Review – Love Saves The Day

Thu / Fri 2/3rd June 2022 at Ashton Court

@lovesavesthedayfestival review

Day One

The first day of Love Saves The Day did not disappoint and marked a triumphant return to Ashton Court, once home to the famous Ashton Court Festival.

Arriving at the site, we were greeted with warm smiles and a positive energy. The site this year was expansive with huge set builds, big sound systems and lots of bars from Refreshwest.

Sub Focus was on early in the day rinsing out drum’n’bass on Brouhaha. The crowd was packed, and as you would expect, he brought huge beats with all the heavy hitters. 

Over on the Love Saves Stage, Ross From Friends was playing an eclectic house driven set. They were followed by Jayda G, who took the festival into the hazy evening. 

In between sets, we explored the site further, stumbling across a secret venue disguised as No.10 Downing Street. Inside there was a party going down and home to the Ball Pool. The vibes were high and an excellent find at an already great festival!

Up next, local favourite Om Unit and Djrum were going B2B delivering an incredible mix of styles well blended on Transmission being broadcast live on swu.fm.

After this, food was very much on the agenda, and there were plenty of options but opted for a delicious pizza from Stone Baked. This was a perfect chance to reflect on the day.

The end of the first day was now here and the much anticipated headline set from Bicep. The headline duo from Belfast did not disappoint, leaving nothing behind. After the recent release of their album Isles, the set included Cazenove and Hawk, amongst others, with Apricots bringing a pulsating atmosphere. Opal and Glue from the first album added to what had been an amazing set accompanied by incredible visuals and light show, reminding us all of the power of collective euphoria.

It’s safe to say love did save the day, and we cannot wait for next years festival to be back in the fields again.

📸 @scramsistermedia 

📝 @jonevs7 

Day Two review

My memories of LSTD day two will be split into three really.

The summer party vibe, the monsoon and the thrilling climax.

Day two started as Day one ended, just pure love and good vibes. My first festival post covid felt amazing. It appeared that way for everyone else as well. So many happy, smiling faces.

And what’s not to love about a festival that is all about just that. Plus the best the UK dance scene has to offer in some of the most unique stages out there.

It didn’t matter if you were ripping it up with Shy FX on the Love Saves Stage, getting your groove on with the DJ & dancers at Brouhaha or chilling in the secret garden. It was one love all around.

Then… in typical UK festival fashion (and not forecast) the heavens opened. Not just a sharp shower, but a two hour deluge the likes of which Noah built an ark for.

Did it have an effect? Of course. It split the attendees into two camps, those that said screw it & continued to party. And those that left for more sheltered surroundings.

When the sky stopped leaking however those left or returning were treated to one of the best close outs the festival has ever witnessed. Chase and Status were on fire (almost literally with that pyro show) It was everything you could ever want to close out a crazy two days.

Sure there were a few issues to learn from, but I for one am just glad after the past few years we can even attend these huge events again.

Big shout outs as well to some incredible performance from Tems & Grove.

LSTD is a Bristol institution now. And a right of passage for so many attending their first festival.

It will only grow & become stronger as it takes learnings from every previous year. To become something that puts Bristol well and truly on the large festival map.

📝 & 📸 @thebristolnomad / @bristolnomad_gigphotography