Slam Tent: Enter the rave cave

One of the highlights for every festival-goer at Balado, not to mention the stars who want to chill out, is the Slam Tent. Rosanna Chianta asks the top DJs why this is one gig of the year they don't want to miss

DAVE CLARKE, DJ

It's a really good atmosphere in the Slam Tent. I've always enjoyed playing there because it's down to earth, and when you get down to earth people, you get real emotions coming through. If I don't play it once every couple of years, I'm sad.

Honestly, I would go as far to say that T in the Park is probably the best festival for across the board acts. The production is really good. For me, it's the closest version of a European festival that you can ever get in the UK.

A lot of other festivals here don't really have facilities backstage, and I'm not talking about artists who want to have massages. I'm talking about comfortable areas where you can sit down and relax before your set and have food that's not going to poison you and take you off the circuit for two months. T in the Park has that. You can be backstage having profiteroles with Kim Deal (of The Pixies], and that's a really nice vibe.


LAURENT GARNIER, DJ

There are few festivals I have a strong relationship with, and T in the Park is definitely one of them. In France we used to distribute Soma Records, so I've got a long history with them. It's like working for the family.

The Scottish crowd has always been extremely warm and very open-minded. They're quite special. Scotland and Ireland have some of the best crowds in the world. Maybe it's something they put in your bottle as kids, I don't know.

Every single time it's amazing. Well, apart from the last one. it was during the World Cup Final and they were projecting it while I was playing live. It was horrible, we were playing while Zidane headbutted that Italian.

I've seen a lot of great things at T in the Park. Underground Resistance and 2 Many DJs rocked it so much.

This year I'm not DJing, I'm playing live. The first time I played live there, which was a long time ago, we played a track called 'Flashback' and the whole place went ballistic. It was like a moment of grace.


GRAEME REEDIE, SILICONE SOUL DJ

It's two days of the best electronic, house and techno artists playing in a fantastic tent with a first-rate sound system and possibly the best crowd in the world. We've done the first set on the Saturday a couple of times and the minute the Slam Tent opens, the place just fills up and goes crazy. The last time we played there was great fun and several folk brought out Saltires and Lion Rampants. It brought a tear to the eye.

I've yet to really see anything that matches the Scottish crowd, and it's just bedlam at T in the Park. It seems to have something a wee bit extra. The sound system is quite something and the visuals are really outstanding. Absolutely everything is Grade A in the Slam Tent.


MR SCRUFF, DJ

It's such a legendary event. I was thoroughly impressed with every aspect of it last time. Stuart and Orde (the Slam DJs] have such a history in Glasgow and it's good to see local people still in charge of such a massive tent. You can tell the Slam Tent has been programmed by people who really know their music. Last time I was there, from 2pm until the end of the day, the whole tent was just rammed. Seeing that at a festival without it ebbing and flowing is pretty incredible. You only get that when it's set up and programmed really well.

This year I'm on before Laurent Garnier and it's great to be in such good company. Last time I played after Coldcut and before Underground Resistance, and I can think of worse people to be playing before and after. It's good to feel part of a whole day that's fluid and continues building momentum. You're feeling it how the crowd would feel it: you're up there for an hour and a half, but you've got to make yourself part of a whole day.

I know whenever I come to Scotland it's going to be mental, but in a good way. What you get is a proper crowd who are really into music. That combination is unbeatable. A proper, no-holds-barred party.


DAVID CLARKE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SLAM EVENTS

We spend months putting the line-up together. It's something we sleep, eat and breathe. We're always determined to make each year as good as the last.

We've got a line-up we're really happy with. We've mixed it up and thrown in a few unusual things, for example, The Streets are playing live this year and normally they wouldn't be seen as a dance act, but lyrically and musically I think they'll go down well.

Over the years we've had people like Hot Chip, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, along with some of the techno stuff we're more traditionally known for, like Jeff Mills or Richie Hawtin. We try not to be too self-indulgent, but we make sure we've got a few artists that we really want to show off. This year there's some newer guys like Joris Voorn and Ben Sims playing, and Boys Noize for the first time, following The Streets. That's going to be an exciting time to be in there.

We're lucky in that a lot of the DJs we're booking do want to come and play. We're not having to throw too much money at them. I've still got a copy of a fax from Daft Punk saying, "Look, we're definitely going to play the first Slam Tent". There was no big contract needed. Then they had a 10-year hiatus where they didn't play anywhere, so that became such a cult moment for people. Mylo, who's played there a couple of times, calls it "the big blue cave of rave".