LoveBox is close to our hearts for so many reasons, so don’t be surprise when we say that it was one of our top festival experiences for 2016.
For starters, let’s get the stellar location out of the way. Going to LoveBox doesn’t mean buying a ferry ticket or slogging into the countryside. Instead, you’ll find the biggest acts right in the middle of London’s East End. If so inclined, you could catch an opera at the Royal Albert Hall and then head to LoveBox after to dance it out with some of the best club tunes across the festival’s numerous stages.
But it’s not just LoveBox’s location in the capital that gets us smiling – it’s the festival’s incredible ability to replicate London’s world-famous clubbing scene within a wildly different environment. Stages for 2016 included the fabric stage, at which we checked out acts such as DJ Barely Legal and Goldlink, the Kopparberg Urban Forest Stage, complete with woodland bar and DJs such as Tom Trago, and the Corona Sunsets Stage, which brought the tunes of the Balearics.
Yup, it’s pretty easy to see how we fell in love with LoveBox. Kicking off on Friday night, we experienced London’s own Little Simz, as well as Katy B. To be honest, though, we really left our hearts with Goldie, Joris Voorn, Preditah, and Big Narstie – those acts really set the bar, and they set it high. We also couldn’t get enough of Kano, who will be headlining o2 Academy Brixton later this year and is perhaps our top pick to turn main-stage for next year’s event. We were still smitten on Saturday thanks to Oh Wonder, ODESZA, Jodie Abacus, Jamie Woon, and SG Lewis.
Of course, anybody who has attended LoveBox in the past is well aware that the musical performers are really only one slice of the fun. When we needed to chill, we headed over to The Voicebox to take in anything from poetry slams to beatboxing. If you need to rest your feet and have a bit of a laugh, we’d definitely recommend it for next year. If you’re more into kicking up the action than taking a breather, we heard great things about the BUMP roller disco.
When it comes right down to it, LoveBox kind of defines exactly what a city festival should be, and we had nothing but love in our hearts after departing this year’s event. Bring on 2017.