A Beginner’s Guide to NASS festival
Three day weekend with banging drum’n’bass, hip hop, grime and extreme sports? Yes please, right? Welcome to NASS festival; an alternative festival experience that celebrates music that gets you up for a full 360 rodeo twist and gives you the gear and the skate ramp to do it. This one is an absolute blast for extreme sports fans, actively encouraging to bring your BMX, skateboard or whatever your ride and get involved in one of the best music and sporting thrills the UK has to offer. If you’re not a rider yourself that’s not a bother, because top professional riders from around the world will be coming to compete in the Pro Park and Vert tournaments meaning you’ll be able to witness the best of the best with tunes in your ears and a beer in hand. Few things in life are as good, and Licklist is here to tell you what you need to know about this shredding little jewel in Somerset.
Let’s talk line up, boys and girls. The duke of the double drop himself, Mr Andy C is coming to perforate some eardrums on Friday night so get your camping tickets in early to come see the man wreck some decks. Coming up on Saturday night music and sport collide as the Jurassic 5 are making the most of their time in the UK, headlining the Saturday to bring in some cultivated vintage hip hop to frame some glorious talent at the BMX World Championships. Legendary peddlebeast Matt Hoffman, the Condor himself, will be in attendance to remind folk why he is widely considered one of the greatest BMX riders in written history. On Sunday, London’s new top boy Stormzy is gonna cut his teeth and spit serious fire in his headlining act on Sunday. Special mentions go out to Modestep, Rat Boy and Bugzy Malone included in the sublistings. These guys are on course to make your weekend. Get your eye in early as this year’s line up is a monster.
Special mention to the other entertainment on display here. Not simply content with carnival rides or ferris wheels - though they have those too - NASS is celebrating the grimey marriage of urban sport and urban music. Keep your eyes open for the venerated yearly breakdancing tournament, the international inline skating competitions, drift trikes, skate outlets, free running expos and urban graffiti battles. We don’t even know what that last one is but we don’t want to miss it. This one isn’t just a festival, its a fireworks display of an entire urban subculture. There’s a lot more to see and do outside of the colossal line up so look ahead to see whats on offer
Info dump incoming here; NASS have also revised their ticket process by offering multiple ticket options to all you revellers. First off is Weekend Camping options priced at £109 or the VIP alternative at £175 - this gives you queue skip privileges as well as access to the VIP campsite and amenities and the competing athletes will also be hanging out here. Next up are the single day passes priced at £39 (absolute steal if you live locally) plus a Campervan option at £35. Bear in mind though that there is no discounted option for those only interested in seeing the music or the sport; its the full package only at NASS where there is a real incentive to get folk involved in sports they may not have tried and music they may not have heard. We at Licklist are in full support of that so check out the info page here, get your tickets booked for 8-10 July 2016 and keep an open mind because you’re gonna see and hear some special things. We’ll see you in the crowds, folks!
By Kyle Cairns