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Soul Town Festival is one of the UK’s foremost soul, disco, Motown and reggae celebrations. It welcomed over 10000 people this year to an all new festival site in Beckenham, specifically Croydon Recreation Ground, which was a lush green space converted with multi stages and a great array of extras to keep people of all ages entertained.
We were there for the second day of fun on September 3rd, a Sunday, which came alive to music from legends like UB40, jazz-funk greats Incognito, pop prince Peter Andre, Odyssey and so many more. Teh sound systems were great throughout – everything came nice and loud and clear, while extra production added even more levels of fun. The sun was beating down too which really made it extra special.
As we live in a social media age this is a great festival that bears that in mind with its huge sparkling Soultown sign for Instagrammable photos, plus lots of brightly coloured flags, and entertainers walking around on stilts and dressed in bold outfits. This means the whole thing felt very colourful and glamorous as the likes of Peter Andre soundtracked these good times with some of his most lovable sounds.
Aside from the main music you could enjoy a whole host of fun, some laid back, more high energy, from rides, attractions and live steel bands, to face painting, glitter stalls, hair braiding, fashion and craft stalls and so much more. It meant there were lots of happy faces around the festival, which was well organised and easy to get around – from drinks to food nothing was a hassle which is always a bonus at any event.
With 40 outlets to choose from, the food options were as fun as the music with pizzas, Greek Gyros, vegan wings, Caribbean food, desserts and sweets all available. Prices were reasonable too and we also filled up on Aperol Spritz as one should do in summer before the main draw – UB40. They played plenty of classics old and new and got the mixed age crowd all revved up and dancin. If you haven’t been to Soul Town Festival there is no excuse not to – it is a perfectly immersive mix of sights, sounds and scenes across two days in the great British countryside.
In true bank holiday fashion, we have arrived to rain at the one festival that really requires sunshine to portray the appropriate Western ranch vibe. Sigh. Regardless, this location and this festival are just as beautiful as I remember from last year.
The grounds of Stanford Hall in Leicestershire are now the 4 time home to The Long Road festival and while it is funny to see Americana showcased on the lawn of a very English manor house, the team have done a spectacular job of injecting county fair vibes all over the site. The signage is a particular favourite of mine, all handmade wooden and gorgeously retro, there are plenty of backdrops to take your festival photo at here – but especially the TLR sign itself which is emblazoned with the words “Welcome home, old friend”.
Friday kicks off in the arena around 3pm making this a kinda, two-and-a-half day festival which leaves a nice space for a lazy morning in your camper with friends. Heading into the arena we are greeted so warmly by the gate staff (I have nothing but nice things to say about all of the staff this weekend, they were all friendly and helpful) and we head into the High Falloutin’ VIP area to take a look around. Sadly this year they’ve done away with those awesome wooden recliner/porch chairs along the front of the railings but the fancy covered sofa areas remain, along with a new bar serving fine wines and cheese platters – very bougie.
After a quick tour we head over to the Front Porch stage, which is just as pretty as ever – truly one of my favourite stage designs of all time. The chimney stack is smoking and despite the rain a decent crowd has assembled on the arced haybales and grassy area to catch some sweet early sets. Lil Possum County across the way doesn’t look to be up and running just yet, but kids have descended on the woodland walkway area in the trees instead. The O’Donnell moonshine bar looks like it’s already doing a roaring trade, and we grab some Cajun blackened shrimp from the Bayou outlet before taking a walk around the shopping area.
I nearly caved and bought some wellies disguised as cowboy boots. Then I nearly caved and bought some cowboy boots. In the end we settled for a cowboy boot ornament for our Christmas tree to represent TLR, but honestly I could spend a lot of money here if I went un-monitored.
Heading over to the Interstate stage we catch Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers’ soft bluesy country set, “This is a dream for me, I’ve always wanted to bring this overseas” Jim says to the applause of a packed tent. It’s a pretty tight stage for that many musicians but they make it work, and before long the whole house is dancing along with them. Following up, First Time Flyers with a more modern pop country sound but an equally full stage presence bring the party up a notch, but we head off in search of a fire to warm ourselves by and a sweet treat.
Something I do really rate about this festival is the inclusion of sympathetic sponsors – the kind that actually are applicable to the theme and feel of the festival. This year we have the brilliant SoloStove brand who have put up their cylindrical stoves around the site (alongside the traditional firepits the TLR always have), but the real MVP goes to them for also providing toasting forks and all the ingredients to make s’mores. This is campfire Americana at it’s most stereotypical and I am so here for it. Now that the rain has gone, and we’re sitting on logs around a crackling fire eating strings of marshmallow and chatting to complete strangers in Stetsons and cowboy boots…
Returning brand Yeti have once again brought with them an array of corral games like cornhole, lasso challenges and swing-hook challenges, along with a massive store front selling every imaginable cooler and drinks cup in the world. It’s fair to say I think, that TLR’s clientele crossover with the campervan/camping/outdoorsy community is large, and this was a great partnership last year BUT this year they have truly excelled themselves and brought a laser-cutter inside a horsebox. You heard me.
Two extremely friendly Americans in Stetsons are on hand to engrave whatever you want on your Yeti cups… for free! They even put stuff on our existing Yeti cups from last year, and very kindly engraved a mini SoloStove for us for a Christmas gift, true gentlemen – and the definition of coherent brand integration at a festival which honestly is kinda rare.
Birmingham duo Gasoline and Matches over at the Front Porch have drawn a massive crowd now that the rain has stopped, and their set is absolutely brilliant and funny. “Let’s play never have I ever, you can buy us a drink” they joke, and end with a countrified Fresh Prince of Bel Air intro and the line “I’d like to take a minute just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the Princess of a town called… Lutterworth”,which really makes me giggle.
Canadian country queen Tenille Townes is lighting up the Interstate stage wearing the most extra snakeskin trousers and swishing her long dark hair. She’s such a bright powerful performer, and the tent is overflowing with people as she shouts “…this is a safe place to dance and sing, what I’m learning about the UK is… you guys know all the words! I appreciate you!”. We love the set, and the Alanis Morisette ‘Ironic’ singalong, but her song ‘The Last Time’ really got us in the feels tonight.
Taking it easy today due to the extremely heavy morning rainfall, we opt for strolling around and taking in the atmosphere a bit in between downpours and hiding under shelter. Luckily the weather breaks and we get to see Tenille Arts hit the main stage, singing the very catchy ‘Wildfire & Whiskey’ in her folded denim boots. The juxtaposition of cuteness vs. power in her vocals makes for a great show, and once again I have to hail to the covers but who doesn’t want to hear country versions of ‘Oops I did It Again’ and ‘Party in the USA’?
We take a beat to indulge in the extremely silly but very good £25 cheese platter I mentioned earlier. It easily fed two adults and a toddler (who actually scoffed about half the cheese before we even got to it) so it’s not a bad price considering, but it did feel like quite a ridiculous choice. So to even things up and get back to our normal lane, we head over to The Showground to watch the Hot Dog Eating competition.
‘Brendan with the ginger beard’ is stuffing his buns into the water Joey Chestnut style while he scarfs the dawgs, one guy is wearing recklessly tight shorts for this kind of affair, and a small child has been enlisted into carrying a sick-bucket around “just in case”. The sun has come out, there’s a huge crowd, and even the disappointment of 2/10 being the winning number of consumed dogs can’t make this event any less fun to me. Wish they’d done a second round of tshirts this year, I’d have bought another one.
Josh Abbot Band are heating things up on the Rhinestone stage, the hazy crowd reflected in his mirrored aviators as he sings ‘The Luckiest’. It’s classic country, the lead guitarist has the coolest gold mosaic covered guitar and there are plenty of people up and dancing – this is what The Long Road is about. Having said that, The Colour Me Country takeover on the Front Porch is totally where the party is at today; Michael B Whit is absolutely smashing his set to a crowd who are quite literally hootin’ and hollerin’ along with him. It’s the most fun performance I’ve seen yet, and I love that The Front Porch stage allows everyone to actually just boogie with him like a party.
At the Showground there’s a Line-Dancing workshop in operation, through the woodland walkway Buddy’s Bar is the place for grabbing a drink and a sit down at the picnic tables (something else TLR do really well – offering heaps of seating), but we are heading back to the main stage for Margo Price.
Slightly late to the stage, Margo wows in a long fringed red leotard with white fringed cowboy boots and flowing blonde hair. Every bit the performer she whirls about the stage singing and laughing with her band-mates, and we love opener ‘Been To The Mountain’ and ‘Change of Heart’. I will also always appreciate a random cowbell solo, just sayin.
Blackberry Smoke are tonight’s main stage headliner, and are a band I first came across at Download Festival, so I’m excited to see them again in a very different arena. Starting out strong with ‘Fire In The Hole’ and ‘Good One Comin’ On’ this is pure sunset country, route 66 drive-time sort of music, and I absolutely love it. Their 70’s style purple and yellow backdrop billows in the soft breeze of the evening and the arena is full of people, those at the back just sitting and enjoying the music.
Other festivals I rate the standing crowd size comparable to the enjoyment of the set, but The Long Road is a different, more chilled out situation, and people are genuinely just relaxing and having a damn good time. “Thank you Leicestershire- did I pronounce that correctly?” laughs frontman Charlie Starr, before launching into the very catchy ‘Living In The Song’. In case you’re wondering, yeah he did actually do a pretty good job of saying Leicestershire, he’d obviously had a practice.
Through the solos, the “Hey baby, hey mama” crowd participation and jamming, there runs a humble thread which is at the heart of this type of music I think, “The first time we played here was to about fifty people in Camden. If you were there, this one is for you” they reminisce. Playing through some of their hits like ‘Waiting for the Thunder’ and ‘Ain’t Got The Blues’ it’s clear they’ve been a great pick for the TLR headline slot, and the applause for encore tracks ‘Old Enough to Know’ and ‘Ain’t Much Left of Me’ absolutely seal the deal – what a fantastic night of music from Blackberry Smoke.
Today feels very Sunday-ish, and the temptation to lounge around has hit us hard. The weather is looking a lot less suspect this morning so we drag ourselves up and out, and catch early opener Alana Springsteen on the main stage. She’s wearing black leather trousers, looks like a supermodel and is singing hilarious stuff about her exes. I may love her. ‘You Don’t Deserve a Country Song’ is a personal fave, but her cover of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ is also great.
Over at The Showground we join in with the hula-hooping workshop which is fairly chaotic but really good fun, another little thing that just pushes TLR into that category of thoughtful and experience-led rather than bog-standard music festival. We take a walk around The Lucky Dice Car and Bike Show, which is once again an absolutely brilliant part of this festival, it’s really fun to get to look at all these cars in person instead of in movies and TV shows.
Megan Moroney hits the main stage in a bright white bubble-dress, shivering “I underestimated the weather here, I can’t feel my fingers”. Megan’s songs are classic country in sound, but she’s a more modern lyricist, and her songs really make me laugh in a good way – her spiel on how she was up at 2am and saw her ex’s new girlfriend accidentally like one of her Instagram posts, had me rolling. The fact that she wrote a whole song about it is the ultimate petty crime and I sincerely love that energy, “I see you girl” she side-eyes, and the whole crowd roar with laughter.
“I’m from a small town in Georgia… at the salon everyone talks… you know, which preachers son is smoking weed or selling it, we hear it all” she says before dropping into another brilliantly funny track ‘Hair Salon’. Megan’s set is plagued with bad feedback throughout but she takes it in her stride, and jokes “The last festival I was at, I didn’t play this song. A girl DM me afterwards and said I ruined her whole weekend. We can’t have that again” so we also get the apparently hotly touted ‘Why Johnny’, putting Megan firmly in my festival highlights category.
Stomachs rumbling we join the food queues for smokehouse delights, and witness one of the most devastating events of the summer – a while side of pork-butt dropped on the floor out of the smoker. After a cheeky ask, one very lucky Sheltie named Oscar (because dogs are welcomed at TLR) is getting the most decadent lunch of his life.
In Lil Possum County, the kids activity area, a huge space hopper race is in action. Bigger kids have to hop backwards (which turns out to be nearly impossible and results in dire consequences) so the whole thing is a squealing melee of silly fun. Back at the main stage it’s the Colour Me Country takeover, with artists coming up to perform a song one after another or jamming together, and it is truly one of the best sets I’ve seen all weekend.
“Colour Me Country started as a show, it is now a non-profit, all the artists have been given a grant from us. We’re here to start a movement, because country is for everyone!” shouts host and founder Rissi Palmer, before we are treated to excellent music from the likes of Gabe Lee, Michael B Whit, Lady Nade, Sacha and the phenomenal Chapel Hart. Finishing up with country historical classic ‘Let The Circle Be Unbroken’ with a side of backstory about it’s African-American origins with Lesley Riddle, it strikes me that the work Colour Me Country is doing has a much bigger impact than just giving black artists a platform – it is reaching into the depths of history to educate a much wider, and let’s face it, a much whiter audience. I really appreciate them being front and centre on the TLR bill.
Up next it’s Caylee Hammack, stunning in a bohemian flowing red dress and her long red hair. Leaning right into it she shouts “Y’all got a few more redheads here than in the states, so here’s a song about redheads!” and careens about the stage. Taking a sideways glance at Stanford Hall she giggles “Wow you sure know how to party in nice places… we don’t have buildings like that at the county fair back home” before singing ‘Only Good Things’ which she wrote during Covid when “…not a lot of good things were happening in the world” as she puts it.
At The Showground things are hotting up with the Hot Wings challenge. Random names are pulled from a Stetson to see who gets to compete, and it’s an interesting line up – mainly because one very shocked looking man tells us that he actually didn’t enter, and that his cheeky mates seem to have thrown his name in as a prank.
With 5 spice levels to get through, and a rule that the wing must first be rubbed onto the lips of the contestant, this could get spicy. Kid with sick bucket in place, the victims dive in, and two wings down one has already reached for the milk and… ahem… chickened out. Sorry. To everyone’s surprise the other contestants actually make it through all 5 levels and have to have their fate decided by a milk chugging challenge instead, so I put it to you TLR – these wings are sincerely NOT hot enough and need to be upgraded for next year.
On the main stage, hailing from New Jersey we have Breland – bouncing onto the stage wearing a ranch-print double denim outfit that I would sincerely like to own. He is so full of energy and joy that it radiates to everyone in the absolutely huge crowd that has gathered to see him – “This is my favourite country to play you know, y’all are so much fun” he grins. ‘High Horse’ and ‘Thick’ have everyone absolutely captivated, so it’s just the icing on the cake when he brings out first Alana Springsteen and later Kezia Gill for some epic duets.
After a quick trip to the cake truck for a truly decadent cookie cup thing, Eli Young Band take to the stage with the confirmed earworm ‘Saltwater Gospel’, shouting out that TLR has “…been on [their] bucket list for a long time now”. Once again there is a huge crowd (thankfully) bathed in sunshine just enjoying the music, and it’s a gorgeous sight, it feels like the last hurrah of summer, especially when they give us a huge Walk The Moon ‘Shut Up and Dance’.
Now, in place of hastily cancelled headliner (a week out) Jon Pardi which left a lot of diehard fans very upset, we are instead in for a night of country powerhouse singer-songwriter Cam. After the forum fallout of Jon Pardi’s cancellation, on the back of last year’s similar circumstances with a Long Road headliner, the announcement that Cam would be replacing was met with absolute delight, so however Baylen and team managed this, absolute kudos to them.
With a huge white draped curtain across the back of the stage, and a mini podium set up, you could be forgiven for feeling like we were heading to church this evening, and Cam comes onto the stage dressed all in angelic white herself. It’s 20’s flapper meets zoot suit, with a rhinestone bralette and she looks sensational, but when she opens her mouth to sing the first lines of ‘Redwood Tree’ she could have turned up in a bin bag for all I care. What a damn incredible voice.
It’s a cloudless and cool night, definitely the cusp of Autumn and Cam is practically radiating sparks. Shouting out “I said yes to this before I even knew if my band were free, because I just love how you guy are. I hear y’all were in a pickle, that’s what friends do right? If you call me, I’ll be there” she elicits a massive cheer from the appreciative crowd in front of her, spanning the depths of the main stage area. This is truly every single person on site at this point.
‘Half Broke Heart’ and ‘Slow Down’ are oozing with all the charm and summer warmth that I think romanticises country music for us Brits, it speaks of scenes we can imagine rather than those we’ve experienced, and there’s something quite escapist in that. “Here’s one for the lovers, who’s in love right now?” she says to a chorus of excited whoops, “Aww cute, just when you think the world sucks” she giggles. “This one goes out to my California brother who couldn’t be here tonight… I want him to experience what I’m experiencing tonight” she calls out before going into a cover of Jon Pardi’s ‘Head Over Boots’, which I think is a really nice thoughtful touch to the set-list.
We also get a cover of ‘Palace’ the song she wrote with/for Sam Smith in all it’s synthy-glory, which is a bit of an unexpected sound for The Long Road, but it works. However, it seems the one everyone has been waiting for is ‘Diane’ as Cam picks up a guitar, and the echo of thousands of people singing along hums across the site.
Patti Smith Group cover ‘Because The Night’ is kitschy fun, and encore acts ‘Mayday’ and ‘My Mistake’ are unmistakably beloved by this crowd. I truly believe this is one of the best accidental switches that could have been made because Cam was the perfect ending to this year’s Long Road festival, embodying the truest spirit of family and the sentiment ‘Welcome home, old friend’.
All around site there are still fires burning, country-oke playing and friends still laughing, the night is still young but we are heading home. It feels like the true end of the high summer, that we got one last bout of sunshine and carefree days. Until next year, Long Road, you’ll be missed.
The newly launched imprint debuts with single titled ‘Universe’ from celebrated Serbian artist Space Motion and JES Teaser Video | Pre-Save Link(s) EXIT, a multiple European festival champion and one of the leading brands in the global festival industry, launches Music & Talent Office – EXIT Echosystem, with the aim of providing comprehensive support and opportunities to promising and talented musicians from all around the world to develop successful global careers! As part of this platform, EXIT has also rolled out its own record label, EXIT Soundscape that now presents its debut track. The fantastic single “Universe,” recorded by one of the most successful electronic music producer with Serbian origin, Space Motion marks the EXIT Soundscape’s grand entry into the global music arena. This single also features internationally renowned artist JES, best known for her collaborations with global electronic music giants like Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, and her three times Grammy Award nominations. The “Universe” and its great collaboration has caught a lot of attention even before its release as it was already played by Like Mike at Tomorrowland and Armin van Buuren in his famous podcast “ASOT”.
“EXIT has an exceptionally high reputation in the global music industry and close relationships with leading music agencies and global stars. These relationships are not just professional, but genuine friendships. We want to utilize these relationships to open the door for the development of international careers for young musical talents that are often left under the radar” says Dušan Kovačević, Founder and Director of EXIT festival and adds “We are proud of the success Space Motion has achieved over the years in the global music scene in competition with the leading global producers. As someone who exists as a top tier festival for more than two decades, we know how challenging it is and how much devotion it requires.”
Space Motion’s success is best reflected in the fact that he reached the first place on Beatport’s Top 100 chart! On top of that, last year he ranked a high second place on Beatport’s list of top artists in one of the most popular music genres, melodic techno! Exceeded only by the duo Artbat, while leaving behind many giants like Solomun’s label Diynamic, Space Motion also achieved a high third place in the same list in the Afro-House genre.
Space Motion shares a unique bond with the EXIT festival, a relationship cultivated over many years. In light of this connection, the track’s title draws inspiration from this year’s festival theme, while the “Universe” music video” itself was shot at the colossal Dance Arena during the festival. The single is now available on all digital streaming platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Beatport, Traxsource and JunoDownload).
“I’m thrilled that my latest release is also the inaugural one for EXIT’s label, EXIT Soundscape. The fact that both the festival and I come from Novi Sad adds a special touch to this collaboration – something that seemed almost destined. The overwhelming response from fans and peers in the music industry assures me that this release will leave a long lasting impact,” said Space Motion.
The EXIT Soundscape record label has also formed a strategic partnership with global digital distributor Paradise Worldwide. This collaboration spans music distribution, digital strategy, and publishing, joining hands with numerous artists and record labels around the world.
With so many festivals over the bank holiday weekend, it could be difficult to chose which to attend.
Without doubt, the best festival in August was Victorious Festival in Southsea.
To emphasis the strength of the line-up, many of those artists who were booked to top the bill at lesser festivals often appeared lower down the schedule at Victorious.
As a classic example, Blossoms began proceedings on the south coast on Friday at 1pm, despite headlining many other events this summer. The singer joked that he’d played the same park where the main Common Stage was, when his dad was in the navy at the nearby dockyards.
Billy Nomates followed, fresh from her controversial performance at Glastonbury, where she personally asked for her set to be removed from BBC iPlayer, following unjust abuse and backlash. Although she didn’t have a backing band, she made up for it in style, charisma and talent. Definitely one to keep an eye on and watch out for in the future.
Mancunian legends The Charlatans followed, with a melting pot of their absolute classics – including Weirdo, North Country Boy, One to Another, and of course, The Only One I Know. Singer Tim Burgess was clearly enjoying himself, taking selfies and videos on his iPhone of the huge crowd. Check out both his and The Charlatans Instagram for full coverage and scope of the enormous crowd from his viewpoint.
Following a clash between Friendly Fires and Katy B on the Castle stage, independent singer RAYE followed on the Common stage. She played many songs from her debut album ‘21st Century Blues‘, which she referred affectionately to as her first born baby which she was rightfully extremely proud of. It certainly had an Amy Winehouse vibe. New song ‘Ice Cream Man‘ was particularly powerful with a raw exploration of her life after sexual assault. She finished with more upbeat number one song ‘Escapism‘ which had the crowd singing along.
Jamiroquai was a UK festival exclusive performance for Victorious festival. Joking himself that he was a little thinner and lighter in the 90s successful years, singer Jay Kay still has the space cowboy moves, even if he did ask for the spotlights to be turned down to prevent his cataracts needing replacing….or possibly to stop the crowd getting such a sight of his less nimble physique.
Saturday began with not one, but two special guests. While Australian singer and former Neighbours star Natalie Imbruglia shone on the main stage at 1pm, McFly were secret special guests over at the Castle Stage. Fans were truly torn (excuse the pun) on which to see. Recently celebrating their 20th anniversary, McFly still have the energy and moves to kick start any event and draw in a huge crowd…constantly leaping in the air and showing their choreographed moves. It was impossible not to enjoy their show and easy to understand their continued popularity.
Pale Waves followed, adorning a ‘My Mind Makes Noise‘ tattoo – hopefully that noise is as good in their head as it sounded to the crowd, before the long forgotten The Divine Comedy returned, with their good humour. Walking on stage with a glass of red wine, singer Neil Hannon seemed dazzled by the size of the crowd, before appropriately raising the glass to sing ‘Here’s to You‘. Despite complaining of first-world problems that his plectrums were too thin, they played all their classic tunes from the 90s, including ‘National Express‘ and ‘Something For The Weekend‘. Alas their theme from Father Ted and My Lovely Horse were missing (maybe ask your dad if you missed out the first time.)
Scottish legends Belle and Sebastian followed, asking the crowd what the sign-language for Boris Johnson could possibly be…it appeared to be V signs and definitely not ‘V for Victory’. As is customary for a Belle and Sebastian set, they asked many of the crowd to join them onstage for their biggest hit ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap‘ – much to the dismay of the security guards who were sure how the usher everyone offstage afterwards.
The same crowd questioned why Kaiser Chiefs were not booked as headliners. With so many classic hits and singalongs, it’s testament to the strength of the bill that they were lower down the bill. They never missed a beat and when playing ‘I Predict A Riot‘ mid-set, singer Ricky Wilson climbed up the side of the stage scaffolding, to add to the traumatic day the security team were having.
Kasabian were booked as headliners, but arguably had less singalong songs as the aforementioned Kaiser Chiefs. As well as their own hits, to make up for this, they mixed in classics from Daft Punk (One More Time), Beastie Boys (Intergalactic) and Fatboy Slim (Praise You), before finishing with their own anthem ‘Fire’.
As usual with Victorious festival, Sunday morning began with a big crowd-pleaser name, and another blast-from-the past. DJ Annie Mac began proceedings over on the Castle Stage, while forgotten stars of CCTV Hard-Fi returned for their first show in over 10 years and another festival exclusive for Victorious.
Summer Festival Guide favourite Dylan followed, asking if there were any Harry Styles fans in the crowd, before playing her song based on the One Direction singer which gave rise to her own fame on Tik-Tok.
Norwegian Sigrid followed, fresh from headlining Big Feastival earlier in the weekend. Unfortunately her guitar player Liva Svaeren was forced to sit during the entire set after trying to re-enact her inner Gene Simmons from Kiss and injuring her ankle. This was Sigrid’s last set in the UK before returning home to her native land, but hopefully it won’t be long until she returns to our shores.
Ellie Goulding was fortunate to escape without serious injury after a firework onstage flew backwards into her face. She managed to continue with her set despite the scare, but it remained an emotional performance after she revealed prior that she was splitting from her husband on social-media.
Mumford & Sons concluded the main Common Stage on Sunday night, while legendary guitar player Johnny Marr headlined the Castle Stage. Playing songs from his illustrious career Johnny Marr arguably is now a better singer than his Smiths frontman Morrissey, giving the crowd what they wanted with classic versions of ‘This Charming Man‘, ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and of course, his epic guitar riff ‘How Soon Is Now‘.
Early bird tickets are already available for Victorious 2024 and if the past few years are anything to go by, it’s a safe bet that there will be another incredible line up again next year.
Arriving at Weston Park to get our wristbands is an exciting affair, after last year’s excellent debut we’ve been looking forward to getting back here ever since. The sun is shining (for now) and we’ve got a car packed to the brim with kid-snacks and rainbow clothing, bring on Camp Bestival!
I should note, for the first time EVER in my many years of attending festivals, we are staying in a fancy Bell-Tent in Boutique Camping. It feels absolutely surreal to be able to see our tent from the car, to have a manned reception, and some extremely fancy proper toilets and showers nearby. The tent itself has off-the floor proper beds with duvets and pillows, as well as power outlets for charging our phones. I could not be more appreciative of the luxury, but do have to say that last year’s regular camping experience here was still one of the nicest I’ve experienced. So whilst I will talk a lot about how great our Boutique camping time is this weekend – rest assured that any version of camping here is going to be a good time.
Counting Thursday as a scoping-out the site day and for settling the kids into their new surroundings, we decide to head into the arena for some food and a look at the new set-up. The most immediate thing to note is that this year, absolutely everything has been mashed into one big space. Gone are the nebulous separate fields and areas, it all seems a bit jumbled together. Yes ultimately it is easier to navigate and travel around, but I am reserving judgement on how it works until the music starts tomorrow.
For now, we opt for pizza for the kids, and my favourite returning food – Bayou Kitchen’s cajun shrimp bowl, whilst we sit in the field having a look at everything. After eating we take stroll around to the main stage merchandise tent to peruse this year’s offerings and end up basically wanting to buy one of everything. The new ‘Sustainable’ range is really nice and quite subtle in it’s design, but there are also some louder fun things like the bright towelling-robes which are perfect for hitting the wild swimming or even the morning showers. I really liked the new patches and opted to get a set of three for £15, the kids loved the plushie Love-Bot of course, and it was cool to see new Roller Disco tees too – I am still rocking my OG Bestival Roller Disco one from 2011.
I’ve said it many a time before, but there’s nothing quite like a Bestival when dusk hits. The twinkling lights come on and give me that instant rush that is unique to Bestival brand events, that there is fun to be found in every corner of this event, and that I am going to stumble into something wonderful at every turn. We decide to take a little tour around the area leading up to the Park Pool. Whilst most of it isn’t open yet, we spot a few things we’d like to try over the weekend and then head into the Weston Woods to see what the offerings are there.
Now this is going to be a bit of a moan. The wooded areas of Bestival sites, are often the most exciting bit of the festival. Usually they are bathed in beautiful lights, covered in bunting, decorations, fun sculptures. Usually they are home to many fun activities or places to cosy up and chat. Last year the woods around the top of the site (which aren’t in use at all this year) allowed you to walk along a long stretch of lake and watch the paddleboarders and wild swimmers having a lovely time, Cirque Bijou had a beautiful canopied stage in the trees, the circus tent was nestled in there with activities, as was the Tie-Dye workshop and many other fun things on the winding paths that ultimately led to Weston’s giant adventure playpark and the tiny Train experience.
This is, so diminished from that gorgeous experience we had last year, that I was genuinely sad. This set of woods is one very short straight path with a small tent area for the sensory garden, and further up the Orchestra of Objects. Yes some of the things previously housed in the woods are now situated in the main arena but it has absolutely taken away some of their magic, and the joy of finding hidden things on your travels. It is very hard to describe if you haven’t been to a previous Bestival event, but most of my love for them comes from swapping between small cosy experiences to the great big ones of the main stage acts, and this really feels like they’ve axed a lot of those things with this site layout.
We head over to Caravanserai to be greeted with more of the same. It has been expanded into a whole area that you now just walk into without going through a hidden doorway into an enclosed area. Yes you can now take a trolley or pushchair into there, but it has lost so much of the magic I can’t fathom the reason. Last year people just pulled their trolleys up to the side and went in on foot, and sure a better space for trolleys would have been good, but there were security controlling the flow and footfall, and it was a beautiful area with that otherworldly feel… like you’d run away with the circus. This just… isn’t it. The caravans are spread widely around a huge area so it honestly barely feels like they have relevance, the theming of a close knit caravan corral has absolutely gotten lost in the explosion, and while there are more covered areas to sit under in the middle, it means that there is no central melee of people dancing, meeting, and drinking together.
Feeling a little deflated we head back to the campsite to try and get ourselves a decent sleep before the first full day tomorrow. Getting into a proper bed at a festival is as delightful as you can imagine.
FRIDAY
We had so nearly gotten away with a summer of minimal-rain festivals, but here it is, the great British summer curse. Despite a biblical downpour this morning, the lake seems to be teeming with wild swimmers regardless – from what I can see. We walk through the Slow Motion area which is a bit smaller than last year’s great big separate field which felt nice and calmly removed from everything else. This is stuck onto the side of Boutique camping and is very… overlooked. It’s a bit weird actually that you could stick your head out of your tent and watch people getting ice-baths and hot tubbing. The Yoga and Sleep Retreat areas are tucked around the corner in a bit more of a hidden spot but it is also downhill and quite slippy now that the rain has created a mud-slide.
Over the scary raft bridge we wave to some kayakers, but you can’t really stop to enjoy looking at the lake because this is definitely just a thoroughfare and is a bit tricky to navigate with trolleys, however we pop out on the other side to find lots of fun things to do in the Craft Village. There’s a great looking leathercraft workshop, a place where you can make wooden axes and swords, and a basket weaving area – all run by Spinney Hollow, a non-profit woodland project that operates in Winchester.
Across the field we give some circus skills a go, with hula hooping (which I am extremely poor at), diablo and wooden stilts. The stilts go exactly how you imagine in the rain, and there are children falling at you left right and centre, but it is very fun all the same. Next door the Woodland Tribe fort build is soggily underway but our littles are a bit too small and chaotic to be set free with hammers this year so we toddle off in search of something else more their speed.
Heading back into the woods they give The Orchestra of Objects a good old bash, an area filled with interesting instruments made from industrial junk, for children to smash around and make noise with… or for adults with childish sensibilities to attempt to play Black Sabbath on. No regrets.
Over at the carousel stage in Caravanserai, we catch a bit of Funke and The Two Tone Baby, which sounds like a lot of people, but is actually just one man playing a lot of instruments. The beats are funky, the cocktail bar has opened for business, and the lampshade-decorated tent is bumping – this is the distilled feeling of Caravanserai I craved. I just wish it translated to the whole area, and not just while I’m directly inside the carousel.
We take a short walk over to see Cirque Bijou’s aerial show, an act based on birds and conservation performed by incredibly skilled artists in feathered costumes, hanging from high ropes. Following their fabulous performance, we tried to join in on the bird-mask making workshop, but it was absolute carnage so we opted to get our craft items to-go. This was actually really nice of them to let us do that, as it meant the kids had an in-tent activity to do one morning!
Ducking into the Big Top, we catch a bit of the very funny and brilliant Horrible Histories (90’s kids represent), before heading over to the main stage for Bestival legends, The Cuban Brothers. What can I say about Los Hermanos Cubanos that I haven’t already said over the years? They are an institution, not to be missed, equal parts filth and fun. We might be shouting “Kenny The Pasta” instead these days, but they’re still out there breakdancing, getting semi-naked and being naughty, just the way it should be. Out in the crowd we spot Mike’s family dancing along, his daughters visibly cringing but loving the show, and it’s just really nice to see the spirit of Camp Bestival extending to even the families of performers. Everyone is there, having a good time together – despite the ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and threat of sexy favours.
Next up on the main stage is the bafflingly weird Confidence Man. The duo hit the stage in what I can only describe as black silk zoot suits with some kind of inner frame which allows them to move in extremely creepy ways. Their unique electro-pop sound is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that they are just absolutely bizarre, but this places them right in the ‘perfect for Bestival’ zone in my opinion. The Venga-goths change into a glowing cone bra and epaulettes combo as the rain starts up again, and the crowd seem to be loving them.
In the Big Top, Badly Drawn Boy is adorably awkward and charming, with the soft sounds of ‘The Shining’ which he dedicates to “…everyone who has had a crap time lately… is that all of us?”. About a Boy movie song hit ‘Something To Talk About’ has everyone in the tent singing along, and Damon tells us “My kids are here, I think it’s my youngest’s first time seeing me perform” – again, it is so telling of this festival’s ethos and vibe, that artists can bring their families with them to enjoy it. I also particularly liked his cover of Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ morphing into ‘Silent Sigh’, a truly gorgeous moment of peace and calm amidst the bustle of the festival.
After a pit stop to run around on the Love-Bot (our omnipotent and terrifying ruler) runway, and then having a go on the new Earth-Bot slide, we get ourselves over to the main stage again for Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Sophie is rocking the most Bestival appropriate outfit of the weekend, resplendent in swishy orange and yellow fringe and a pink sparkly flapper bodysuit, she looks more than a little like one of the Firey’s from Labyrinth – you know, the ones who take their own heads off. I’m into it, and would like to wear that outfit myself. Unfortunately the rain is rolling in heavy at this point and a lot of people are running for shelter.
“I don’t know about you but I’ve been checking the weather for this so much… but actually, it’s kind of amazing isn’t it… you’ve just got to give in and go for it, dance in the rain, get wet…” she says, presumably heading back to a hotel after this… everyone sleeping in a tent tonight is less enthusiastic about the situation I assure you. Regardless, it’s a banging set of nostalgic hits for those of us of a certain age – well played Bestival – like ‘Take Me Home’, a medley of ‘Lady (Hear Me Tonight’ Groovejet ‘If This Ain’t Love’ and ‘Sing It Back’, and her 2001 hit ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’.
Rudimental are the Friday night headliner of dreams, giving us absolutely everything we need to get rowdy. Incredible vocals, bouncy beats and a frenetic light show that has every single body in the arena jumping – especially now the rain has dissipated. ‘Dancing Is Healing’ really encapsulates the feeling at Camp Bestival tonight, and we love the Natalie Imbruglia ‘Torn’ cover too. “Where my old school ravers at? Get some little people up on shoulders!” is the call from DJ Locksmith that creates a scene, there are suddenly hundreds of kids on shoulders with glowsticks, going like they were born in a club. These kids sure know how to party, and that my friends, is parenting done right.
‘Feel The Love’ and ‘Waiting All Night’ are absolutely worth waiting all night for, even if the rain has begun again and is pouring down our necks, they never disappoint and this has been a cracking night one, leaving the stage with “Bestival, you are amazing, and we are Rudimental!”.
Starting Saturday with a bang, we head over to The Mum Club Brunch Takeover at The Literary Institute tent, for cocktails, glitter and meeting people. With a 10am start time the drinks are suitably breakfast-y with Mimosas, Bloody Marys and much needed Espresso Martinis on offer. Having not eaten actual breakfast this may be considered foolish but we had a very nice time and chatted to heaps of lovely people there, including co-founder of The Mum Club – Lauren Webber. We talked a bit about the ethos and beginnings of The Mum Club and how they are re-creating the ‘village’ for isolated mums everywhere, and reaching out with help advice and support to those in need.
Following this is an activity session run by Festival of the Girl, a collective who aim to provide fun education for families about stereotyping, patriarchal structures and systems which hold girls back in life. The event was really aimed at ages 7+ but they made everyone feel welcome, including our almost 4 year olds, for some gender-pay gap training (with coloured plastic balls) and language stereotype challenging (with fierce unicorn colouring and mission statements). It’s really nice to see these type of events being included in the CB line-up, supportive and uplifting programmes which you may never hear of or come across otherwise.
Due to extreme post-cocktail munchies, we head over to The Feast Collective – which has had a total overhaul. Gone is the lovely giant tent with bierkeller style seating down the middle, and multiple eateries inside. Instead there is a Farmer’s Kitchen, which is selling various cheeses and meats. There are seats outside yes, and some more food trucks, but it has lost a little of that cosy factor, especially when the weather is so changeable. However, the new bigger food stage for Bocaloco grills and bbq demos is brilliant – and not just because they’re giving out freebies. We hang out and listen to a talk about the delicious properties of jackfruit, whilst chomping down on a poke-bowl which is absolutely delightful.
Over on the main stage Mr. Tumble is singing ‘Let’s Go Fly A Kite’ from Mary Poppins, which is one of my least favourite songs to hear after my kid adopted it for 4 solid months earlier this year. The show is very colourful though, and there are squillions of kids on shoulders having the time of their lives. Mine was asleep and missed the whole lot, including the follow up of Dick & Dom, who are top humans but not great DJ’s. I’m also mad at them for A. Rickrolling us, and B. mixing it with Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Alert the authorities.
When the small being awoke, we took ourselves over to have a go on The World’s Biggest Bouncy Castle which is as you can imagine, fucking huge. Now, they have done a good job here of separating kids into two categories for bouncing… there’s a big kids line, and a small kids line, and they alternate turns to minimise collision risk of disproportionate size whilst bouncing. The numbers however, are at chaos levels and the cohorts are set free to colonize the castle as they please. Hoards of children flying at each other in a WWE style rumble is exactly as terrifying and funny as I expected.
I may never recover from the side-splitting laughter I experienced watching one child quite literally fly over the head of another, only to land in almost a headstand against a turret of the castle. We escape with our lives thankfully, and head over to see what the Fancy Dress Parade is all about. This year’s Wild theme is almost 99% just people wearing crap leopard print items of clothing. Shropshire has not yet hit the highs of fancy dress effort that the Dorset original has, we need more effort next year please. Regardless, the competition and parade are already over-subscribed and they haven’t brought enough Rosettes so there are inevitably some crying kids around. There are however some excellent entries and everyone is having a lovely time watching them strut their stuff on the stage.
Opting to find stuff to do since we can’t partake in the parade, we head over to the Soft Play tent, ours are just within the age range and head in to escape the heat of the afternoon. There are toys everywhere, ball-pit, stackable blocks and ride-on cars. There is luxury to be found in having a jolly good sit-down while they play, and there were even craft activities being led in one corner. Captain Barnacle’s Pirate Show is another strange wonder to have stumbled in on, the bit where he pretended to take his own eyeball out was of particular concern to my child, but we enjoyed the part where he showed us all of his party pants (less lewd than it sounds, more lewd than the children realised).
Elvana are another stand-out returner from last year, this time Elvis is dressed in a white jumpsuit with a sparkly orange cape, and they’re throwing down some absolute tunes whilst two young Elvi (? Elvises?) in the front row dance around joyfully. “Sometimes we like to sing an Elvis song and start a circle pit… ok ok we’ll do the World’s first Elvis conga instead” they laugh before heading into a grungy cover of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, but we love watching everyone get rowdy for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ the most.
Sarah Cox brings giant inflatable Rubiks cubes and a huge party to the stage, but the arena is stacked for spaceman Sam Ryder who looks like his Nanna has been on top form with the crochet-hook again. Lavender and acid green flames lick baggy knitted basketball shorts and a cardigan, it’s certainly a lewk, and I like it. Of course he plays his Eurovision hit ‘Space Man’ but honestly the true star is his cover of Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ what a bop.
Over in the Big Top, Caity baser is heating things up having toned down absolutely none of her sweary songs (I approve wholeheartedly) and the tent is absolutely rammed full of people, while in Caravanserai we see Cirque Bijou doing an excellent set of juggling and acro skills to the background sounds of reggae coming from the carousel stage. Groove Armada are playing an epic DJ set on the main stage, but we are loving some downtime with Des O’Connor (no not that one) the piano man at The Bandstand. The dusk is warm, all these gorgeously golden-lit faces are joining in the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ and Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’, it is truly the beautiful point of being here. The community and camaraderie, the soul of Bestivals’ past has made it into this iteration and I’m so glad.
Off in search of food we go, on our way to the main stage for tonight’s headline act – The Human League. Entering the very Tron-esque stage set-up, they immediately launch into some absolute classics like ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and gain the appreciation of the home crowd when frontman Philip Oakey says “…what a great location. Not that I’m biased but I’m from the Midlands… Leicester actually”. Singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley are both right in that sultry/mysterious pop diva zone to watch, and their voices soar across the arena over the 80’s synth waves. You can’t help but be drawn in by it all, even if you aren’t a particular fan.
Finishing up with Oakey’s own ‘Electric Dreams’ which very well could be the Camp Bestival theme song, is one of the hugest sing-alongs I’ve ever witnessed. The Human League were a truly fantastic headline choice this weekend.
It may be early, but kicking things off is national treasure and stone-cold legend Mr. Motivator for some morning main stage aerobics. 30 years in the game celebrations today too, the man has barely aged and can still rock an incredible neon outfit like no other. I wish he had merchandise for sale, 10/10 would purchase. Following on from this a decent crowd turnout to watch the Lionesses unfortunately lose their WC final game, but I think it’s really cool that that this was shown and prioritised as an event here – the times they are a’changing.
In some kind of unhinged sleep-deprived parenting choice (led by the whims of an almost-four-year-old of course) we decide to queue up to give Roller Disco a go at Bollywood. I do have a few axes to grind here though, it must be said. Bollywood has always been a giant rave tent of delight. Big enough to get your dance on, decorated and entered via a lovely colourful tower flanked with Elephants and such, beats all day long. Once when the roller disco came to IOW Bestival, it was tucked in the corner of said tent but the dancefloor remained.
This year, it has all gone a bit Pete Tong in my opinion. There is only the roller disco floor… which later on in the day is taken over as Bollywood for dancing. This means that the area itself is tiny in comparison to previous iterations of Bollywood and there is a very diminished number of people who can get into it when it’s being used as a dancefloor. It also means that when being used as a roller disco, the skate check and seats for putting on your skates are outside in the elements instead of under cover. It having rained this morning meant that ALL of us suffered soaked and muddy socks on the now sodden mats that had been put down, AND that it was absolutely deadly trying to get onto the disco floor itself, AND that wet muddy skates were about to be utilised on the disco floor. I have absolutely no clue why wasn’t thought of and managed a bit better to be honest, it made for two diminished events instead of the great addition I thought roller disco could have been.
In the end we made it onto the floor for some extremely chaotic laps, run to the sound of Disney hits such as the very apt Frozen song ‘Let It Go’ which of course was aimed at everyone holding on to the railings for grim death. It was actually very fun, until one of our party fell down the muddy slippy steps on their way out and got gouged by a sticking up peg/bit of metal… can’t help but think the mashing together of roller disco and Bollywood was a budgetary concern instead of a comfort one.
Off we go to look into some other places instead, the nearby Dressing Up Tent is full of people looking for sparkly outfits and glitter face paint, Cirque Bijou are doing an amazing trapeze show and the drums are rolling in the African Activities workshop. We poke our heads into the Tie-Dye tent which looks fantastic once again, and watch a Dinosaur riding the mini ramp at Tic-Tac Skate School. Tic Tac also had a design-a-deck competition, which might be high on our list to do next year I think.
We drop into The Feast Collective to grab fruit platters with spicy salt (trust me, it’s a must do) and feel quite smug about the children eating something other than chips and pizza this weekend, whilst watching the retro funfair swing boats go impossibly high. In the Big Top Hip Hop Karaoke is one of the best things I’ve witnessed all weekend, we have to teach these kids about the old school somehow. With that it’s off to the Adventure Play Park up above the camp grounds. Unfortunately here is where I have my second massive gripe of the day.
Firstly, having separated the arena from these woods, it means there is nothing fun to do on the way to the play park and it is a huge undertaking to get there instead of a pleasant walk through the forest. Last year there was beautiful lighting in the trees, art and sculptures everywhere, places to sit, things for kids to do etc. this year it is barricaded off except for the route through, which is truly a disappointment. I petition CB to reconnect this area next year, please please please.
The adventure play park itself is awesome, with varying sizes of equipment aimed at different ages of children, and a really cute miniature railway which you can buy a ticket to ride on. Our kiddos absolutely LOVED all of this… until… one of them needed to go to the toilet. WHY OH WHY were there no toilets there this year? I do not understand why you would allow people to walk that far, to a completely remote location, for children, and not include at least one toilet. This is a huge oversight on behalf of the festival, and if you want to know if a child shits in the woods? They certainly do at Camp Bestival because there is no choice. Last year there was a small bank of adult sized, and kid sized composting loos available as well as a few portaloo stop points throughout the forest. We asked the people running the railway and they said they had had so many people angrily asking them where the facilities were for the area, apparently they had also requested some but been denied by the organisers.
After another hike back to the arena we head over to see 80’s legends T’Pau, with Carol Decker yelling “It feels good to be home” who grew up in Shropshire. It’s mostly a crowd sitting in the sunshine to be honest, but they provide a very pleasant lazy Sunday vibe. East 17 are delayed and miss their Big Top slot, but are filled in for by the awesome East Angles Brass Band playing some very funky pop covers. Rob Da Bank is taking a DJ slot over on the roller disco, and Aussie DJ Hot Dub Time Machine is getting the main stage up and dancing with ‘Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie’ shouting “No-one is too cool for ABBA!”.
In the Big Top comedian Dylan Moran is living up to his Bernard Black persona complaining about the lights, the sound and the photographers within two minutes of being on stage. He’s right though, due to the smooshing together of everything in one big arena, the sound bleed from other stages and fairground rides is thoroughly awful. Even standing in the tent from about midway, it is almost impossible to hear him which means a lot of people are leaving after only a few lines of his set.
Ella Henderson has gathered one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, especially drawing in the teenage contingent who are all singing along to ‘Crazy What Love Can Do’. She has a gorgeous voice and just radiates happiness on stage. East 17 finally make it to the Big Top for their Christmas Party, to the squeals of middle aged women all around the tent. Of course there are dance moves, of course there is ‘Stay Another Day’ but I can’t pretend it’s my jam at all.
Melanie C is on the main stage rocking her signature sporty look and confidently owning the stage. Did you know she’s had 11 UK number 1 hits? I didn’t, very impressive. Her voice is great, there’s a kid out front with “I wanna be a spice girl when I grow up” sign and everyone is loving it.
Now… In a moment of madness or pure comedic juxtaposition, someone has booked Napalm Death. I could not believe my eyes when I read it on the schedule months ago, but yes here they are. Barney and co from Meriden, the grindcore monsters of death metal, are at Camp Bestival. The festival of colour, light and harmony. In fairness, you’ll struggle to find a band whose ethics and political commentary align more with those of Bestival – socialism, anarchy, flipping the status quo, doing better for the planet and those around you. I suppose they’re actually a perfect fit…
So when they explode onto the stage with all the subtlety of a stampeding horde of wildebeest, and Barney’s frenetic movements around stage are revealed to the CB crowd in all their glory I expect rejection. What I actually see is a circle pit. A real life circle pit at Camp Bestival – I am shook to my very core. “We are a local band for local people” Barney jokes before waxing lyrical on how ‘Illegal migrants’ is a ridiculous term and damning the government for their policies, to rapturous applause. We also see Rob Da Bank sneaking into the Big Top to join the fun and brawl of it all. One Dad with two teenage daughters is probably in the bad books though, having walked into the tent and heard about two bars of the next song, one daughter bursts into tears and they have to leave. Poor little sausage.
Barney is in full flow yelling about religious persecution and recent laws across the world being “…an assault on women’s basic rights of bodily autonomy” as well as “the smear on Trans people’s imperative to just live their lives”. Is it too much to wish that they had done a collaboration with Festival Of The Girl this weekend? Crowd surfers, the worlds’ shortest song, and a final cover of Dead Kennedys’ ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ is the rallying cry we all need. What a truly truly fucking fantastic energetic set. Whoever booked them gains my undying love.
In a complete change of pace, our final headliner of the weekend is indie rock powerhouse Primal Scream. Hitting the stage in a sparkly silver suit, frontman Bobby Gillespie oozes that elusive air of unbothered coolness, before he completely lets go to sing ‘Movin’ On Up’ alongside thousands of voices in the crowd. It’s clear this is final-night behaviour, every single parent out there is having a good old boogie much to their children’s delight or chagrin, and I adore it.
‘Come Together’ is fantastic, ‘Country Girl’ and ‘Rocks’ have everyone moving with them, there are kids handing out glowsticks, bubbles, happy faces everywhere you turn, and we have an enormous bucket of churros. Oh Camp Bestival, I do love you.
After a mini raft of fireworks, pulling up to the FOH in a sequinned kimono, Rob Da Bank thanks everyone for coming to this year’s event, before announcing that The Red Devils will be doing a night parachute drop above us right now. Now look, it’s all very impressive and fun, but don’t know if I can get on board with someone who says to themself “yeah, I’ll just pop myself out of a plane at night and hurtle towards the ground before hoping my parachute opens… oh, and then you know what, it might be a bit dark so I’ll also set myself on fire so everyone can see me”. I’d have liked to have seen them during the day, but apparently wind conditions wouldn’t allow – maybe next year.
Oh and yes, we missed the iconic Kate Winslet reading bedtime stories in her pyjamas and we will FOREVER BE MAD ABOUT IT. Peace out Camp Bestival, you’re the real MVP… but please fix the jumble sale of a site – we want our separate areas back.
There can be few finer ways to spend a weekend than over at Summerdaze in Malta.
It is two great days of non stop musical fun and top production at Ta’ Qali Picnic Area.
Superstars from the worlds of dance, pop, reaggeton and more all playing including the likes of Black Eye Peas, Charlie Hedges, Salmo, Deejay Time and several others.
We were there to capture the magic with our cameras and this is what we saw.
The line-up at the festival this year was truly special. Also unlike many other festivals, it is impressive that two out of the three headliners were women (listen up Glastonbury) – Lorde and Florence & The Machine highlighted powerfully that UK festival line-ups don’t need to be dominated by the usual stale male performers. Saying that, Liam Gallagher certainly didn’t disappoint on Saturday night, in a UK exclusive.
The festival gates opened on Wednesday for the early revellers, or for those who simply wanted to enjoy a break in the stunning Cornish location. But the real party started on Friday.
Gabrielle Aplin began the festival in style, appropriately playing songs from her debut album, English Rain. Everything Everything followed but to a relatively small crowd – possibly due to the conflict with Bob Vylan who was playing the Land of Saints stage at the same time.
Later festival favourites The Vaccines took to the main stage, for their fourth appearance at the festival. Their album entitled ‘What Do Expect From The Vaccines’…well now after all these appearances, it’s clear you can expect feel-good indie pop and a lot of charisma.
Unfortunately charisma was something Ben Howard seemed to be lacking with much of the crowd talking to themselves confused why he was advertised as a special guest, but the headliners certainly didn’t disappoint.
You can always judge a good festival by how many clashes there are, and unbelievably on Friday night, there was a tough four-way choice on the south-coast. Lorde dazzled on the main Stage, beginning with a unique interpretation of her hit ‘Royals‘. Elsewhere, Example kickstarted the Unleashed stage, with the tent looking like it would burst due to number of people trying to squeeze inside.
Possibly the hardest working festival band in the UK, Dub Pistols took to the The View stage overlooking the magnificent Watergate Bay, while the fourth headliner and undisputed kings of rap, Cypress Hill gave a legendary performance of their classic album Black Sunday in the Land of Saints stage.
Coming on stage with possibly the most potent spliff, the stage was also decked out in marijuana plants – presumably fake to get past the increasingly vigilant security. Hit after hit followed, before the ground literally shook when they finished with a cover of ‘Jump Around‘.
You could tell how good Friday night was by the weary faces on Saturday afternoon.
The Lottery Winners began the day, with the singer Thom celebrating his birthday at the festival. Finishing with moving song ‘Letter to Myself’ which, as the name suggests, he wrote to his 12 year old self, with the prophetic lyrics ‘All your greatest days are still yet to come. There will be heartbreak, but there’ll be so much love‘. Wise words.
Dylan followed, clearly with many adoring fans in the crowd and played a guitar hero solo for her dad. The Reytons followed sounding like a second rate Arctic Monkeys, but Confidence Man surprised all the crowd with their euro pop dance moves and early 90s vibe. Singers Janet Planet and Sugar Bones have created one of the hottest acts of the summer. RAYE followed with her stylish new jazz sound despite the strong winds circling.
Little Simz truly is exceptional and deserves to be headlining. Mixing songs from her award winning album ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert‘ and ‘No Thank You‘ she has an unbelievable amount of talent, style, and respect. She surely would be top-of-the-bill if it wasn’t for Liam Gallagher, making his UK exclusive headline performance at Boardmasters.
Coming onstage to Manchester City Football Club winning chant, he was in great spirits frequently asked ‘Are there any Oasis fans in the house‘ – proceeding to play a mix of the classic bands material, including ‘Stand by Me‘, ‘Slide Away‘ and ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol.’ He often said during his solo material that the crowd could nip off and grab some noddles while he played his slower material such as ‘The River’. Despite mixing in a few solo songs, when asking ‘What do you want me to play next’, it was clear what the crowd wanted, and he finished with ‘Champagne Supernova‘ and dedicated ‘Live Forever‘ to his late friend who passed away recently.
Fingers crossed there will be an Oasis reunion in the near future. Both Liam and Noel seem to be softening to the idea, and based on the triumphant return of Blur, Suede and Pulp this summer, it is about time the brothers worked it out.
Sunday was a return of many Boardmasters favourites. Gentleman’s Dub Club were back for their regular residence Sunday slot at the festival – no wonder they have been booked so many times as they always get the crowd on their feet….or bare feet in the case of the singer.
With the downpours commencing, many people descended on the Land of Saints stage to witness an inspiring set from Jockstrap, fresh from opening up for Blur at the Wembley shows. They were followed by Squid, who despite a leaking roof in the tent, proved entertaining while the skies cleared.
Dermot Kennedy was one of the surprise highlights of the weekend. If you get chance, check him out at All Points East next Sunday in Victoria Park, London. His songs featured a raw unfiltered honesty reflecting in his emotional and music. He certainly sounds better live than on record where his passion and talent are clearly visible.
Drawing the weekend to a close was the inimitable Florence & The Machine.
This was one of the headline performances of the summer. Boardmasters was lucky to have her.
Dressed in an ethereal gown, she graced the stage, before walking down to join the crowd for two songs. Later, during ‘Dog Days Are Over’ she insisted all of the audience put their phones away and stopped filming to savour the moment in real time. Take note Coldplay. Contrary to this, she finished with ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)‘, in which she insisted everyone raise up their partner or loved one on their shoulders.
Such a unique performance to end to the festival and as stated earlier, Lorde and Florence Welch highlighted that more women should be booked as headliners of UK events going forward.
For those of us who can’t get the extra day off work, Festivals are still a three day affair unfortunately, so I’m starting my Bloodstock Open Air 2023 journey here on Friday morning. Surprisingly sunny and warm despite one of the worst summers on record, we are grateful on two fronts – no need for the heavy duty rain gear we would have needed two weeks ago, and that the grass is visibly still green unlike the scorched Sahara situation of last year.
It is nice to note however, that Bloodstock seem to have upped their game a little after the 2022 hellscape, and there are a few more canopy structures around site to offer sun/rain relief. New too is the very cool Jewellery collaboration between Black Feather Designs and BOA, being a stalwart OG Bloodstocker – I was tempted into getting a signet ring, and they are beautifully made. Otherwise, Bloodstock remains largely unchanged and for that I am thankful – it is one of the easiest to navigate sites of all UK festivals and means I’ve got the best chance at seeing heaps of excellent bands this weekend.
Starting up with Hate on the main stage, who are uncompromisingly heavy and daubed in corpse paint (my first bingo tick of the weekend), followed by Gatecreeper who seem to have swapped set times. Gatecreeper fulfil my hair-windmilling requirement for the festival on day one, opening with the aptly named ‘Sweltering Madness’, play some good solid heavy metal and get an extremely rowdy circle pit going.
On the Sophie stage, Zetra sound like the band from your 90’s Buffy dreams. Gloomy, emo and deliciously ethereal – if you want to write poems in a graveyard, this is your soundtrack. By your soundtrack, I mean mine. Off to buy some black lace and a scrying gemstone.
Back on the main stage Sacred Reich have worked out whatever the hitch was that meant they had to switch slots with Gatecreeper, and they joke “This sun isnt typical here… I think its cause you’ve got two Arizona bands on today, so you’re welcome” before thanking Gatecreeper for the swap. It’s a great set from them so I’m glad the powers that be managed to work it all out.
Wild Heat are rocking out in the Jägermeister tent, it sounds like the 80’s and I’m entirely here for it. Looks like everyone else is too because that tent is absolutely overflowing with people cheering them on, and I reckon they could more than handle a bigger stage next time. Fit For An Autopsy also get my stamp of approval, their sound is built from so many different sources and angles it’s a truly unique experience across their set, yes it’s heavy but the underlying melodies are the hook that reels you in. Calling “This is a bucket-list festival for us, we are so glad to be here! We need more crowd surfers, get up there!” they are visibly gaining new fans today.
Fury on the Sophie Stage are absolutely throwing down, it’s classic 80’s metal and I LOVE IT. Twin vocals from Julian Jenkins and Nyah Ifill are the soaring sound of the epic 80’s movie montage – think Karate Kid and Rocky. I know that sounds like I’m placing them in the category of cheesy, but trust me when I say I’m putting them up there with the greats. If you like hair metal, Fury are one hundred percent for you. If you don’t like hair metal, you’re wrong. ‘Hell of a Night’ has a very singable “Monster movies” refrain which has already become an earworm and is therefore entering my playlist immediately.
Over on the main stage, Heaven Shall Burn are already enjoying themselves “It’s our first time at a festival in the UK, this is pretty special for us”, their stage filled with huge lighting panels and a lot of face-melting pyro. After a two year hiatus from live music before this summer, they’ve come out swinging, heavy and fast enough to entice a whole raft of crowd surfers across the barrier – including someone in a completely pink suit and tophat, very dapper.
Less production fanfare for the iconic In Flames, but no compromise on power whatsoever. The Gothenburg heavyweights are as raw and brutal as ever, backed up by their intensely interwoven melodies that form their unique sound. I couldn’t rave enough about this band if I tried, after thirteen albums their catalogue speaks for itself, but live – they just have that certain something that draws you in. ‘Leeches’ and ‘Behind Space’ back to back show just how varied this setlist is today, we’re getting the full tour and I’m extremely appreciative.
Shouting “Do you wanna join our band? Get him up here, no wait, he’s got superhero clothes on he can fucking fly up” Anders brings a fan dressed as a pirate up to join them on stage. “Finally we got a rock star up here!” he jokes, before handing him a mic. “Open a big circle pit for this one, pirate guy, are you ready?”. We love a bit of silliness here for sure, but we love a bit of ‘Take This Life’ more, and wow what a set that was. The last time In Flames played BOA was 2007, it’s been a long fucking time coming, In Flames we trust.
We take a little time to peruse the food offerings before the headliner, and settle on some slow cooked brisket from the most magnificent BBQ van, whose siren blares when the meats are ready. I would now like to be informed of dinnertime this way every day. 10/10 deliciousness, even if the chipotle sauce is still burning.
Closing out the main stage for the night, Killswitch Engage are a strong choice for BOA headliner. It’s an absolutely massive crowd spanning the arena and they come in heavy and melodic with ‘My Curse’ and ‘Rise Inside’. Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz is rocking cocktail print boardshorts and a cut off Hawaiian shirt whilst bouncing around the stage with utter uncontained glee, as they head into ‘The Signal Fire’ – “This song is about unity and love, and that’s everything this festival stands for”.
“I think it’s important to say this to all you people who were picked on. The freaks, the geeks, the weirdos. You are not alone, we are all here for each other” is a lovely supportive sentiment for a big ole metal band to espouse for sure, but becomes slightly ridiculous when followed up with “…what are you pussies doing there in the middle? I thought this was a metal show? Get a circle pit going!”. Nevertheless the band is rewarded with just that, if there’s one thing Bloodstock fans do brilliantly – it’s getting themselves nice and chaotic when asked. Closing with ‘My Last Seranade’ and a fitting tribute to the Ronnie James Dio stage – a cover of ‘Holy Diver’ is the perfect ending to an epic headline set.
SATURDAY
Starting out on Saturday with doomy Urne, who have gathered a decent crowd. It’s not my jam to be honest but there are plenty of approving fans headbanging along this morning.
Up next is possibly the stand-out performance of the weekend, surprisingly… Royal Republic. A strange pick for Bloodstock, and one that I expected to annoy more true heavy metal fans. What I actually saw, was one of the biggest daytime crowds of the whole weekend, everyone dancing, everyone having a great time and everyone letting the pretence of coolness down for 40 minutes. Royal Republic are Swedish clean-cut rock and roll, dressed like T-Birds in tight denim and leather jackets, they bandy about the stage like they’re trying to embody the spirit of Elvis. There’s a keytar, a moment where drummer Per Andreasson fully stands up on top of his kit, and heaps of crowd interaction, what’s not to love?
Yelling “These are my hands, I have two… the maximum amount. They would like to meet your hands… clap!” its clear enigmatic frontman Adam Grahn is here for a fun time. “We love metal, and we could have been a metal band… but we also love money” they joke, before giving us a quick and VERY convincing rendition of Metallica’s ‘Battery’. Finishing up with ‘Baby’ which is immediately my new summer road-trip jam, they have solidified their place in BOA history as a surprise hit amongst all the doom.
Employed To Serve get the unfortunate slot of a proper downpour, but manage to throw down some brutality after it clears. Vocalist Justine Jones absolutely crushes the low death metal growls, and they’ve got a very respectable crowd in front of them. Bloodstock veterans Crowbar are back once again with their excellently heavy riffs, and a joke or two about the weather “We’ve had a lot of wind, a lot of rain… it’s fucking England” to a massive crowd of fans.
Knocked Loose promote as much chaos as their name suggests, and we see the biggest circle pit of the weekend so far, as vocalist Bryan Garris goes absolutely berserk on stage himself.
Over on the Sophie stage another new one for me is Dakesis, despite the fact that they’ve been at Bloodstock a few times before, I seem to have missed them. Frontwoman Gemma Lawler is an absolute powerhouse vocalist and the band’s prog/symphonic metal is right up my street. Their show is dynamic and exciting to watch, the melodies are on point, and I’d truly be happy to see them hit a main stage slot sometime.
On the opposite side of the style coin, Abbath (fronted by former Immortal guitarist, Abbath Doom Occulta… what a handle) are bringing us another dose of corpse-paint and creepy tongue waggling. There’s an awful lot of people in the crowd sporting corpse paint today in support, even a few of the photographers were spotted getting gloomified, and the set is worth the hype.
Walking into the Sophie tent ahead of Gutalax, with no prior knowledge of the band… is nothing short of a fever-dream. Yes yes, I should have realised with the band name, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw at all. Fans waving toilet brushes (imagine explaining those to security on your way into the campsites) and inflatable excrement flying around the tent, whilst they sing songs about… well, shit, is actually quite fun. I too would like to make it this far in life doing something incomprehensibly weird, I think I’m doing life wrong.
Triptykon performing Celtic Frost is quite special in and of itself, so I don’t know why it isn’t hitting the button for me today. It’s technically brilliant but I guess I’m missing the little things that engage and endear me to live music, it feels a bit like they’re going through the motions I suppose.
On the other hand, the incredibly silly but rather excellent TrollfesT are bringing me all the chaotic joy I have been craving. Sorry purists, but I am going to fucking LOVE a band dressed as resplendent sparkly flamingos and I won’t be taking any questions at this time. Looks like I’m not alone in this sentiment, as there are flippin’ heaps of inflatable flamingos in the crowd, and many people sporting flamingo paraphernalia, and surfing their way to the front of a full tent. Joking about how they entered Eurovision but didn’t get through, frankly enrages me. I would absolutely have voted a million times for the band who play folk metal and dance around the stage, but even more so for the band who call themselves “agents of chaos” and cover Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’. Come on, even the most seasoned metalhead absolutely must find this sort of thing amusing.
Last up for me on Saturday are Meshuggah. I’m trying not to let my opinion be too obviously jaded by the fact that their lighting for taking photos was the absolute worst… but, after playing their first three songs almost entirely in darkness from the back of the stage, I can’t imagine it was that exciting for anyone else either. Yes it’s heavy, yes it’s gut-twistingly brutal, but they’re known for their saga-length songs that I just don’t always think translate well to headline sets, and there’s no movement or interaction. On the other hand, it’s a bloody enormous crowd and I know they’re on point musically – for the fans, this would be a great night. For everyone else, I’m not sure it hits.
Sunday has us checking out some of the other offerings around the arena, there’s always a small but great collection of shops at Bloodstock, with everything from patches for your battle vest, to frog hats and ornate drinking horns. If I am permitted one small gripe this year, it is that the queues for the merch stand on Friday were atrociously long, and it’s placement along the back of the arena meant that it made the walkway a bit difficult to pass at times to get to the New Blood stage. It would be nice to see a second merch stall over in the food court area somewhere, as I believe there had been in years past. I was also super disappointed to find that the S’Tan plushies had sold out on Thursday, so please BOA – order some more in time for Christmas ok?
Checking out All Hail The Yeti on the main stage for some good solid heavy metal, I did find myself giggling at the Stranger Things experience I was getting with the intro to ‘Highway Crosses’. Tribulation are today’s dose of corpse-paint, and in a very cute move they even have little incense sticks stuck into their PA speakers at the front, adorable. Guitarist Joseph Tholl is incredibly talented, and their soaring gothic melodies are truly delicious to the ears.
Polish death-metallers Decapitated bring the fun and heaps of crowd surfers, with vocalist Rafał Piotrowski whipping his Rapunzel-ian dreadlocks around the stage. It’s a very large and hyped up crowd despite it being Sunday, this is one of the funnest sets of the weekend by far.
Dead Air (who suffer a typo on the app and were very sweetly presented instead as Dear Air, narf) are playing their bouncy rock and roll in the Jägermeister tent, jumping around in the very limited space and giving the frankly massive crowd a fucking fantastic set. I’d like to see them back!
Ugly kid Joe are bringing the nostalgia, with their funny take on other bands’ logos (note the Motorhead style drum skins, the Britney Spears/Sabbath tshirt, Slayer backdrop etc…) and they’re just damn good fun, even their Ace of Spades cover was decent.
Over in the Sophie tent, I once again feel I’ve stepped into an alternate reality for Church of The Cosmic Skull. Opening with the truly epic ‘Mountain Heart’ I am immediately captured by their sound, 70’s organ and strings with that Pink Floyd/Animals ring to it. The band themselves are a visual force to be reckoned with as well, all dressed in bright white of varying styles, and all white instruments (apart from the rainbow axe sported by frontman and founder Bill Fisher) they look like the kind of cult I would absolutely fall for. It is prog, for sure, but not the self-serving hours of widdling-around and paying no mind to listenability kind. They have a very singable quality which had me playing their spotify channel all the way home. Call me a convert, they were truly one of the stand out bands of the weekend.
Now for maybe the most exciting set of the weekend, and who could be remotely surprised – it’s Sepultura. If you don’t get hyped up to jump around to this band, your heart might not be installed correctly, because it is impossible not to be drawn in when Derrick Green asks you to jump with him. “Bloodstock! Let’s get it GOING!” he yells, as the crowd surfers rain down on the security guards at the front. “This goes out to all the bands at the festival, and all you motherfuckers out there” is the signal call for everyone to go wild for ‘Refuse/Resist’ and closer ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ just seals their position as one of the best bands I’ve ever seen at BOA… again.
KK’s Priest stepping up in place of Helloween after their cancellation, means a crowd full of slightly disappointed people wearing their pumpkin outfits in mourning, which is a little funny. Yes, joke along that this is Judas Karaoke if you will, but honestly – it’s good. Solid heavy metal, a lot of running around and fun stuff, can’t complain for a last minute addition. I would have been one of the people who would have liked for Skindred to fill the slot on the back of their hit album, but the forums are full of people who were Skindred-ed out and I do get why.
I was however, absolutely blown-away by Zeal & Ardor and do feel they could have been an incredible pick for that main stage slot too, despite their relative new-ness. The rammed tent supports my theory, overflowing with equally awestruck people for their bluesy country flavoured metal. It’s hard to categorise them to be honest, and I think that’s some of the draw – finding a new style can be hard in a saturated market but they seem to have cracked it and created something unusual. Opener ‘Church Burns’ is very country, while ‘Götterdämmerung’ is as black as metal comes, it certainly keeps them interesting.
Megadeth are taking the final main stage tour of the weekend and the band tshirts are out in force for them, though they are no longer the true end of the festival due to the Sophie stage going one bigger each night (tonight with Biohazard) this feels like a fitting end to BOA 2023. Replete with the classic 80’s imagery, albeit delivered via screens instead of backdrops these days, Megadeth enter a dark stage and stand at the back, with drummer Dirk Verbeuren risen aloft amongst the speaker stacks. Loading up with ‘Hangar 18’, MegaDave (Mustaine) and the band give us that unmistakable ‘Big Four’ production. Yes it’s thrash, but there’s just that clean element of a band who’ve been perfecting something for this long and absolutely nailing it, and the ginormous inflatable unicorn nodding along at the front of the crowd seems to agree.
Between each song break the arena shakes with a chant of “Mega-deth” and there is no choice but to headbang along to ‘Conquer or Die!’ really is there? “Two words… lookin good! There are so many beautiful faces tonight” are the words that precede ‘Tornado of Souls’ which I personally think is quite accidentally witty. ‘Symphony of Destruction’ is of course excellent, come through my fellow Guitar Hero kids… as is ‘Peace Sells’.
After a brief break (one of the only bands to continue the pretence of going away and coming back for an encore these days) they call out “This is Bloodstock, all metal, all night!” to which the guy next to me loudly replies “PLAY SOME RIFFS OR FUCK OFF”, much to the amusement of all around us. Finishing up with ‘Mechanix’ and ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due’ means Megadeth go out as a solid headline choice for Bloodstock, and certainly one to remember.
Over and out Bloodstock 2023, you have been absofuckinglutely magnificent. With the line-up announcements already – I am positive it’s going to be yet another stunner next year.
Note: Following the festival, it was reported that there had been a death in the campsite on Saturday evening. This publication would like to extend their thoughts and condolences to the family and friends of this person, and to the team at BOA. Bloodstock is a close-knit family and this news is extremely sad.
Debuts for Carl Cox Invites & ANTS Ibiza for the October Event in collaboration with Framework
Pioneering LA promotional team, Framework, has teamed up once more with Wynn Nightlife to present the latest edition of Art of the Wild at Wynn Las Vegas’s world renowned venues XS Nightclub and Encore Beach Club. This cultured underground gathering takes place from October 6 – 8, when ANTS Ibiza and Carl Cox Invites will be making their debut with Animale, Black Coffee, Rüfüs du Sol (DJ Set), Rumors and much more to come. Three day passes start at $100 and will sell out, so move quickly to secure yours.
Since 2013, Framework has become the leading purveyor of unique underground experiences in Los Angeles and beyond, offering up the greatest DJ talent in the world in unreal locations with cutting edge production. Since 2018, the brand has worked with Wynn Nightlife to bring carefully curated underground music showcases to Las Vegas in the form of the three-day art and music festival, Art of the Wild.
It is renowned for bringing together the most coveted international brands and artists, attracting thousands of guests a few times a year to the Vegas Strip and host venues XS Nightclub – a lavish, gold-accented dance club in Encore featuring an immersive dance floor and poolside patio – and Encore Beach Club – an indoor-outdoor day and night venue offering an expansive pool and luxury cabanas.
This all encompassing music and travel experience is a luxury escape that offers everything from casual to fine 5-star and Michelin recognized fine dining. There are also two Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star spas, a newly designed 18-hole championship golf course, a global roster of designer boutiques offering luxurious apparel, accessories, fine jewellery, status watches, and more with an endless list of amenities available to be booked separately.
Kobi Danan from Framework says, “Las Vegas plays host to a staggering 32 million global visitors, illuminating the city’s universal appeal. Electronic dance music, intrinsic to the Las Vegas experience, seems to have been embedded in its cultural fabric from the inception of the city. However, it was only upon the recognition of a substantial void in the market, a demand for a more niche, house-centric space, that the concept of Art of the Wild was materialised. Created in strategic alliance with the esteemed Wynn, our endeavours are primarily focused on importing a fragment of the illustrious Ibiza experience to American soil. Our aim is to transform the sonic landscape of Las Vegas, making it a melting pot of global dance culture, analogous to the vibrant, pulsating beats that echo through the White Isle of Ibiza.’
Musically, this year’s Art of the Wild offers another bold and adventurous programme with a debut for techno titan Carl Cox’s Invites concept as well as the Ibiza powerhouse party that is ANTS, an underground celebration of the freshest housed techno with the world’s biggest stars and out of this world production. Add into that sets from Grammy winning Afro house pioneer Black Coffee, a DJ set by the award-winning and highly coveted Rüfüs du Sol crew, Guy Gerber’s emotionally charged Rumors and much more to come and you have another essential edition of Art of the Wild.
Art of the Wild is an unmissable and escapist showcase that offers something unlike anything else in the heart of Las Vegas.
London’s E1 has established itself as one of the UK’s most essential underground venues and its next season is another step up. Playing and hosting between now and the end of the year are the likes of VTSS b2b Boys Noize, DJ Bone, Nastia, a world debut of Lady Starlight and Sterac live, Sweely, Dan Ghenacia, Overmono, Helena Hauff, Young Marco, Job Jobse, Leon Vynehall, plus Mixmag’s 40th Birthday and more.
Once again this season there is a vital array of brands, DJs, labels and parties taking place. Drum and bass and techno, house, acid, electro, breakbeat and everything in between are all catered for. October features Toy Tonics, VE1 x Percolate with VTSS b2b Boys Noize, Adonis, Verboten, a DnB Classics All Dayer, DnB All Stars, Rhythm Labs with Daddy Trance, Free From Sleep with Stanton Warriors, Krafty Kuts, Plump DJs, The Freestylers, Zed Bias, 2 Bad Mice, A Skillz, Leeroy Thornhill, Slipmatt and Scratch Perverts, and a second DnB Classics Halloween All Dayer.
November doesn’t let up with System Olympia, Giles Smith, Aika Mal, Labyrinth with Themba, Cera Khin Presents, an AD Showcase with Antonio de Angelis, DJ Bone, a world debut for Lady Starlight & Sterac live and Nastia b2b The Advent.
ZIGZAG then welcome Sweely, Sidney Charles, Dan Ghenaica and more, R Label host a 10 YR Showcase with Kobosil, Mall Grab Presents Steel City Dance Discs with a bumper line up and more such as B4ME, Vyndia and more.
In December the parties keep coming from E1 Presents with Alexandra and more, plus Mixmag’s 40th Birthday, Breakin’ Science, E1 x Mixmag with Overmono, Valve, Labyrinth with Kevin De Vries and an epic Percolate x E1 6th Birthday 24 Hour Party on New Year’s Eve with Helena Hauff, Young Marco, Job Jobse, Niks, Leon Vynehall, Surusinghe, Reece Spooner and more to come on New Year’s Day.
E1 is now well known on the world stage for its awe-inspiring, state of the art AV & lighting system. It adds an extra dimension to party proceedings that is unlike any other you will have experienced. On top of that, all three E1 music rooms have custom built, bespoke Funktion-One sound systems that have been designed, installed and maintained by Sound Services Ltd. The tech on these is cutting edge with Evolution 6 Mid Highs and the revolutionary new linear transducer-powered BR132A Bass enclosures that means every beat and hi hat comes with peerless precision and low end weight. The venue constantly tweaks and fine tunes the set up and has added acoustic treatment of the full venue, has continual upgrades of the lighting and updated visuals provided by Rebel Overlay.
The Warehouse and Black Studio offer different atmospheres with their own programming but the DJ setups have been configured and optimised to provide with the very best technology. To be lost in the middle of the dance floor in either is as complete a musical experience as you could imagine.
The autumn-winter season has a renewed focus on E1 residents and London’s own local talent with soon to be announced dedicated resident nights and is working towards ‘Get To Know: In the Warehouse’ which are sit down sessions and interviews with key members of the E1 community. Add in the launch of the E1 Members WhatsApp community group which gives priority access to best priced tickets, discounts, VIP drops, exclusives, competitions and much more, and you have a club that continues to innovate on all fronts.
There is plenty more to be announced from E1 though this first wave already offers a mouthwatering run of events.
