MANTRA TATTOO

Skin Deep Mantra Festival 2003 Review

February 2004

They say there is no such thing as a racing certainty but I had a hot tip for the last weekend in August at Cheltenham racecourse - the 2nd Mantra Tattoo Festival was going to be one of the most talked about events on the 2003 tattoo calendar! The second year of any show is almost more important than the first, particularly so for the Mantra crew, in the light of their hugely successful 2002 show. You have to prove to your punters, old and new; that your show was not just a flash-in-the-pan one-off and that you can put on an even bigger and better one second time around. Well, I'm here to tell you that the Mantra crew did not disappoint.

The weather was sunny and warm the whole weekend of the show, making the going good for the thousands of tattoo fans who turned out for the event. The queues began building outside the main doors a couple of hours before the doors opened. (Apparently the first person in the queue arrived at 6am, to ensure he got an appointment with tattooist Paul Booth who was making a rare visit to the UK to work at the Mantra show!) Entertainers were laid on to keep the queue amused while they waited for the doors to open.

Within minutes of the doors opening the huge function suite at Cheltenham Racecourse was a veritable river of tattooed (and non-tattooed) visitors, all keen to check out the exceptional line-up of tattooists from around the world. Whatever style of tattoo you favour there was someone there to amaze you with their high standard of work. Fro exquisite portraiture to wild life, from demonic imagery to vibrant traditional style, from quirky new school to hand worked Japanese and Polynesian tattooing, it was all in the line up at the Cheltenham show.

Mantra has always set out to be more of a festival of tattooing and entertainment rather than a conventional convention, so to speak. And the 2003 incarnation certainly delivered much more than just tattooing. Wherever you looked or walked you were met by celebrity look-alikes, magicians, balloon animal makers, jugglers, hot rod and low-rider cars, stilt walkers, human vampires, clowns, lost Arctic explorers (I kid you not!), break dancers, skateboarders and graffiti artists. Also on hand to entertain were the now legendary Paint Me Man (he dances, you daub paint on him - simple!) and the unique Lucky Diamond Rich, the world's most tattooed man, juggling machetes on his 14 foot unicycle. It was impossible to be bored with all that going on.

If shopping is your thing, Mantra had a huge selection of stalls laid out in one of the function rooms, where you could spend your winnings on all manner of leather and rubber clothing, boots, toys, knives, jewellery, natural cosmetics, t-shirts and books. Judging by the number of people walking round with carrier bags, most visitors seem to have bought something!

A room next to the tattooist's area was used for live bands and for the tattoo contest results and trophy presentation. A variety of bands played throughout the weekend including the Silver Needles - featuring top tattooist Tom Ptolomey on guitar and vocals! The tattoo contests were compered by the incomparable Martin Big Pig, who keeps the audience in stitches with his wit, whilst keeping the award ceremony running smoothly. As one of the judges, I can vouch for the fact that there were a huge number of entries for the contests with such a high standard of work that several categories had to be re-judged to decide tie-breaks. This final judging was done on stage in front of a large and appreciative audience.

The show ran over two days with Saturday being the quieter of the two, as one would expect, although it was still respectably busy. Sunday was a different story and was simply heaving with punters! Luckily the spacious design of the Racecourse function suite meant that nowhere seemed overcrowded, despite the numbers in attendance. The one exception to this was the tattooist's room. A bottle neck formed near the door, due to the layout, meaning entry and exit was a tad squashed at times. This is about the only criticism I would make of the show. A high class line up means large numbers of visitors wanting to watch the tattooists at work. The layout really needs to be well thought out to ensure a good view for everybody and no people jams at narrow points.

I talked to literally dozens of visitors at the second Mantra Show, as well as catching a chat with most of the working tattooists and traders. I really couldn't find anyone who wasn't having a great time! The show is family-friendly and attracts many people who do not normally go to tattoo conventions. This can only be a good thing for the public profile of our oft-maligned industry. The crew who organize the Mantra show (Mark, Paul and many, many more) put a Herculean effort into putting together a varied and entertaining show with some of the best tattooists in the world in attendance. They really have their work cut out equaling and bettering the show each year, but somehow, I think they will manage it. I might even bet on it!

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