According to my boss the infamous nightmission involves leaving work around the usual time, heading straight to the airport, flying to a foreign country for a big night out before an early morning flight back the next day in time for work. During work drinks this is a topic that constantly cropped up and occasionally after one too many we would make it to the payment section on SkyScanner before getting cold feet and cancelling the order…
Unable to find anyone to try it with me I decided to defer to a Saturday night, after all I couldn’t bear being insanely hung over on my own in the office. There is a festival in Prague that I have always wanted to go to but have never been able to persuade anyone to join. This was perfect!
So there I was heading off to Southend Airport on my own to attempt a Nightmission at Transmission Festival. As I neared the airport it dawned on me, what the hell am I doing?! This seemed like a bad idea, I was already nervous and tired but was luckily calmed down on the flight by a nice Czech who sparked up a conversation taking my mind off what was to come. They also took pity on me in the airport as I struggled with the transport passes and kindly walked me to the correct bus stop.
As dusk turned to night and as the heat dissipated, it was time for food and festival beer pregame! After the first Staropramen I soon relaxed and was ready for the event! Walking to the subway I stumbled across an open air festival in the main square where the rappers PSH were entertaining a large crowd with their catchy rhymes!
The O2 Arena was somewhat chaotic with long undefined queues trying to pile through a small entrance on the north side! I hear 30-50 people didn’t get in because the arena ran out of paper to print their tickets on!!! One group had drove 9 hours to be there!!!
As soon as I got inside, I knew this was going to be a big night! The atmosphere was electric the outfits were skimpy and revealing and spirits were certainly high!
Transmission is all about good music, community spirit and of course their infamous laser shows! Throughout the night the lasers kept building and building and after the opening ceremony I didn’t think the showpiece could improve but with every DJ introduction and set they raised the bar. The fact that the beers were priced at £2 it was quite a cheap night.
Wandering around I was fortunate to meet a few locals and of course many brits, this festival is popular in the UK! The easiest way to make friends is to take the flag of your home country, you get people coming over for photos and fellow brits coming over to see where you have come from and your experiences! As the crowd thinned out, I made my way to the front of the stage to a small group waving Union Jacks and The Flag of Scotland! With barely an introduction I was told to keep dancing and wave my flag as they were filming Markus Schulz’s new music video and we were in it… I am yet to know if this is true as the video still hasn’t surfaced.
Leaving an hour before the end walking out in to the cold driving rain, I was accosted by taxi drivers wanting over £150 to drive me to the airport! Luckily, I found a £38 Uber and was soon relaxing in an airport lounge drinking water trying to stay awake for my flight home! There were four other festival goers on my flight, one who was returning to London for the Eagles Jaguars game at Wembley before getting a National Express bus back home to Manchester – I have a lot of respect for this guy!
Overall, it was a great trip, and I would recommend to anyone out there who wants to do something but can’t find anyone to go with… do it anyway! I met some great people and look forward to seeing them again at the next festival in Utrecht.
All except the green/blue laser image were kindly provided by Transmission Festival (Twitter: @TransmissionPRG)
