Review: Love Saves the Day 2022

Words by Kerry Mead and Fran Pope

Where have the last ten years gone? Bristol’s very own dance-music-centric festival Love Saves The Day entered the UK festival scene back in 2012 with a 10,000 capacity one-day event in Castle Park in the city centre. It moved to Eastville Park in 2015 to allow for bigger numbers and even more acts and ambitious stage-builds, with its post-pandemic return seeing the festival move to The Downs in 2021. Love Saves The Day is now a firm staple on the yearly festival calendar, holding the crown of Bristol’s biggest music festival, pulling in crowds from all over the UK.

For its tenth year, Love Saves The Day made the ambitious leap up to Ashton Court Estate on the western edges of Bristol, (home to the legendary Ashton Court Festival, once the biggest free festival in Europe) with the capacity to hold 60,000 partygoers, over the jubilee weekend. Many of Love Saves The Day’s target audience were probably at home with the babysitter (or were merely a twinkle in a bloodshot festival-head’s eye) when Ashton Court Festival was in its heyday, but for the older music-loving Bristolians amongst us, Love Saves The Day’s ambitious move definitely piqued some interest.

Without wanting to sound too much like a football commentator this year’s Love Saves The Day was definitely a game of two halves. Thursday was hot and sunny for the duration, then Friday’s instalment was marred by a huge deluge of rain resulting in soaked festival-goers and uncovered, flooded stages, closed bars, a rush for shelter or the buses home and Arlo Parks cancelling her set due to the stage being unsafe to play on. Talking of cancelled sets, there were some last-minute changes to the Thursday lineup too (much to culture editor Kerry’s absolute, howling distress, her firm favourite Blessed Madonna had to cancel) but as usual, there was enough genre-spanning excitement both on the top of the bill and hidden further down the lineup to fill the gaps left by the cancellations and line-up rejigs both days.

Amongst complaints on social media after the event of the lack of shelter from the rain, the handling of the mass exodus of partygoers by surly and disinterested security, huge queues for buses and taxis, and ticketholders being refused re-entry to the site after the rain stopped on Friday, there was also a lot of love for the music, the stunning stage designs and the more picturesque and rural setting. It will be interesting to see what lessons are learnt by Team Love going forward to fix the issues that arose, and how Love Saves The Day settles into its new home going forward.

But for now, let's concentrate on what everyone came for; the music and the good vibes.

After a chilled hike through the green and sun-dappled Ashton Court Estate and a stress-free entry early on Thursday afternoon, culture editor Kerry arrived at a still-quiet site with the palpable buzz of a weekend of fun ready to unfold. Some things need to be done first, so it was straight to the flower-festooned Lost Gardens tucked away in its own leafy glade for a glitter-dusted cocktail warmup and some chunky, wonky, 80s-dusted disco sounds from Morey Cillar, the head honcho of local party-makers Continuous Movement.

If you need any proof that some of the best music at festivals is in the tucked-away corners early on the lineup lists, here it is. A quick hop, skip and jump over to the aptly named and stunning blue perspex of the Hidden Corners Stage offered up one of our favourite new discoveries of the weekend; Dar Disku. They aren’t that new to everyone though, already having been named Mixmag’s breakthrough DJ of 2021 and being the current resident DJs for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM. Dar Disku is an independent record label and DJ collective based between the UK and Bahrain, championing music from all over Arabia and beyond. Splicing beefy disco, electro and techno-laden beats with the lo-fi sounds of Turkish and North African Souks and Bollywood soundtracks of yesteryear (and more), Dar Disku are making something not only original, but also playful and full of joy. Watching how much the two DJs enjoyed being behind the decks - all wide smiles and wild dance moves - was one of Kerry’s highlights of the day. The small early-doors crowd was really going for it as well, and it would have been great to experience what these guys could have done with a heaving, sweaty crowd on one of the main stages at the end of the day.

We then skidaddled over to the Love Saves stage and caught the end of Ross from Friends’ set, which was as great as we thought it would be. Having never seen the music producer’s particular flavour of lo-fi, slick house performed in person we were in for a surprise, as his live set-up includes saxophone and guitar as well, which definitely added to the music rather than feeling like a ‘festival set add-on’.

Next it was time to line our stomachs, drink more cocktails, make new friends and watch the sequin-clad world go by for a couple of hours. We swept past the thrumming and hectic Paradiso, Brouhaha and Centre Stages, led on the grass and soaked up some seriously good dub from Qualitex Roots Vibration on the Teachings in Dub stage and just generally bathed in the late afternoon atmosphere. It was a reminder of what Love Saves The Day does so well - providing a space for all lovers of dancing in a field to the beats of their choosing to let loose. Past LSTDs have felt a little one-dimensional at times, with only one sort (teens/early 20s, serious raver) of festival-goer dominating the demographic, but this year felt a little different. It was refreshing to see a wider range of faces in the crowds, although don’t get us wrong, you’re still going to feel a little out of place if you’re the wrong side of thirty-five or prefer DMs and purple hair over a neon bikini and fake tan. But hopefully along with their move to a bigger site and a more diverse line-up over a bigger number of stages, a wider range of people will feel this is the type of festival for them.

As we headed into the evening we made our way back over to the Love Saves Stage for the musical behemoth that is Caroline Polachek. The huge crowd were in the palm of her hand as she delivered her ethereal-pop set, her voice melodic and strong and her form lithe and airy head-to-toe in white; channelling Kate Bush, PJ Harvey and Feist in her very own 2020’s way. After a trip over to Centre Stage to wait for Blessed Madonna, we gave up after half an hour (although ArtWork did a standout job of keeping us dancing), and headed back to Love Saves to finish the night with Bicep’s headlining set. The sound and stage production was slick and took your breath away as you’d expect, the crowd was huge, loved up and beaming, proving Bicep are just as at home turning 1000s of partygoers into puddles of rapt love as they are playing on the stereo in the background at middle-class dinner parties. As night fully set in over the woods of Ashton Court and the moon made an appearance Bicep’s brand of epic, sweeping, orchestral house was a perfect, impressive end to the day.

Music editor Fran grabbed a raincoat and headed off to Ashton Court on Friday for day two of Love Saves the Day. At around 1 p.m. the site was still fairly quiet, although slowly and steadily filling up, with a couple of stages already pumping out music to the early crowds. It took a good half-hour for us just to explore the site and find all the stages, and we decided to chill for a while next to Teachings in Dub, soaking in the atmosphere.

Born2B showcase

Heading over to the massive Loves Saves stage, we caught the second half of the BORN2BE showcase: a lineup of young and upcoming artists working with BORN2BE, a Bristol-based talent development movement and label launched in 2021 with the mission of “harnessing young potential within modern music of black origin.” The rappers and vocalists were all super impressive, with a stand-out performance by vocalist and rapper xyzelle.

Dem2

Next up on the Love Saves stage were Bristol rap duo Dem2 whose lashings of hyperactive energy, infectious beats and larger-than-life stage presence really got the audience buzzing. We especially loved their Bristol-themed track South West Finest, but the whole set was on-point. Warming up for SHY FX can never be a bad thing, and if this allowed some of us to discover Dem2 for the first time, then all the better.

SHY FX

We stayed put at Loves Saves for the first big-name act of our day, jungle giant SHY FX. The crowd was absolutely packed out by this time – a proper sardines situation – with some excellent festival get-up and bucket-hat action in our immediate vicinity. And as you’d expect with a veteran like SHY FX, there was an enormous sense of support in the audience, with strong representation from what were clearly long-time fans. SHY FX himself was a huge personality on stage – friendly, funny and adept at psyching up the crowd: “OK Bristol, get ready to get the energy levels up… 3,2,1…” before dropping a killer bassline or a supercharged breakbeat.

With hit after massive hit (think Balaclava, Shake Ur Body, Roll the Dice, Gold Dust, Original Nuttah, Bye Bye Bye, and more), this was the full-on, happy-days festival feeling. With the rain just beginning, we were still feeling carefree, crammed together with strangers in a field, going absolutely wild and dancing our hearts out.

Nia Archives

UKG artist Nia Archives is a huge favourite of The Everyday’s music section, and she was our biggest must-see of the day, so we were happy to squeeze in with the crowds at the Lost Gardens stage ahead of her mid-afternoon set. Amid the giant psychedelic flowers and birds of the Lost Gardens, Nia took to the decks under the pointed wooden roof of the stage, which looked a little like a fairytale log cabin. People had arrived in droves to see her play, and we thought she could’ve more than filled the space at the main stage. Still, this was a cosy set with a more intimate feel, and the more off-the-beaten-track vibe really worked with her sound.

Nia was overflowing with energy, as befits an electronic artist on the up and up. Eclectic, creative and super-skilful, she blends classic jungle and UKG vibes with her own unique style – all glistening melodies, warm instrumentals and rich, strong vocals.

Halfway through Nia Archives’ set, the rain went from a smattering to a downpour… and the crowd partied on regardless, sticking it out through the deluge. Unfazed, Nia brought her own sunshine, and her set was absolutely top-quality.

Full disclosure: at this point we ran off to find shelter, squishing through the soaking ground and muddy puddles to find a space in a tent. So it’s a good moment to take a short break and appreciate some true festival spirit and can-do attitude among those trying (with varying levels of success) to shelter from the rain.

Danielle

Making a break for the Paradiso stage, Fran caught the end of Danielle’s set, and was sad to have missed the first half. Bristol DJ and producer Danielle has been playing major venues like London’s Fabric and Pickle Factory, Ibiza’s DC10 and Hollywood’s OHM for several years now, as well as festivals and parties including Glastonbury. She’s been a resident on NTS radio since 2017, and she’s also a founding member and mentor at Bristol’s Mix Nights, a series of workshops and events for women and non-binary people to learn to DJ. If that wasn’t enough to be going on with, Danielle is also an illustrator – you can see her minimal geometric prints here.

Spinning seriously danceable electro beats at her LSTD set, Danielle really had the post-downpour crowd moving. We’ll be keeping a keen eye out for her next live shows, as this short’n’sweet introduction to her sound had us more than convinced.

Call Super

Following up at Paradiso was another of our long-time favourites, Call Super. He jumped straight in with slamming house tunes, and as the rain gradually tapered off, the crowd (who had been packed together under the Paradiso’s slatted roof, which didn’t exactly keep the rain off anyway) spilled out onto the sodden grass for some wild, new-found-freedom dancing. Some of us – OK, we admit it – might have been dancing a little harder than normal just to get warm, but the result was the same: a sense of joyful abandon permeated the audience, with still-damp raincoats gradually being shed as Call Super ramped up the energy. Along with his trademark pithy, percussive rhythms and lovely bleep-bloops, techno cuts also found their way in, as did some rattling, military beats and pure dancefloor vibes. An absolute gem of a live set that tangibly lifted spirits all round.

Sadly, the rain had us bowing out a little early, but we left on a real high, having revelled in the chance to be dancing in a field once again, making friends with randomers, mud all over our trainers and ridiculous basslines rattling our bones. And with 30,000+ attendees turning up for this year’s Love Saves the Day, we certainly weren’t alone. With the festival expanding year on year – this was its first year at the Ashton Court site – we’re already looking forward to more exciting electronic music from big names and emerging artists alike (and hopefully better luck with the weather) next year and beyond.

Find out more about Love Saves The Day Festival here.

Follow Love Saves The Day on Instagram and Facebook, and on Twitter here.