NASS Festival features the most up and coming DJs, skateboarders and Rock bands over the three day weekend at the Bath & West Showground. With Headliners of the Main Stage including Let’s Be Friends, Mistajam and Wilkinson, the crowds were indefinitely going to be filled with drug fuelled party goers who seemed to be pretty closed minded about the other stages there, for example ‘The Slammer’ which was sponsored by Kerrang!.
Friday
Upon arrival on Friday, the overall festival vibe was clear to all. Everyone just wanted to have as much fun as possible, whilst listening to a few of their favourite DJs.
With the festival still filling up at 10pm on the Friday, more chanting and Hip-Hop was filling the campsites as everyone was eager to pitch their tent so that they could start their weekend.
As you walked into the Main Stage Warehouse for Andy C, there was no questioning what the crowd would be like during the set as they welcomed Andy C on stage. They were chanting his name religiously. The light show fuelled the energetic crowd who were ‘skanking’ vigorously to the drops in the songs. The multi-coloured lightshow fuelled the crowd as it was partially on them, which was more than the MC did as there was no crowd interaction.
With Let’s Be Friends headlining the main stage with their remixes, it was very difficult not to sing along as they kicked off the set with a Swedish House Mafia remix, enticing the half full crowd to sing along and move closer to one another and the front of the warehouse. Shouting “Let me hear you say Hey!” to the crowd, it instantly was clear why they were headlining as the crowd’s reaction to any interaction between them and the act was phenomenal. Dizzee Rascals ‘Bonkers’ seemed to be a huge crowd pleaser as “Put your fucking hands up” was screamed through the microphone as the crowd started to jump up and down moving forward to let the ever growing crowd to join in. The crowd was incredibly dependant on the light show and the songs that were on. As if the original was popular in the charts, then the more that the crowd would enjoy it and dance along too. Thanking the crowd for being there came towards the end as “This is a raving start to the summer, and it’s all thanks to you guys” was spoken the most calmly out of the whole set to which the crowd cheered at an incredibly high level as they clearly had a lot of love and respect for the act.
Overall, the few hours that music was on during the Friday, the atmosphere was ever growing, as was the manic crowd. There was a lot to be expected of the music and sport filled Saturday…
So, I’m not taking the blame for jinxing the weather because I’m sure a few people are grateful for the rain to cool down their sunburn from yesterday but armed with a waterproof jacket down to my knees with rain inconveniently dripping in to my wellies, it wasn’t the best atmosphere to start the day off.
So setting the scene of thousands of grumpy, hung-over festival goers Clean Bandit definitely had their work cut out for them which made their set that much more impressive. Made up of Jack Patterson on bass guitar/keyboard, Luke Patterson on drums, Grace Chatto on Cello and Milan Neil Amin-Smith on Violin, Clean Bandit are the new twist on Pop/Dance music. I’ve never thought their songs have been breath taking but seeing them live has put me in a completely different prospective. Mixing classical instruments with deep dance beats should be a recipe for disaster but each members input merges perfectly with the next and creates an impressive basis for all their guest vocalists. Don’t just take my word for it, they have several tour dates over the UK this year. Their fearless take on dance music means they are definitely a live act you have to see this year!
Soggy yet cheerful I went to watch John Newman’s set. The only word I can use to describe that man is sass. So much sass. I don’t know if my eyes were more drawn to his fancy footwork or his jazzy jacket but it’s safe to say his voice stole the show. John Newman is the full package and watching him, with a smile on his face, enjoying every minute makes him that much more enjoyable to watch.
Now forget about the stigma The View left for Dundonian bands, with harmonised, vocally driven rock pop Copper Lungs have the perfect formula for amazing music. Now you may have never heard of them before but a packed tent full of festival goers chose to watch these four guys over the likes of Nina Nesbit and John Newman which says a lot. Comparable with the likes of Twin Atlantic, Don Broco and Biffy Clyro, Copper Lungs are setting the standard high for under the radar, undiscovered bands, so if you haven’t yet, take two minutes out of your day to listen to a few tracks on their SoundCloud and if you like what you hear, there’s a link to their Big Cartel page where you can buy their self titled EP. https://soundcloud.com/copperlungs.
Elliphant is a Swedish pop artist with a twist, I’m so thankful for the organisers of T in the Park for bringing her to Scotland as I’ve been a crazy fan girl of hers for a few months and having been touring around Europe recently and soon to be supporting Charlie XCX on her North America tour this Autumn she’s a busy girl. Elliphant is fearless and bold with her music, rapping over Dubstep it’s not hard to see why she caught Skrillex’s attention. Having worked with him on “Only getting younger” off her Look At Me Now EP it won’t be long until she’s a name on everybody’s lips.
Any N.E.R.D fans out there? Still patiently waiting on that N.E.R.D album Pharrell promised us in 2013? Me too. It was an issue I was going to raise with him but after his unbelievable set on Saturday night, I’m going to let it slide for now. Joined on stage with a group of dancers, Pharrell put on an unforgettable show, performing a selection of songs off his current album G I R L and a few N.E.R.D songs including “Lapdance” and “She wants to move”. Pharrell also did a few covers including Snoop Dogg’s “Drop it like it’s hot” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback girl”. Pharrell is the perfect choice for a big festival like T in the Park, even if you have never heard of him, he has been such a consistent and constant talent over the years that everyone will know some of his work which ensured some of the most impressive sing alongs of this weekend.
Continuing on with the Scottish theme, an act everyone will know, Calvin Harris.
Not only did Will Smith introduce him but he absolutely nailed his closing slot on the main stage on Saturday night. With an extended license for a longer set, Calvin Harris put on an unforgettable set. Now Scottish crowds have been praised every year from some of the biggest acts and I urge you to take a look at this clip from Calvin Harris’ set to see why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doYBd6yTn4g
Photo courtesy of T in the Park
If you would like to be part of one of the best crowds in the world early bird tickets are already for sale for T in the Park 2015, but get them quick, because next year T in the Park is moving site to Strathallan Castle and with everyone’s curiosity for the new site, tickets are bound to go fast!http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/T-in-the-Park-tickets/artist/28658
We sat down with London trio, James Tadgell, Jon Clare & Vanya Taylor aka All About She to discuss festivals, their new EP and more. Check out our interview with them at this years Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park.
We sat down with grammy nominated electronic music producer Pretty Lights at this years Wireless Festival in London's Finsbury Park to talk to him about his music, his shows and more. Check out the interview below:
Voted the ‘Best Major European Festival Award’ in 2013, we had massive expectations for Exit and now come the end of the weekend, we can tell you that our expectations where well exceeded.
With one of the biggest festival lineup’s in Europe, Exit’s headliners this year included Damon Albarn, Skrillex, Pet Shop Boys and more.
Unlike many other festivals, Exit starts off in the evening around 7 – 8pm and goes through to the early hours of 6am.
As we mentioned in our previous review, Pet Shop Boys kicked off Thursday evening in spectacular fashion, if not to the biggest crowd, but to an appreciative crowd, leaving us to ponder what the rest of the weekend would have in store for the Summer Festival Guide crew.
Disclosure also took on the revamped Dance Arena and were billed to bring their live show to the Novi Sad Castle. However a last minute press release stated that the production duo could not do their full live show however their Wild Life themed night would go on. Getting on the one’s and two’s Disclosure had packed out the amazing Dance Arena at Exit. This is one of the most exciting and spine tingling arena’s at Exit due to its awesome layout and setup and it made for a perfect setting for Disclosure. Hits such as ‘White Noise’ and ‘Latch’ had the crowd singing their hearts out but it was the end of the set with surprise hits Chic’s Le Freak’ and Outkast’s ‘Miss Jackson’ that really topped off the night.
Exit Festival wasn’t blessed with the best weather this year and it didn’t matter one bit as the crowd didnt really care and still enjoyed Exit to the fullest. It almost resembled a typical Glastonbury!
Rudimental have featured heavily on the festival circuit this year and after a cancellation at the 2013 edition they more than made up for it at the Friday night slot. Bringing raw energy and drawing a massive crowd to the Main Stage, the UK band smashed out hits from their “Home” album including “Waiting All Night”, “Free”, and “Not Giving In”. Serbia was definitely treated to what we picked as one of the best live shows weekend and it really did lift the bar for what we expected by the other artists this weekend.
One of Exit’s biggest draw cards is their Back to Back sets and this year we were treated to some of the best B2B combinations we have ever witnessed. Carl Cox & Danny Tenaglia joined forces on Friday to bring their house & techno vibe to Novi Sad. Both Carl and Danny are legends in the electronic music scene and it was an immense pleasure to see them playing together. As the sun set on the Dance Arena the lads had the crowd grooving from start to finish.
Other notable B2B sets that we managed to catch were Afrojack & Quintino, their high energy electro house set in the early hours of the morning keep the crowd going right up until the end. Exit regular Green Velvet joined forces with Carl Craig to deliver a house and techno infused set pleasing those that like the harder side of electronic music.
The biggest drawcard for Exit this weekend had to be ex Blur frontman and Gorillaz head honcho Damon Albarn. Being his first trip to Serbia, Albarn treated the packed out Main Stage crowd with tracks through his back catalogue as well as tracks from his critically acclaimed “Everyday Robots”. Kicking off with his the chilled out “Lonely Press Play” and “Everyday Robots”, it didn’t take long before he had the crowd singing along to Gorillaz tracks “Kids with Guns” and Blur’s “All Your Life”. However the biggest tune of his set had to be “Clint Eastwood”, Albarn really seemed to enjoy his time on the stage at Exit and his performance was one of the highlights of the weekend.
Another massive name on the festival circuit is Sonny Moore, better known by his stage name Skrillex. Skrillex arrives slightly late to the party and already has the main stage packed out waiting to see this grammy award winning artist. If you haven’t seen this guy live then you don’t know what your missing. Not only is the guy like an energiser bunny on stage, but his stage presence is like no other DJ. You would not know that its 2am when Skrillex comes on as the energy around the main stage drives you to keep moving and dancing. Kicking off with “Try it Out”, Skrillex is already bouncing around behind the decks and instantly has the crowd moshing and going crazy. His mixing is fast and his set is powerful and energetic and by the end of the set we are soaked with sweat. Talking to a few people on the crowd after his set, you can tell that Skrillex delivered exactly what they came here to see.
Sunday sees the likes of Hurts, Suede and Pretty Lights take on the main stage as well as the return of Deep Dish and Jaymo vs Andy George in the Dance Arena.
Hurts kick off our night in the Main Stage and play to a packed out crowd. This English synth pop duo have the entire crowd sing through the majority of their set with standout hits “Mercy”, “Wonderful Life”, “Excile” and encore “Better Than Love”.
We managed to catch up with grammy nominated producer Pretty Lights in London prior to his Exit performance and we made sure that we caught him on the Main Stage in his early morning slot. Pretty Lights genre infused music is something fresh and pleasing to listen to over the huge sound rig and he rightly has a massive crowd on hand to enjoy it.
Deep Dish reformed this year after a hiatus to bring their house music to Novi Sad. Playing in the Dance Arena they played massive set full of huge drops and fat baselines to those that ventured to see them perform. It was great to see these guys back together as their productions were hugely popular back in the day.
Exit Festival has come a long way since its inception back in 2000 and now see’s over 200,000 people go through the gates each year.
As we walk around the festival we are gutted that its almost about to be over, the weekend has flown by and Exit has captivated us, the crowd have been amazing and the lineup even better. It was our first Exit experience and it definitely will not be our last. If there is one European festival that you need to experience in your lifetime then Exit should be at the top of your list. See you in 2015!
Singer and broadcaster, Cerys Matthews, best known as the lead singer of Welsh rock band Catatonia has joined forces with the Gladstone family to launch a festival with a difference this September.
