Day Festivals | Lovebox | Junction 2 | 15/7/19

Hey, how is everyone? It's been a hot few weeks and summer is definitely in full swing, weekends have been busy and the sky is still light till about 10pm. I was walking through a park in Elephant and Castle the other day and about 5 different groups of people were having barbecues, everyone was smiling at each other and it makes me soooo happy. It really does seem to go quickly though, I can't believe we're already halfway through July! I've been to a couple day festivals so far, with Lovebox being this weekend just gone and Junction 2 happening at the beginning of June. I've enjoyed both, but also found it interesting how different the experiences were.

First of all, Junction 2 is a newer instalment, and it stills feels relatively young. While the size probably works out being pretty similar, it didn't have the internal world feel of a festival but rather a handful stages/tents dotted around. It's not really an issue, but maybe takes away from the encapsulated excitement you get most of the time. That being said, the setting is incredible, and very much unique. The most obvious fixture is the fact that the second stage is situated underneath a motorway, and with rain forecast all day it was a relief to know there would be some shelter. On the way, there, you pass over a babbling stream, and the open space of the main stage sits right next to a small wooded area. It breaks it up nicely, and manages to cover a lot of different scenery in a relatively small space. The token system is pretty crap though; the drink prices are set up to be just over the minimum amount of tokens you can get, and then as they multiply the problem continues, so you essentially end up wasting money unless you spend a lot in there. Not cool.

Musically, I mean it was phenomenal. Everything I heard in there was quality, and while the focus centered around house and techno for sure, disco and so on provided variety and kept it light. Daphni was pure, undulterated fun, main stage bangers. It was around the time 'Sizzling' had just come out and so the crowd was hyped when that came on, but my favourite moment was him dropping a song called 'Baiana'. Based off a folk song from Bahia, the arrangement by the Brazilian producers Barbuteques is sick, and Daphni used the silence under the chant, followed by the beat slowly building up as a real crowdpleaser. DJ Koze was my personal favourite for all the same reasons I saw him at Printworks. 'Pick Up' followed by 'Operator' just doesn't get old, and this time he closed it off with 'It'll All Be Over'. So, so good, and I got quite emotional at how nostalgic the tracks already feel. You can't not have a good time at his sets, and I enjoyed dancing to one in the light of day this time. If you're looking for the intense stuff, Daniel Avery was definitely providing it, and I've got to say Bicep were probably the best choice to finish everything off. They're accesible, everyone is going to enjoy it, and 'Opal' followed by 'Glue' to finish off as night has fallen, gave a great light show. It was wonderfully emotive, and definitely ended on a high note. Getting out of the festival was easy enough, it didn't seem to be too crowded. 

Lovebox has been going for over 15 years and is certainly much more well known. With that, of course, comes certain downsides, and the whole day felt a lot more commercial for sure. the payment system was much more straightforward with card machines for most things, but it seemed like the focus was constantly on trying to get you to spend money rather than just the music. There were plenty of gimmicks, massages and fairground rides, and all of that really isn't my thing. That being said, there was so much variety in food on offer, and while the queues were very long at times, the bar staff seemed pretty great. The crowd was a mixed batch, but leaned more towards not great if I'm honest. I feel like I can't be surprised, and didn't expect it to be any better. Oh, and it was hot. Being there the whole day I had to make sure I took some time for shade breaks, I can't even imagine how intense the Saturday of Glastonbury must have been. 

Now while I'll say straight away that I was blown away much more by the music at Junction 2, it was all still enjoyable this time, and the diversity of sound was clear throughout. We were aiming to arrive for Amber Mark around lunch, but as you'd expect we were a bit late and only really caught the last song, 'Way Back'. It was still worth it, and it's a shame her amazing voice was only shown to the small early hours crowd. It wasn't my first time seeing it, but Rodigan's Outlook Orchestra is always fun during the day, and breaks up your expectations from a standard set, taking you through the development of Caribbean music through the 20th century. Shifting away from anything remotely acoustic for a while, Krystal Klear's set was jokes, quirky, upbeat, and got me properly dancing for the day. I missed a bit in the middle so not sure if they played it, but was quite sad not to hear 'Neutron Dance' live, cause that would have been one to remember. Jayda G always knows how to create a proper party atmosphere, and coming on straight after her set complimented the last one well, bringing it back to earth from outer space but maintaining the funky vibe. 

Back into live music, Brockhampton made their UK exclusive performance, and it was definitely gas. I can't say I was part of the real fan crowd, but I enjoyed their performance loads, and everyone was going mental lol. Lots of stagecraft kept the eyes busy, and heavy bass and consistent bars kept it gritty and exhilarating. Back into electronic for a bit of Ross From Friends, who I've seen before but honestly this was great. The mosh was less aggressive than I'd been in before so maybe that was why, but 'Talk To Me You'll Understand' and 'Bootman' back to backed, getting you dancing to those filtered hi-hats for a solid ten minutes. Four Tet was amazing, but no need to reiterate things yet again. The only thing I'll say is his inclusion of 'Skeng' was unexpected and a showstealer. It fit with the overall atmosphere of the day, and felt like a solid throwback. I only caught the first fifteen minutes of Chance The Rapper as stuff was going on in my group at this point, but his opening was so exciting and you could tell it was the highlight of the festival. He commanded the stage pretty much immediately, and as everyone collected to watch, unity was coming out for the big finish. Wish I could say more on him, but as you can see the variation in styles of performance was constant and really noticeable. I have to give Lovebox credit for that, as it's hard to pull off while still having a clear theme musically. 

Both had their strong points, but in terms of the technicalities of the festival itself, I'd say Junction 2 won out quite substantially, especially as ticket prices were a lot cheaper, although Lovebox is more accessible. If anything, they made me yearn for a proper camping festival already, to really get the sense of being at home and the authentic microcosm experience.

On an unrelated note, I've decided I want to occasionally mention 'throwback albums' that I notice give me a real impact unexpectedly when relistening. This time, it's M.I.A.'s 'Kala', a real classic. She's one of my favourite pop stars of all time and I really respect the interesting stuff she does with her music. I've felt for a while that her first album 'Arular' is my favourite, with the consonance of the drum machine bringing the whole work together, the simplicity of the production and the clear determination to produce something to get notice. I might be changing my mind, though. With a lot more financial and label backing, M.I.A. travelled the world to record the instrumentation and vocals in the tracks, and the combination of sounds and cultures is incredibly unique, with different ends of the earth meeting and clashing and blending in ways that just work. 'Mango Down Pickle River' features indigenous Australians, The Wilcannia Mob, and Afrikan Boy on 'Hussel' is brilliant. Solid stand alone tracks 'Bamboo Banga', 'Boyz', 'Jimmy', 'XR2' and of course 'Paper Planes' provide a backbone for the album, but it's all great. Listen to it all together, it's well worth the hour.
Anyway, that's it for this post, hope you enjoyed, and I believe there's some exciting music coming out soon, so hopefully I can do a proper new album review at some point. kind regards xxx