Bristol’s bestest festival raises it’s game yet again in the glorious sunshine
Words by Emma Gregory
Building on the success of the last three years, this weekend saw the highly anticipated Love Saves The Day music festival returning to Bristol. With a new location, this year’s event at Eastville Park was the largest in the festival’s history with hundreds of artists and acts performing over the two day event – surrounded by trees in a lovely grassy park, it is hard to believe we are in the heart of a city.
As thousands of dance hungry people descended onto a sunny site, the festivities got underway with everyone praising the new location that allowed the organisers much more space to include extra entertainment and facilities.
Arriving at the park we were immediately surrounded by an excess of glitter, sunglasses, face paint and most importantly, smiles. Visitors could take a spin round the Bump roller disco, get involved in the fancy dress wedding inflatable church or head to Boo-Dior where you can shop, have your hair, makeup and glitter done whilst dancing to beats. Enough familiar Bristol exhibitors, caterers and characters ensured this was definitely a celebration of all the things that are iconic to Bristol.
House and Techno was one of the main sounds of Saturday. With acts such as Berlin based duo Tale of Us, Ame, Jackmaster and Fabric resident Craig Richards amongst others, not forgetting the main stage performers Groove Armada whose DJ set hit all the right notes. The crowd rose for this performance and they did not disappoint. Glimmers of their smash hit ‘I See You Baby’ and Nomad’s ‘Devotion’ were teased into the set and their clever build ups and huge bass drops were noticeable throughout. But it was their hit ‘Superstylin’ which gets the biggest reaction from the crowd.
As the sun is going down their set ends and following on is Bristol’s very own Julio Bashmore whose track ‘Holding On’ was heard in pretty much every tent throughout the day. And when he drops his hit ‘Au Seve’ the crowd goes proper mental – my dancing partner for the day who usually spends his time carrying bricks up a ladder reckoned it was the best moment he had seen on Bristol soil. And he knows his soil! The Bristol producer offers a storming set building up to the headliner Jessie Ware for whom he has coincidently, produced some songs for. Even though there were a few technical difficulties throughout her performance, the ever professional Jessie carries on and her set sees the end of Day One at LSTD.
Day Two on Sunday saw a slightly different vibe with acts such as Skepta and Wiley & Stormzy who kept the grime game high. Stormzy laid down ‘Know Me From’ on the Apocalypso stage and the lively crowd couldn’t wait to get amongst it. Other highlights were the legend that is Grandmaster Flash and NYC rapper Azealia Banks who closed the Sunday night Main Stage.
After both nights the party did not stop, many after parties aptly named Love Saves The Night were put on to keep the party people going on well into the early hours. Good thinking by the team! We had a weekend full of dancing, fun and most importantly love….see you next year…
