The atmosphere of Sunday was considerably busier – and a little bit rowdier – than the previous day with a lot of teenagers flocking for dance favourites like DJ Seinfeld, Bicep, DJ Deece, Dennis Sulta. The day started on a slightly messy note, with both Ross from Friends and Earl Sweatshirt announcing last-minute cancellations. Anyone who decided to wander over to the Undergrowth stage for Bicep’s 9.30 set would have been equally as disappointed – the tent was sweaty and overspilling from Dennis Sulta’s set, with no chance of entry or exit; heat emitting from the tent was like someone had just opened an oven door. For fans who got in to hear tracks like ‘Just’ and ‘Glue’, it was a hot and sticky party – for the rest of, we had to be content with the grassy hills and Bonobo, on the main stage.
With most of the festival at Bicep – whose popularity must have been underestimated by the Forbidden Fruit organisers – the audience for Bonobo was a little more sparse than it probably should have been for the final mainstage act of the night; it seemed the crowd that had been there for Vince Staples earlier set migrated to the more techno/dance sets when he was finished. This didn’t distract from their live set however, which started slightly subdued – far tamer than their set at last year’s Body & Soul festival – but gradually picked up the pace, with songs like ‘Cirrus’, and ‘Kong’ being stand out moments. Four Tet’s set had a similar sense of subduity, and compared to the light shows of Saturday’s acts, the lack of lights or visuals during his set was a bit disappointing, and he failed to capture the attention that Vince Staples had stolen from the crowd – it didn’t help that he clashed with both DJ Deece and Dennis Sulta.
Speaking of Vince Staples, his set was one of the highlights of the day. Staples knows how to work a crowd, and able to get the crowd up (after berating all the people sitting down like grandmothers at Woodstock) and dancing to ‘Yeah Right’ and ‘Homage’ – the only problem to be had with his set was that he played 745 at half seven, not quarter to eight.
While the main stage may have lacked the same energy that it had had on the Saturday, and the timetable suffered a little from reshuffling on the account of cancelled acts, the stages and acts all felt very cohesive, and if one of the biggest complaints of the day is that there’s too many timetable clashes, that just speaks to the strength of the festival. Aoife O’Donoghue
