The Lost Gardens
On Saturday the 27th I had the opportunity of going to Love Saves The Day in Bristol, my first time at a large scale music festival, so I was excited to see what the festival buzz was about. My friend Ellie and I made an effort to dress appropriately in festival attire and the half-moon of glitter on our faces that kept us camouflaged in a sea of drunk uni students.
After passing through security we took in an overview of the park, which included a helter-skelter and a 24-hour pop-up tattoo parlour, which did a special two for one deal that I can only hope was a joke. Needless to say, we bypassed that quickly and checked out the press area, a huge tent with its own bar and portaloo’s (thank God). This year LSTD continued their reusable cup policy, charging festival-goers a pound with their drink for a cup they could use throughout the day. This policy continued with the support of Frank Water, who supplied free refills of chilled drinking water throughout the festival, although this has some downsides when you are dehydrated and no bar is willing to provide tap water.
suspicious unicorns that charged through the excited crowd
We then headed to the main stage to check out the House Gospel Choir, a group from London who tries to promote equality with the philosophy: “We can’t all speak at the same time and have our voices heard but we can sing together as one voice and be understood.” Combining house classics such as Show Me Love with amazing soulful voices they were an amazing start to the festival. We also managed to catch the incredible Horse Meat Disco, who drew in a crowd of ravers and suspicious unicorns that charged through the excited crowd.
After a few drinks, we explored the catering area including a place which did these amazing spicy noodles and a Mexican truck, which at 4 pm and sober was hugely disappointing and pricey at £7. Full and intoxicated, we were prepared for the amazing voice of RAYE, another brilliant artist from Tooting. Playing fan favourites like “Cigarette” and “Decline”, a remix of Ja Rule and Ashanti’s early 2000’s club classic “Always On Time”, RAYE got the crowd singing along. Personally, my favourite performer of the day, she danced up and down the stage, her bouncing curls making her visible to even the shortest of dancers.
drug-induced ravers still swaying to the sound of silence
Next, we checked out this year’s fan favourite Tom Misch, an act that with his interesting mix of hip-hop and funk, is breaking new boundaries on the London music scene. However, following RAYE he was surprisingly low-key and a very guarded performer. Hungry again, we decided to check out the Lost Gardens, which hosted a karaoke bar and pasta pop-up “Pasta Sluts”. Choosing mushroom pasta with bechamel sauce, I had high hopes. But, lo and behold, the pasta did not agree with us and we spent the next two hours sober and grumpy, just in time for Fatboy Slim.
In anticipation for the legend that is Fatboy Slim, the sky seemed to darken and the stage suddenly lit up with explosions of lasers and smoke, startling the drug-induced ravers, who were still swaying to the sound of silence. He played a remix of some great current hits as well as the classic, “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat” and “Right Here, Right Now”, interspersed with clips of an animated Slim singing along.
In the end, after wandering around the park looking for water we got the Love Bus back to Temple Meads station with a group of equally exhausted, glitter-covered students all the way to Exeter. It was true that the Love Saves The Day line-up proved its worth in creating one of the most atmospheric festivals I’ve ever had the pleasure of going to, even despite the somewhat dubious pasta and rigid water policies.
