Secret Island Festival 2025, on the magical Isle of Mersea in Essex. A gathering of musically minded individuals gathered together in a field overlooking the picturesque Strood causeway that straddles the marshy landscape where the North Sea ebbs and flows throughout the year in majestic dance driven by the rhythm of the moon. These crowds of people from many walks of Anglian life stand, move, sway, ebb and flow, not to the urging of the celestial bodies but to the beats & bleeps of the music makers and the music players. From noon through sun set and into the dark hours nearing midnight, these revellers free themselves from the drudgery of every day life and dance as if set free from the shackles of the law makers and the policy makers and the tax collectors, even if for only a precious few hours.
As a local of Colchesterean it is with self confessed astonishment that your humble narrator integrated himself into this tribe of weekend anarchists for the very first time this year, this the 3rd or 4th iteration of this gathering. It’s bizarre in the fact I loves my music in all its forms (well almost all) and not a day goes by when I am not plugged into sounds and rhythms that free the mind and soul and enables me to get through each day. So I really do not understand why I have not been before, its right on my doorstep. If I hadn’t been able to cadge a lift home I could have walked it !! or slept at a mates just up the road, or even on the Beach! although I suspect I would have regretted that last option, or any outcome that didn’t involved getting a lift home to my bed if truth be told..
The festival lays on no less than 6 separate tented stage areas to satisfy music lovers, with DJ’s playing chill, Reggae, Jazz, House in all its forms, drum & bass and this year a live stage showcasing regional talent. There be food and drink aplenty and even a VIP area for those special people. There’s more plastic toilets than you’ll see anywhere else in a single day, and oddly a small tent thing shaped like a vagina, which your humble narrator must confess was too scared to look inside. It had everything you’d need for a day by the sea while indulging in whatever musical fantasy took your fancy.
I rocked up early in the day with the Deepr Crew to help set up the house and chill stages, most of the work having been done the day before. Final preparations were being carried out right across the site in what I must say was a very relaxed manner. And it wasn’t long before the first punters trickled in right on time for the midday kick off, when the sound checks had been done and first beers of the day cracked open.
I had a good wander around checking out each stage and was mighty impressed by the work and the no expense spared on putting this event on. It’s a proper do. The main stage was huge with a wall of screens and lights high up on the alter of sound where the likes of Mike Skinner and Stanton Warriors played.
The D&B tent although smaller and less equipped was still a fine stage for that big fast dirty beats sound that evolved in the UK and holds a special place for many energetic souls.
The live stage was small but again well thought out and provided the performing artists a proper platform to rock their shit out.
The House and Chill areas were back to back, hosted by Baz Briggs, Roots & Grooves and Deepr House crews, and it was here that I spent the majority of my day amongst friends old and new. On the edge of the site with views out over the Strood it was a gorgeous spot to camp out, and the sounds the guys and girls forced out of the sound systems was of the highest order.
Visits to the VIP area had to be made however, for a measure of peace and calm in a lovely setting designed and sponsored by Harmeston Consultants, who told me earlier in the week they did so because “Great experiences are built in the details. That’s why Harmeston is sponsoring the VIP area at Secret Island Festival“, but I got the impression because they also love the doof doof doof of House music and a good wiggle of the ol’ toosh. It was a lovely space, perfect to relax in, best toilets in the house, freebies of fans and sunglasses on every table, and of course a DJ booth churning out suitably chiliastic sounds. I caught up with Kerry and Steve Ramsey later in the afternoon with the aim to discuss things further but by then I was “pretty spangled” as someone put it so the interview wasn’t what I had planned.
But when I wasn’t smooching with the sponsors and making use of the facilities in the VIP area, it was at the Deepr stage and Roots & Grooves stage that I bopped, staggered around a bit, talked rubbish, made new friends, caught up with old friends and generally had a marvellous time. I can say for certain that this event is now carved into my calendar for next year and all the years to come that the organisers are happy to do their thing for the people of Essex and beyond.
I highly recommend this festival to all and sundry, especially people of Essex and Suffolk which are lucky enough to have this type of event on their doorstep. Close enough to be convenient, far enough from residents to not be a bother to anyone, in a beautiful countrified setting and full of party people having a jolly good time. Bravo Secret Island Festival, it was a blast….
