If you’re familiar with UK day festivals, you’ll know that sound restrictions can sometimes be an issue. It can be down to the council that owns the site, residents living nearby or (at times) environmental health. This year, Hospitality bucked the trend with their end of summer weekender being one of the biggest, most memorable and loudest day festivals to date.
On the Saturday morning as we journeyed to Beckenham Place Park, it made sense why this location was chosen. It wasn’t just for the grand views; the hills, trees and accommodating stage designs that all played a part in controlling sound leakage. From outside the festival walls you were merely teased by the sub-bass radiating from the main stage. Once you’re inside, you feel the music at an auditory level which rivals the likes of Glastonbury and Outlook. The first thing that came to mind was “this is how it should be”.
For both days, Hospitality piloted the main stage, Big Top with their homegrown roster of artists while Let It Roll took the open-air Corner Stage with their signature heavy acts. The other three stages played host to different drum & bass brands throughout the weekend. The Stretch was located halfway up the main hill and was commanded by Royal Rumble and Playaz. Further up, on top of the hill was The Bunker hosted by Calibre and Critical Sound. Nestled away in the forest was The Woods, taken over by Rupture and Soulvent.
Saturday
We made it our mission to get inside early to catch sets from some of the up-and-comers. Myl and Cauzer in the Big Top were the first acts of the day, kicking things off smooth and techy. Making our way round the festival, we bopped to the sounds of wobbly jump up from Dutta at the Let it Roll stage.
Over at Rupture, Djinn treated us to the brand’s speciality; a journey through the raw sounds jungle and breaks. The Bunker saw one of the most varied lineups musically - from reggae with Channel One Sound System, to screwface 140 with Sicaria Sound, to liquid rollers with the scratch master DJ Marky.
The final few hours of the Saturday were spent stage hopping. We danced (quite literally) between Dillinja, Kings Of The Rollers and finally Koven who remarkably, manages to DJ, headbang and provide epic live vocals seamlessly.
Sunday
Sunday featured more of the heavier acts. Newcomer DJ Ama started the day off nicely at the Big Top, followed by Makota spinning uplifting, vocal drum and bass. Let it Roll saw a back to back with Gyrofield and Latesleeper, followed by IMANU. These artists are known for their experimental, boundary-pushing production which takes the form of hybrid drum and bass, techno, half time and electronica.
Over at The Stretch, things were rowdy with jump up heavyweights Sub Zero, Limited and the rest of the Playaz camp. Particle, Ways and Charli Brix tore up the Critical Stage, followed by Sherelle who took us through the sounds of jungle, breaks and hardcore.
Back down at Let it Roll was pure neurofunk with a quadruple back to back with Ed Rush, Optical, Audio and Bad company. The final sets of the day were powerful, with a multi-genre show from Noisia as part of their farewell tour, as Camo and Krooked and Netsky destroyed the Big Top.
The culmination of these brands and artists gave us a drum and bass experience which spanned all styles, flavours and tempos. Though the hills gradually got more challenging especially towards the end of both days, it proved no match for ravers traversing each stage. Their close proximity made it feasible to walk from one to another in order to catch multiple acts in one hour.
The key thing we all took away from this was the volume and clarity of the sound which puts it above a lot of other UK weekend festivals. A new standard has been set for day events and it gives us hope that there are probably other sites like Beckenham Place Park just waiting to be used. The stage production also deserves a mention, especially at Let it Roll which featured a giant menacing robot armed with lights and lazers lurking behind the decks which amusingly suited the style of music. Props to Hospitality, the stage hosts, site crew and all the artists who made it all happen, we’ll certainly be back next year.
Photography - Hospitalitydnb
Website - Hospital Records
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