There's only two more sleeps to go until this year's South West Four (SW4) London Festival. One of London's biggest annual outdoor dance music events, once again SW4 will bring together some of the biggest names in progressive house, trance, house, techno and breaks. SW4 London takes place this Saturday, August 26th, 2006 at Clapham Common from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.

RA previews the SW4 London festival with a look at what to expect in each arena, how to get to both the main festival and afterparty plus quotes from a few of the DJs spinning at the festival.

S is for superstar DJ

Cox, Digweed, Tong and Oakenfold are some of the biggest names in British dance music. But it's not often they get a chance to touch down in London and play on home soil. For the second year in a row, SW4 brings all of them together on one day/night in London.

This year SW4 is also looking to the future of English dance music with the rising stars of the progressive scene Nic Fanciulli and Desyn Masiello and on the bill. Elsewhere Mr.C, Smokin' Jo, Tim Sheridan and Jo Mills will bring the underground sounds of European house and techno and the vibe of Superfreq, DC10 and Space nights in Ibiza.

W is for Wales

For the first time in 2006, a South West Four Cardiff event will take place on the Sunday August 27th, 2006 in Wales. So if you need to head west to pay gran a visit over the Bank Holiday Weekend you can pretty much catch the same line-up over yonder, give or take a few names. See the event details for SW4 Cardiff here and its afterparty for more information.

4 is for four arenas

SW4 includes four arenas: Outdoor, Essential London, HeatUK, Serious & The Gallery and Ibizan Underground. Here's the lowdown on each stage...

Site Map
South West Four 2006, Site Map, Clapham Common

South West Four 2006, Site Map, Clapham Common

Arena One: Outdoor Arena

"SW4 is a unique festival atmosphere at the heart of London and it's great that it's success has now taken it to Cardiff too. The chance to see some of the biggest DJ's in the world together on the same stage doesn't happen very often and with the likes of Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold you can expect something very memorable. Not only that but SW4 is now bringing some fantastic talent like Desyn Masiello and Paolo Mojo to greater attention. Expect a mix of the best electronic music anywhere in the world that weekend."

-- John Digweed, SW4 2006 Outdoor Arena DJ

What: The Outdoor Arena is where you can catch the three big guns: Coxy doing his tribal funky techno vs oldskool MC voiceovers, Diggers tapping the proggy end of electrohouse and the German end of prog plus Oakey belting out his guitar-driven electronica and trance. Girls will want to get close to the front to see international bright young things Desyn Masiello and James Zabiela plus there's also latest Fabric pick Stanton Warriors busting out their new minimal booty breaks.

Who: Carl Cox, John Digweed, Tall Paul, Sander Kleinenberg, Crazy P (live), Paul Oakenfold, Stanton Warriors, James Zabiela, Desyn Masiello

Arena Two: Essential London

"I’ve got a lot of friends involved in SW4, with both the promotion side and obviously The Gallery crowd who I’ve worked with forever so working with everyone on this is really exciting…"

-- Pete Tong, SW4 2006 Essential London DJ

What: Essential London means essential house and that means Essential Selection's Pete Tong. Tong will be supported by a live performance from the Shapeshifters, the dirty electro, tech and prog house of Steve Lawler, eclectic house, prog, disco and bang-the-crap techno from Danny Howells plus shooting prog star Nic Fanciulli.

Who: Pete Tong, Shapeshifters (live), Seb Fontaine, Danny Howells, Steve Lawler, Nic Fanciulli

Arena Three: HeatUK, Serious & The Gallery

Fergie, SW4 2006 Heat UK, Serious & The Gallery DJ

"Yeah this is gonna be great - I am so looking forward to it. To be a part of the big festival is something that I will enjoy very much indeed."

-- Fergie, SW4 2006 Heat UK, Serious & The Gallery DJ

What: Serious is the the commercial house and trance label celebrating ten years in the business in 2006 and this stage is part of its celebrations. Expect hard, fast ravey beats from clubland veterans Judge Jules, Tall Paul and Mauro Picotto as well as Fergie from Radio 1. This is the place to try out those new whistles and horns.

Who: Ian Betts, Matt Hardwick, Mauro Picotto, Judge Jules, Tall Paul, Fergie, Simon Patterson

Arena Four: Ibizan Underground

"I'm so excited about doing SW4 this coming Saturday as it's my only festival booking throughout the whole summer. It's also a pleasure and an honour to be doing the Ibiza-voice tent who do an amazing job on getting the news of Ibiza out there globally. I'm so whole heartedly going to smash it to little bits and scramble a few heads.... come witness the carnage!"

-- Mr. C, SW4 2006 Ibizan Underground DJ

What: Ibiza-voice is the online mag we just couldn't get by without in the summer and this year their co-hosting a stage at SW4 featuring some of the best DJs to leave the mark, but not their brain, on the island. Expect to hear the underground sounds of electro, techno and house heard at Superfreq (Mr.C), DC-10 (Clive Henry and Jo Mills) and Club Space (Smokin' Jo and Tim Sheridan).

Who: Smokin Jo, Mr. C, Oliver Lang, Jo Mills, Tim Sheridan, Clive Henry

How to get to Clapham Common

Last year 20,000 people attended SW4 London so it's best to leave the car at home and take public transport instead. You can easily get to Clapham Common:

By Tube:Take the Northern Line to Clapham Common Station

By Train: Take the train from London Victoria or LondonBridge to Clapham High Street Station

By Bus: Take buses 35, 37, 88, 137, 155, 255, 345, 355, 417 or night buses N35, N37, N155, N137 or N345.

The SW4 Official Afterparty

SW4 finishes at 9 p.m. but if trance and dirty electro and vocal house are your cup of tea then kick onto the official SW4 London afterparty at the Brixton Academy starting from 10 p.m. The headlining DJ is Armin van Buuren who recently scooped a bunch of trophies in the Trance Awards plus you can catch the latest Dutch trance export Sander Van Doorn. Need time out from those arpeggiators? Dirty house and recent electrohouse converts King Unique will also be spinning in the foyer.

Matt Thomas from King Unique, SW4 2006 London afterparty DJ

"We’re chuffed to bits me old china, gaw blimey trousers and all that (note to readers - this is authentic London Cockney speak). It’s the first time we’re taking our Curfew Time night out on the road so we intend to drown South London in a deluge of loud electronic dirt. We’ve signed loads of new tracks to Curfew that we’re looking forward to playing out for the first time, and we’re busy chopping up special KU edits of our favourite tracks. See you all by the apples and pears, lends us a monkey guvnor, my old man’s a dustman etc."

-- Matt Thomas from King Unique, SW4 2006 London afterparty DJ

Getting there:

The Brixton Academy is about a 1.5 mile hop from Clapham Common. It'll take about thirty-minutes on foot to get there but by the time the main festival is over it should feel like much less. You can also catch buses 322, 345 or 35 - be sure to get off at the right stop otherwise you'll end up in trendy Shoreditch and have to get loose to minimal clicks and blips.

Main Room: Judge Jules, Armin Van Buuren, Sander Van Doorn, John Askew, Ian Betts, Gavyn Mytchel

Foyer, The Balcony & VIP Room: King Unique, PUSH and Formula DJs, Bambina & Digital Love

How to snap up last-minute tickets

Advance tickets for SW4 London have sold out but a limited number of tickets will be available at the festival gates on the day.

Tickets for the SW4 London Afterparty at the Brixton Academy priced from £20-27 are still on sale at Ticketmaster

Check the official South West Four website for latest updates and set times closer to the event. Here's hoping the rain stays away...