Victoria Park is big, it’s the largest council park in London and whilst it doesn’t even come close to matching the 2000+ acre behemoth that is Richmond Park (so big it basically has its own eco-system), it’s still easily big enough to hide a music festival in. Being that the park falls within the territory of Tower Hamlets and sits so close to Hackney and Bethnal Green, it plays host to a lot of music events almost throughout the year. Famously, in 1978, The Clash headlined the Rock Against Racism Rally there alongside Steel Pulse and the Tom Robinson Band. Since then a plethora of different festivals of varying sizes have staked their claim on the historic park and this summer has been relentless. Field Day ran as planned at the beginning of June and last weekend the park saw not one, but two big festivals passing through its midst: Lovebox and Citadel.
At time of writing, Citadel is actually still happening so I can’t really speak for the quality of that one, but since I actually went to Lovebox on Friday, I can speak for that. Originally founded by Groove Armada and sponsored this year by Time Out, Corona and (weirdly) Mountain Dew, the festival has been running at the park for 12 years now and seemingly building with every passing year. Urban festivals are difficult, almost every single one I’ve ever been to has been plagued by sound-bleeding issues, overzealous security, noise restrictions, bad crowds or some heinous combination of the four, but while it wasn’t perfect, Lovebox turned to be just about the best one I’ve ever attended.
A lot of it was down to variety, the stages all felt very self-contained and were evenly spread across the small yet accommodating fraction of the park the festival chose to occupy nearest the Grove Road entrance, guarded on all sides by trees in such a way that there was little evidence that you were in one of the biggest cities in the world, apart from the odd tower block penetrating the horizon. Aside from the hulking main stage, there was a smaller ‘West Stage’, occupied on Friday by a Thump Residency and a mishmash of smaller, themed ones. Wisely, the heavy-hitters on the setlist weren’t all relegated to the largest platform, encouraging everyone to keep moving around throughout the day, fighting their way through the endless dust clouds. BBC 1 Xtra laid claim to the Bamboo Stage, Mountain Dew had a gigantic half-pipe on site which played double duty with a roster of DJs and MCs and Corona had a stage with one of the coolest DJ booths I think I’ve ever seen (you can’t beat wood).
Elsewhere the Big Top Tent was being curated by Fact and The Hydra, which is always a guarantee of crazy electronic/AV loveliness and the astounding, Eastern-themed Elrow stage (named for and run by the club in Barcelona) blasted the dazzled crowd with confetti as a man in stilts repeatedly attempted to set his crotch on fire. My favourite area in the whole sight though? The Despacio tent. Named for the sound system developed by James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem fame) and 2manydjs, stepping inside was like going into another world as the gloriously retro speaker stacks surrounded a dark, smokey dance floor, alive with lasers an a massive disco-ball. Bearing all that in mind, it was difficult to get stuck for things to do at any point.
As far as the acts went, Cypress Hill, Mark Ronson, Skepta and especially Rudimental all performed admirably on the main stage (as did Jessie Ware and Snoop Dogg, I’m told), but it was on a smaller scale that the festival really shone. I’ve been wanting to see Little Simz perform for years now and I’m so glad that when I finally did, it was in her own backyard (well, she’s from Islington, but she’s logged gigging time all across East London). The 21-year-old rapper fed off that energy and blasted it back at the still-warming crowd admirably before giving way to Action Bronson (and how crazy is it that those two were on stage within 5 minutes of each other). I’ve always kind of been on the fence about Bronson but seeing him do his thing live certainly helped his case, particularly when a stage invader threatened his performance. Without even breaking his flow, Bronson lamped the poor bastard square in the jaw and hurled him off the stage like a rag doll. He might well have broken his finger in the process. Don’t fuck with any Queens MC but definitely don’t fuck with Action Bronson.
Elsewhere, festival founders Groove Armada lent their talents to the Elrow Stage, wisely choosing the most vibrant, interesting platform to play their set (there were people throwing pool inflatables into the crowd and a giant chicken wandering around). The Voicebox tent provided a chilled respite from all the dancing where you could watch an impressive cast of beatboxers, poets and more, Shlomo provided a particularly impressive set. I would honestly say though that my highlight of the whole day was Gilles Peterson. Supported by the ever-impressive and definitely fictional producer Earl Zinger, the legendary Radio 6 DJ threw out a gorgeous, endlessly varied set which he was clearly enjoying as much or more than the crowd. Numerous times between cues he threw his hands out, his head back and just let it all wash over him. In a world which far too often sees DJs statically, gormlessly staring at their decks as if they’re revising for a maths exam, it’s always hugely gratifying to see someone like Peterson feeling his way through every track.
Speaking of which, Shy FX and Goldie rounded out the Bamboo Stage with a welcome dose of high-energy jungle and DnB, leading the smaller stages into the final hour of the night, which was almost exclusively occupied by Rudimental (with some unexpected help from Dizzee Rascal). If you hadn’t figured it out already, overall impressions were very good. A lot of one or two day park festivals I’ve been to have only been around for a few years and still feel very embryonic, like they haven’t found their groove yet.
Comparatively, Lovebox feels like it’s been running for 12 years (13 if you could the inaugural club night), it boasts a lot of big name acts but doesn’t lean too heavily against them, preferring instead to create a wider, more animated experience. You can sit on the grass in front of a massive stage at any park festival, but Lovebox aims to keep you on your feet and succeeds admirably. Perhaps hand out dust masks on the way in next time, though.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
