Lovebox 2011. There was rain, good tunes and naked transvestites.
Kindra - Friday:
Finally the most awaited city festival has arrived. Summer, for once, has graced us with good weather not only mitigating storms and summer rain but decreasing apparel or any form of clothing. Bring in the booze, lose your shoes and make some news.
With the main stage closed till Saturday, the geeky uber-cool bands were left playing at the Gaymers Arena. Goof synth-pop Ernest Green, head of Washed Out, commences a cloudless Friday with his psychedelic and funky electronic tunes before passing the stage onto Architecture in Helsinki who blew my mind. Quirky and nonchalantly cool, this Aussie band definitely gets the nerd herd! Pleasing the sun-kissed crowd and breaking into random dance routines making the Backstreet Boys feel sorry for ever paying a choreographer.
Metronomy are too cool for school, rocking out their nerdy outfits and electro-glitch melodies, this is one band who keep getting bigger and better. Huff uuff Uffie, scraping only a half hour performance! Convincing the crowd to climb the stage on her last act boosted her performance. A cry for attention or was she simply that devoted to her fans to almost get stamped upon?
Beardyman with his dubstep improv sounds, chased teenage girls away whilst pleasing an older crew. Funniest act on Friday. And YoYoYoYoYo Spank Rock got everyone shaking at the NYC Down Low. The only let down was the cancellation of Hudson Mohawke and Flying Lotus’s performances causing the long awaiting file of festival partiers ‘boo’ and drink away their sorrows to smash, bash and bang at the Ed Banger Arena. And The Wombats? Flatter than doormats, chasing crowds to after-parties or roll to their beds to give Vicky Park her beauty sleep.
Joj - Saturday:
Having finally arrived at Victoria Park and located my scattered mates, we round a corner to hear the distinctive throaty bass whomps of MC Xander rolling across from some distant alcove of a stage. This will certainly do. Perfect as mood-saver under the threat of heavy weather, Xander creates the entirety of his reggae come space dub set solo and on the fly, using just his voice, an effects box and a loop pedal to layer it all together. More than just a beat-boxer he generates complete, significant and legitimate tunes.
Making our first trip to the main stage we see a little of Katy B. Following a decent enough start, the unfortunate but inevitable happens - the heavens open drenching the crowd and subduing the mood. With futile optimism we make for the Downlow arena hoping to catch Motor City Drum Ensemble, as well as to get inside one of the only roofed structures on site, but predictably the queue stretches for miles and most of those queuing were here long before the rain. Disappointing.
We head instead for the Stockade stage, hosted by Hospital Records. London Elektricity is on and switching neatly between huge tear-out tunes like Reso’s ‘Slapchop’ and the infamous Sub Focus remix of Rusko’s ‘Hold on’ into the dulcet orchestral euphoria of S.P.Y’s ‘By Your Side.
The following two hours sees both High Contrast and then Netsky firing on all cylinders, the former (finally) with some new material and excellent VIP tracks, the latter smashing out his catalogue of drum and bass bangers. My own personal headliners however, have to be Camo and Krooked. It is surely a rare thing to see two DJs running three decks and all the knobs in between as flawlessly as if they shared one mind. Every mix is as massive as it is seamless, the energy and atmosphere are explosive until the very last minute.
Tom A - Sunday:
Sunday at Lovebox means one thing: “today is gay day!”, as I hear Beth Ditto scream from the main stage as she shakes her wobbly bits.
The main stages can take a backseat today though as the DJ lineup is just too good to miss. So as the sun manages to break through the clouds for the first time all day we set off to the Bacardi tent for Disco Bloodbath and Psychemagik back to back, who set the mood by dropping 'Raspberry Beret' in the glorious afternoon sunshine. Within minutes the security guards have formed a dance troupe at the front conducted by my tranny friend looking dishevelled in a lace boob tube and blonde wig, much to the delight of everyone there.
As everybody knows on gay day though, the only place to be is the sleaze filled tranny shack known as the NYC Downlow. Tensnake is billed for a 7 o clock appearance, but as fate would have it, his flight is delayed making his appearance look less and less likely as time goes on. Fate works in mysterious ways however, and Horse Meat Disco's Severino takes the reins until closing, playing what is without doubt the set of the day, dropping in Masters at Work's Latin masterpiece 'Love and Happiness' followed by 'Ten City's That's the way Love is'. The heat is at full intensity, half naked trannys are hanging from the rafters, there isn't a set of hands that aren't flailing wildly in the air; there are people almost in tears as the intensity of a room full of screaming queens the the throes of musical bliss is too much to comprehend. It's a fierce climax to a superb set and if we could we would have danced until morning. Sunday at Lovebox is the Downlow, simple.
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