Little did he know that his arrival in the city would coincide with the beginning of the acid house explosion which immediately caught the young Frenchman's imagination and his already fervid interest in beat driven music.
A year or so later and his love of the dance music led him to Manchester, by far the most exciting place on the planet at time, and to a little club called The Hacienda. Already set up as a DJ, a chance meeting with The Hacienda's resident Mike Pickering led to Laurent playing the club, under the moniker of DJ Pedro and the first chapter of a house music legend had been born.
A stint of national service followed before Laurent found himself in New York listening to and learning from great innovators such as Frankie Knuckles. On his return to France he discovered a dearth of exciting nightlife and made it his mission to reinvigorate Paris' clubbing scene pretty much single handedly.
His popularity in Paris led to him touring the world and by the close of the early nineties his reputation as one of the worlds finest and most intelligent DJs had been cemented.
The reason for Laurent Garnier's success is simple. His ability to absorb and interpret emerging musical trends, be it the early Detroit sound of the late eighties or the disco revival of the nineties makes him one of the most opened minded men in the business, as likely to drop a sweet slab of drum and bass or hip hop as he is the pounding techno for which he is more immediately recognised. He's also one of the nicest blokes you'd ever wish to meet and his enthusiasm for what he does is legendary and hugely infectious.
And so it's with great excitement that Bestival present to you one of the worlds finest exponents of dance music for a mammoth 3 hour set that will allow the great man to take you on a journey that we promise you will never forget.
www.laurentgarnier.com