Well, we have been well and truly off the radar as we have thrown ourselves into making the most of our summer music plans – for that, we are sorry. But, we’re back, and we’ve just finished a flurry of photo uploading activity…which has reminded us just how many good events we’ve been lucky enough to attend. So, we thought we’d tell you what we thought of them.

Here we give you the festival edition…

Field Day, London
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This is one of our favourite local festivals. Based in Victoria Park, London, the festival offers the perfect mix of DJs and live acts. This year was no different and we were treated to sounds from the likes of Daniel Avery B2B with Andrew Weatherall, Django Django, Kindness and Caribou. Adding ‘village green’ fun and games and some of the best festival food we ate this summer, you can always rely on the crowd to be a good one.

Our highlight – Django Django

Wild Life, Brighton
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In its first year, this year was undoubtedly the first of many for Wild Life. Curated by Disclosure and Rudimental, the festival oozed professionalism: well organised, resembling a mini Glastonbury, and with a strong line up of both DJs and live acts, this Brighton-based festival was a real treat.
We attended ‘Disclosure day’ and heard there had been a few teething problems on the first day (‘Rudimental day’) however these were nowhere to be seen and the day went off without any glitches.

Our highlight – Years and Years

Sonar, Barcelona
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We’re used to hearing amazing reviews of Sonar each year so this year we thought we’d give it a go ourselves. We struggled a little bit when we were planning our trip as we were confused by how the OFF parties fit in with the festival itself. What we discovered was that the OFF parties offer a whole new set of (predominantly dance music) experiences, in a variety of unique venues around the city – definitely the main attraction for us. Sonar itself was great also, with a predominantly Spanish crowd, and a greater variety of artists/acts.

Our highlight – Numbers party at Nitsa Club

Lovebox, London

One word: disappointing. Never before have we been to an event where we can’t actually remember hearing any music. At all. We spent the entire day in queue after queue after queue… You want a drink? One hour queue. Toilet? 30 minute queue. Food? Easily an hour. We feel quite strongly about not leaving an event we have paid to be at but, by the time the sun was fading away, so was our patience and we made a move. This was our first time back at Lovebox for a few years (following a previous bad experience) and we’re sad to say it will be the last.

Our highlight – Leaving!

Boardmasters, Cornwall
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We’d never heard of Boardmasters before this year; in fact, we can’t remember how we came across it. The line up was sensational (think mainstream big names such as Faithless, Bastille, Clean Bandit, Rudimental…) so it didn’t take much for us to be persuaded that we needed to make the trip to Cornwall to give it a try!
The weather forecast ahead of our trip wasn’t looking good so we were a bit worried but, in the end, the rain stayed away and we had an amazing experience bathed in glorious sunshine with the beautiful backdrop of Watergate Bay to ogle alongside the bands and DJs.
(A point to note is that, while this festival offers the added bonus of sporting events such as surfing and BMX, the overall crowd is very young!)

Our highlight – Bite the Buffalo

V, Chelmsford
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Another of those convenient festivals that is just down the road. Positioned as more of a family festival, the line up offers enough crowd pleasers to satisfy most audiences. Spanning an easy to navigate site, the sun was out in force and there were happy faces all round. There were some lacklustre performances earlier in the day but we finished the day with strong sets from Hozier, Sam Smith and Kasabian. Kasabian really knocked it out of the park on the day – they remain one of the most perfect festival headliners for us!

Our highlight – Kasabian

Dimensions, Croatia
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In the interests of trying out as many Croatian festivals as possible wile we still can, this was our 2015 instalment. Located in beautiful Pula, the site is based in and around an abandoned fort – definitely one of the more adventurous uses of space for a live music event (be careful of those ankles people!) Overall, this probably wasn’t the best choice of festival for us as the music variety was limited and we suffered a little from underground dance overkill (not that the festival does not advertise itself as such, but we had hoped for some more uplifting surprises).
Oh, and a word to the wise: if you have any interest in getting any sleep at the festival then the Podpads are probably not the best form of accommodation for you…

Our highlight – Noah’s Ballroom (a tiny little space, perfect for intimate parties and dancing)

So there you have it, that was our festival-filled summer. What was our favourite? We think it has to be Boardmasters. What was yours?

We’re Lost In Music x

Check out our Past Events page to see our music archives. Why not take a look at our reviews of two of last year’s festival season highlights: Berlin Festival and Unknown?

 

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