Although most people associate Prague with music events in the Czech Republic, the Hradhouse Festival at Boskovice is now in it's 9th year and is in fact the second largest festival of its type in the Czech Republic. I must admit that I'd never heard of Boskovice, and only knew of Brno because my Czech friends had mentioned it.

So, I was pleased to see that there are direct flights from the UK with Ryanair which will cost you around £40 + taxes. Other alternatives are flying into Prague and travelling another 120 miles or so by bus/train/car. I'm investigating options here and will post an update when I have one.

You can find Boskovice on this Google Map.

Hey, if I may suggest, you better take the flight to Brno if it turns out to be cheap. If you'd take a flight to Prague, you'd have to go to Brno by bus (pretty cheap, cheaper than train, but still, at least 2.5 hrs) anyways cos as far as I know, there is no direct link Praha - Boskovice. Once you arrive there, be prepared for a kinda steep uphill trip to the ruins of the castle. However, if weather permits, expect a great party. This years line-up for the techno stage has been put up recently, there are rumours that Andy C will be the dnb headliner. Anyways, if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate.. :)

I am actually from Brno myself and I went to Hradhouse last year, for the first time...and although weather sucked big time, it was a lot of fun at an unusual venue....prolly #1 commercial festival last summer!

better take the flight to Brno

Yes! I originally booked the flight into Prague but as you say it makes to go Brno direct, and no, I think you have to change about 3 times on the Prague-Boskovice train which isn't good if you have limited Czech :-)

there are rumours that Andy C will be the dnb
as i understand it they are treating DnB as a bit of an also-ran.. I'm a big fan of Katcha so I want to see her play live. I'm hoping the organisers are going to start giving me a DJ list as it's a bit difficult to organise publicity for "35 anonymous DJs".. here's what I know so far:

Adam Beyer (Drumcode, Swe)
Marco Carola (Domino,Ita)
Sebastian Léger (Intec,Fr)
Christian Fischer (Definition,De)

steep uphill trip to the ruins of the castle
I'm staying 400m from the castle :-))

Thanks for the offer anyway - if you have any other useful tips or info then please keep in touch: at the moment I'm talking to DJs to get some promo tracks and pix for the web page i'm putting up.

So, you're not going this year?

Dekuji and na shledanou ;-)

they are treating DnB as a bit of an also-ran

I dare to disagree a bit with this part since last year they brought Pendulum and today I heard again that this year it should be Andy C...I think one big DnB name for such a small-scale festival is OK plus the best local djs get the chance to be introduced to bigger crowd than normally...I am not into techno at all so I will be a little bit biased but last year, the atmosphere seemed much nicer on the bit dnb stage cos people weren't bitching about the rain as much :D
lol maybe that is just my point of view...;)

I don't know if I'm going this year, all depends on the dnb line-up...since I am a student, my resources are limited and I can't just go to every party I'd like :D last summer I went to about 6 or 7 commercial and non-commercial festivals and I decided to keep it a bit concise this year...

There is a Creamfields party in Poland with a fat dnb line-up and also of course the UAF in Austria so I thought to stick to one of these. It also depends if I'm in the country at all...

Nevertheless, it is very close to my hometown so I'll wait for the names and then see...

Take care a uzij si Hradhouse!

PS: Katcha is a good choice I like her too ;)

Hiya :-)

DnB as a bit of an also-ran

Hmm.. yeah I guess with someone like Katcha turning up that will add a bit of weight to that genre. The trouble is that at the moment I'm waiting (a lot) for Mersey to announce the lineup so i'm having to go by what they said last year. I'm emailing as many DJs as I can find on last year's list and asking them for demo tracks that I'll be putting up on the web site along with some images. So far I've got one from Javas that's pretty good. I downloaded a Pendulum track and was very impressed..

bitching about the rain

You mean it rains in Moravia in Summer ? eek! I'm going to have get my camera a raincoat anyway. Still, it makes a change from snow I guess..

Creamfields party in Poland

yes! i looked at that last night and was really tempted but when I looked on the ticket site they didn't have many tickets left at all.. You're right though - so many parties to go to.. time and money *sigh*. I see to be doing quite a few in the UK this year.

One thing I would like to ask as a small favour (and you have until August) if poss is if you could translate the DSI spotter card into Czech and i'll print some up? I did the same when I went to Paris and they went down well. It's not the full text, just a summary. If that's ok i'll PM you with the text?

FYI.. If the T-Mobile network holds up I'll also be blogging it live with text and pix so you'll be able to follow it on the 'net.

Bye for now !

Peter

EVENT UPDATE

Folks! Here's the full and final lineup - if you're in Brno on Saturday then I'll catch you there.

Clockhouse Stage:
Adam Beyer (Drumcode, Swe)
Marco Carola (Zenit, It)
Christian Fischer (Definition, De)
Orbith (Sound of Mersey, CZ)
Hydrophonic (Sound of Mersey, CZ)
Ladida (Article, Roxy booking, CZ)
Loutka (Roxy booking, CZ)
Inger Svensson (Wien, At)
Javas (PE!, CZ)
Click Joe (Magion, CZ)

Semtex Dnb Stage:
Andy C + MC Rage (RAM, UK)
Red One (RAM, UK)
LOZ (Chibuku, UK)
Katcha (Roxy, CZ)
Koogi (Shadowbox, CZ)
Juanita Juarez aka Brooklyn (Horizons, CZ)
Cosmic Cube (ShitMusic, CZ)
Kiara (Female Pressure, SK)
X.morph + Flute (Redrum, CZ)
Marcco (Perpetuum, CZ)

Metro Luxury Stage:
Sebastien Léger (Intec, FR)
Tvyks (Radost FX, CZ)
Vectif (Radost FX, CZ)
Jerry (Apokalypsa, CZ)
Vik (Perpetuum, CZ)
Lillou (Roxy, CZ)
Louis Elio (Sound of Mersey, CZ)
Dan Cooley (Roxy, Cz)
Guga (Sound of Mersey, CZ)
Ibe (Perpetuum, CZ)

KLIKA mnml (minimal stage)
Raganova (sologroove/leporelo/SK)
Peal (leporelo/SK)
Subsist (klika/leporelo)
Ala (klika)
Hugo Strike (bastion)
Carl King (phonoline)
Insect Elektrika (central park prague) - LIVE
Mindhole (beatbutchery) - LIVE
Nakedman (d.k.)
Newmi LIVE (klika/letohrad crew)