This weekend, Lovebox festival descended on London’s Victoria Park in an eruption of bangers, balmy weather, and bum cheeks – denim cut offs still going strong as the #1 (non) clothing choice for 99.9999% of attendees. Fortunately the festival offered a bit more coverage, spanning pop to hip-hop to noughties nostalgia.
Friday kicked off with a high octane set from MØ, who proved that her wardrobe ain’t the only thing Sporty Spice inspired. The Danish pop princess pinballed around the stage with remarkable ease whilst maintaining great vocals. The party continued with Goldlink in the Fabric tent, who only paused his meltingly smooth flow for a spin of DMX’s Party Up. As many voices were lost as minds.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a decent British festival without a heady dose of grime, and Lovebox delivered even more than promised. Stormzy’s eagerly anticipated homecoming featured guest Lethal Bizzle, before Kano welcomed both Giggs and Ghetts to share his stage.
Katy B later brought the dance to the party, before Run the Jewels echoed the crowd’s enthusiasm with their energetic set and our thoughts with El-P’s words: “we live in a world run by $&*£ing assholes”. Finally, Major Lazer staged their expected neon lit, Top 40 hit packed show, with the unexpected reappearance of MØ lending vocals for Lean On – a fitting song both figuratively and literally as the full tilt day came to a close.
Saturday brought with it two long-awaited events for London – actual warm weather, and LCD Soundsystem’s first show here in five years.
But first, i-D favourite Jorja Smith provided a soothing start for those of us who’d momentarily forgotten this was a two day thing and that hangovers are real. Smith’s newness on the music scene was belied by her presence, soulful voice, and ruffled pink two piece that was definitely the best outfit of the day.
The rest of the best festie wear was snapped in the Straight Up studio found in i-D’s Ocean Drive VIP tent, where Miami vibes filled the fabulous pink top. Meanwhile on the main stage, the reliably brilliant Jungle pumped out tune on tune on smooth moves on tune for their dedicated crowd.
But nothing could match the hoards that showed up to catch LCD Soundsystem’s return to stage and brilliant form. They smashed their way through a set of noughties nostalgia with strong vocals, instrumentation and production – heck, they even made the Happy Birthday song sound good.
