Eastville Park, Bristol
Team Love’s empire has grown substantially. Their acquisition of The Love Inn and The Small Horse Inn, besides the formation of Love International, a festival in Croatia, the group are have seen their influence spread both in and outside of Bristol.
This expansion appears to have given Love Saves The Day’s organisers the ability to curate a festival that easily surpasses its predecessors. Unlike most of its day festival competitors, this attention to detail gave each stage at Eastville Park a unique feel. This year’s Love Saves The Day felt as immersive as any boutique camping festival.
Dave Harvey, label boss of Futureboogie and one of the events key organisers, kicked off proceedings early on Saturday at the Brouhaha stage, delivering an essentially Bristolian take on disco. Following this, Amsterdam representatives Antal and Motor City Drum Ensemble kept the groove building until well after dark. Later, Hot Chip closed on the main stage with their influential style of quirky synth-pop.
Sunday began with a performance by New Orleans-based Hot 8 Brass Band, who delivered one of the weekend’s highlight performances, blending soul, funk, jazz and raucous crowd interaction. On the other side of the site, Shy FX and Congo Natty played predictable, if energetic, sets at the Cloud 9 stage.
At the Paradiso Stage – hosted by Crack on Sunday – Bok Bok and L-VIS 1990 laid down one of the best sets of the weekend. Although the atmosphere of the crowd wavered a little on the second day of the festival, the duo managed to build a heaving mass of bodies over their hour-long set. Later on, Loyle Carner played in the same spot to a crowd that seemed to know all the lyrics to his small but emotive catalogue.
Undeniably, many punters were drawn to the festival by Sunday’s headliners: Stormzy and Dizzee Rascal, both of whom vindicated grimes recent ascension into the public consciousness during their respective sets. Stormzy’s performance was full of gung-ho bravado but lacked the professional confidence that Dizzee brought to the stage. Dizzee delivered a set of grime classics from his seminal album Boy In Da Corner, steering clear from his chart hits until the final half hour.
Year on year, Love Saves The Day’s line up only becomes more diverse. It’s a festival that caters to both pop enthusiasts and those with an interest in the underground. Some see this as a threat to the festival’s atmosphere, but at its heart, Love Saves The Day aims to cater to every scene in Bristol. This year it succeeded.
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