SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
FROM OUR OWN (FESTIVAL) CORRESPONDENT - Lovebox Weekend
SUNDAY AT LOVEBOX
"Write an awesome review!" shouted one gleeful punter who'd spotted me scribbling during the final set. Well, OK then.
Despite forecasts of rain and water chaos surrounding much of the UK, London finally got its day in the sun, its chance to collectively celebrate summer's arrival.
And with a musical line-up to shame many a three-day festival, it's very own sanded volleyball beach and barbeque scents wafting through the air, Lovebox rose to the occasion.
In contrast to many outdoor London events, the organisers had gone to a lot of effort to transform Vicky park, with both artful graffiti and all manner of random touches and signs in the unlikeliest of places.
El Barrio got the Brooklyn look down to a tee - complete with it's own TV repair shop, New York traffic lights and wall-mounted air conditioner spewing fug. So it was fitting that following a minor roadblock, Bonde do Role rocked the crowd with one of the better sets of the day (PUT YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR!!). The sweaty atmosphere worked well for the Brazilian musical magpies, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their mixture of original material and distinctive rap over dismembered pop classics such as Summer Lovin', Tone Loc and Doo Waa Diddy among others. Their energetic stage presence, ability to make you feel that it's all about to go off, together with their ordering you to "make some XXXXing noise", gave the crowd no option but to dutifully oblige.
Elsewhere Tuung put in a breathy, sometime beaty and enchanting performance on the Time Out stage, with classics like 'Bodies' rousing the audience, and closed with the newish 'Bullets' that went down well. It didn't have quite the atmosphere of their Glastonbury gig however - a shortened set and hazy sunshine apparently making for a more rarified ambience than a packed tent in the pouring rain.
We only caught the back end of Hot Chip, who we were informed also played a shortish set, but a lot of the timings had to be reworked following problems earlier in the day, and they must've been shattered following their showstopping performance at Somerset House (and after party) the night before.
The Trojan stage meanwhile brought continuous sunsplash vibes, with both Andy Smith and Brother Culture, The Trojan Soundsystem itself and Massive Attack's Daddy G playing great festive sets covering roots and dub to D'n'B.
So by the time it came for Groove Armada to come on and 'By The River' wafted through the air, the audience was a sea of happy faces. Tracks like 'Easy' summed up the day nicely, but it was the 5 minute build up to 'Superstylin'' during the encore that seemed to catch the audience off their guard and resulted in a brilliant finale with everyone jumping around.
Aside from a lot of excellent music, the event was also child friendly, with both free entry to under 12s and caring security. All told a great party and family day out. Let's hope that keeps the gleeful punter happy.
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