Returning for it’s third year Forwards Festival continued it’s growing reputation for showcasing international, national and local bands. From huge names to those most won’t have heard of across a massively diverse range of musical genres.
Set on the Bristol Downs, Forwards isn’t your typical summer festival. For a start it’s just two days instead of three/four/five and there’s no camping meaning you either need to be local, stay with mates who are local, stay in one of the many hotels or travel in for the day. Bristol is vibrant and welcoming and so is Forwards. Approaching the site we’re greeted by festival staff urging us all to have a great day.
Once inside the overwhelming impression is one of friendliness. Relaxed, inclusive and safe. Take your camera out and people pose, stand in a queue and people start talking to you, grimace at the taste of a certain beer and you end up in a conversation about jobs, politics and other festivals. Everyone here just wants to have a good time. The importance of respect, consent and support for others shines through.
Two main stages, West and East, far enough apart so that sound doesn’t bleed from one to the other, host the main acts whilst The Information Stage is much smaller and tucked away to one side. It is here that you’ll find talks and interviews during the day with a big focus on climate, access to nature, storytelling and politics. The evening sees The Information transform into a music stage highlighting local talent. There’s a huge variety of food on offer from the many vendors, all at standard festival prices with plenty of options for drinks. And despite a crowd of almost 30000 we never ended up queuing for too long.
Musically Forwards really does have something for everyone and brings a huge range of sounds to it’s audience. Saturday sees a big focus on dance, jazz, electronic and hip-hop. We catch every band on both main stages – Forwards allows you to do this – there’s no overlaps early in the day and even as the big names appear and sets get longer they’re minimal. Standouts for us were Alysha, winner of War Child Rising, who opened the West Stage with her blend of chilled RnB and smooth soul. The perfect festival intro. Hak Baker brought his ‘G-Folk’ to a rapidly expanding crowd. Blending spoken word, singing and some brilliant storytelling he states it’s his favourite set of the summer festivals. Praise indeed considering he appeared at both Leeds/Reading and Glastonbury. Mid set someone at the front of the crowd proposes to his partner. Thankfully she said “Yes”.
Over on East Stage Nubya Garcia blends jazz with hints of sounds from the Caribbean, her tenor sax delivering a huge range of feelings. There’s no vocals, there’s no need, everything is conveyed through the music. Romy brings the party with a set packed with massive, up-tempo beats. Within seconds the huge crowd are dancing, arms waving, people sitting on shoulders. A mass of smiling, dancing bodies enveloped in the infectious club sounds pulsing from the stage. Fantastic.
Things slow down a little for the soulful R’n’B of Greentea Peng back on West Stage before Floating Points (DJ Sam Shepherd) delivers a mesmorising set of electronic soundscapes. A single person standing behind a mixing desk on a huge stage might not sound too exciting and it might be argued that it’s all more suited to a dark dance hall rather than a field at dusk but these thoughts fade away as the electronic wizardry, ambient beats, drum ‘n’ bass, jazz and techno ebb and flow into a huge wall of sound that completely engulfs the festival site and sees thousands of people completely lost in what unfolds on stage. Visually it’s also spectacular with a background of swirling oil on water imagery mixed with filming of Shepherd performing his magic on a modular synth.
The need for food, drink and a sit down mean we catch only snippets of Joy (Anonymous) and more electronic dance beats and clever sound mixing by Four Tet before Loyle Carner closes Saturday on West Stage with his chilled, jazzy hip-hop. Full of gratitude not only for the fact he’s headlining here but also for the sheer number of fans that are stood in front of him. Poetic, political, socially aware, personal stories packed with emotion, Carner wears his heart on his sleeve. There’s nothing fake about him and it’s perhaps this brutal honesty about how life actually is for many that has brought him so many fans.
Sunday the weather turns but spirits aren’t dampened as this is the day we’re particularly looking forward to. And, with one tragic exception, the day delivers perfectly. Holysseus Fly (vocalist/co-writer with Ishmael Ensemble) performs a solo set full of melodic pop that oozes confidence whilst also being brutally honest. She tells us about her recovery from breast cancer and mental health struggles. Songs with hints of Paloma Faith and Lady Gaga, her voice is enthralling, the songs emotional. Holysseus Fly shows why you should always get to a festival for the opening acts. Keep an eye/ear open for her because Holysseus Fly will be much higher in 2025’s festival line-ups.
There’s something special about listening to good reggae, played live, in a field, when it’s warm and you’ve an ice cold drink in your hand. It’s only 2pm yet Da Fuchaman and The Fire Blaze Band have got hundreds of people on their feet dancing to some particularly cool beats. The tunes are great, the show packed full of energy. A perfect feel good boost to Sunday afternoon. On West Stage Melbourne’s Glass Beams deliver a blend of eastern guitar sounds with a hint of psychedelic rock bedecked as they always are for live shows in gold jeweled masks. It’s laid back, melodic and funky.
Heading back to East Stage for Crazy P news filters through that they won’t be performing. It’s not until Monday morning that we hear the reason after the awful news is announced that singer Danielle Moore had passed away due to “tragic and unforeseen circumstances”.
Waiting for CMAT the weather takes a dramatic turn for the worse and she walks on stage to be greeted by a mass of wet, poncho-clad fans. Undeterred CMAT absolutely dominates the stage. Her voice is unique, her face full of a limitless array of expressions, her joyful, uplifting, infectious country-pop able to bring together fans from across the generations. But after just five songs and part way through ‘Whatever’s Inconvenient’ lightning cuts across the sky, the band is ushered off-stage and we’re all told to stay well away from any structures. Eventually the storm calms and CMAT returns for just two more numbers. ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby’ and ‘Stay For Something’. This is an artist who is truly gleeful in what she does and genuinely appreciates her fans, finishing on the barrier collecting a bunch of flowers and hand written notes from those who’ve stayed throughout the drenching.
Baxter Dury is, quite simply, superb. He poses, he swaggers, he eyeballs the crowd. Jacket on, jacket off. Scarf on, scarf twirling, scarf around head. His whole set is sublime but special mention must go to ‘I’m Not Your Dog’ with it’s gorgeous backing vocals, ‘Miami’ and ‘Cocaine Man’. Gruff, deadpan vocals full of social commentary Dury not only grasps your attention and holds it whilst he’s on stage he constantly provides you with something to think about. A stand-out from the whole weekend. As were Yard Act, another band who let you know exactly what they think over a background of non-stop frenetic, funky post-punk noise. Frontman James Smith leaps, crouches and twirls. They’re joined by Katy J Pearson for ‘When The Laughter Stops’ and again, together with CMAT for a fantastic ‘The Trench Coat Museum’.
The Jesus and Mary Chain never disappoint. It’s a little strange watching them in daylight instead of on a poorly lit stage swirling in dry ice but the songs don’t change and in just 45 minutes they pack in a brilliant career spanning set that includes ‘jamcod’ and ‘Venal Joy’ from latest album ‘Glasgow Eyes’ right back to those big 80’s tunes ‘Sidewalking’, ‘Head On’, ‘Just Like Honey’, ‘April Skies’ and ‘Darklands’. Jim and William Reid might be older and a little greyer, and there might be just a few more “Thank you”s between songs but The Jesus and Mary Chain have lost none of their presence.
Catching the second half of Knives and most of LICE, both on The Information Stage, both on the must see list following some online listening, proved to be the right decision. Knives, with their incendiary, noisy, punch packing, saxophone wielding punk rock have a well established mosh-pit in front of them by the time we arrive and it doesn’t let up until their set finishes. Full of attitude they’re raw, edgy and loud. LICE are also loud but in an entirely different way. What they deliver is bold, conceptual, experimental. They blend industrial, electronic sounds with screeching guitars and snarling vocals. Often dark and heavy, occasionally light, almost whimsical you never quite know in what direction any song will go. What is certain is that “WTF just hit me?” feeling that’s a constant throughout what LICE do. And that can only be a good thing. Unfortunately The Information Stage is running well late and this together with the need for food/drink and, tonight, the desire to get somewhere part way to the front for LCD Soundsystem mean we miss Underworld. A shame as every word uttered about their set was positive.
And so to LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy and band walk on stage and from the opening beats of ‘You Wanted A Hit’ the crowd absolutely lap it up. LCD Soundsytem are powerful, danceable, joyful and uplifting. Whether it’s the electronic dance beat of ‘Tribulations’, the funky disco of ‘Tonite’, the emotion packed ‘I Can Change’ every moment of their set tonight shows just why they are a headline band. Standing in the middle of the massive crowd you can feel the adoration from those around me. They’re swaying, eyes closed, singing their hearts out to every song. There’s something very special about being amongst a huge group of people so completely lost in the moment. They share the sense of loss when Murphy pays tribute to Justin Chearno, restauranteur, long time friend and former band collaborator who recently passed away, before joining in with ‘Someone Great’. ‘Home’ lifts everyone back up before the grand finale of the massive ‘Dance Yourself Clean’ and, of course, ‘All My Friends’ – possibly the best way to end to any festival you’re ever likely to hear.
There is nothing not to like about Forwards Festival. Fingers crossed we’ll be back next year.
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