Bristol’s Forwards cuts an unusual figure in the festival calendar. A new kid on the block, its headliners across its three years have easily rivalled some of its more long-standing competitors.
Its debut in 2022, for instance, saw scintillating performances from Little Simz and Charli XCX (before ‘Brat summer’ was even a thing), as well as Fred Again.., Jamie xx and The Chemical Brothers. Last year, for round two, organisers managed to get Erykah Badu and Aphex Twin on top billing – two artists whose cult-like acclaim matches their elusivity.
Third time’s so often a charm, but in the case of Forwards Festival, its 2024 edition would be more about how the festival could sustain the bar it had set for itself with its opening two lineups.
What’s more, a star-studded lineup is one thing (aided here by the well-connected Team Love production company who also run fellow Bristol festival Love Saves The Day), but to endure and break into the psyche of British festival-goers as a must-see, Forwards must ultimately find its purpose.
Reading & Leeds, for instance, is the ideal post-GCSE blowout; Houghton and Gottwood nourish the electronic music scene; and Boomtown offers high production value to all the drum n’ bass heads. Granted, Forwards is essentially back-to-back day festivals, but it must surely still find its raison d’être amid the flurry of British festivals.
Thankfully for Team Love, it’s in one of the most welcoming, vibrant cities going; one which shares its forward-thinking (yes, the clue is in the name) vision. Bristol has long-been a bastion of progressive politics and Forwards also seeks to magnify this with an array of talks and workshops to accompany the music, with rapper and author Akala and the political accountability group Led By Donkeys among those speaking this year.
Saturday’s fill was headlined by Loyle Carner, no stranger to blending poetry and politics himself. Having led the lineup of his own All Points East just a couple of weekends earlier, the lyricist was in fine form, and equally appreciative of the situation here, taking it all in with his hands clasped to his head.
Not only was he soaking up the sizable crowd, but he also paid tribute to his debut EP A Little Late, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this weekend. His poetic adage “Take these words and go Forwards” was an inevitable crowd-pleaser weaved into his set – and an even better tagline for the festival’s promoters.
In all, the potent, jazzy vibes he brought to the stage felt a fitting climax for a day that had also featured the sultry psychedelic RnB of Greentea Peng, the rhythmic jubilance of Nubya Garcia and the relatable knees-up of Hak Baker’s self-described ‘G-Folk’, where a fan at the front proposed to his wife (she said yes, you’ll be pleased to hear). The best set on Saturday, though, belonged to electronic aficionado Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, whose set struck a perfect balance of pulsating tech and not-taking-itself-too-seriously remixes.
When Sunday rolled round, news came through that Crazy P wouldn’t be performing. It is of course with great sadness we’ve now learnt the reason why, with singer Danielle Moore having passed away at the start of the weekend due to “tragic and unforeseen circumstances”.
No review such as this could scratch the surface on capturing the charm of the frontwoman, who had been with the band since 2002. But their absence on Sunday puts into perspective – even if only fractionally – how much she will be missed, as the figurehead of the feelgood, disco-inflected outfit that’s always capable of bringing out the best in audiences.
At risk of sounding trite, there was plenty on display here that resonated with what she stood for, as outlined effectively in the band’s Instagram bio: “Dance Music with a voice, heart and soul!” The beat goes on but it won’t forget the contribution she made.
Perhaps owing to the fact this was the closing call on a long summer (the election now seems an age ago), plenty of acts seemed to give all they had left in the tank. None more so than Ireland’s CMAT, whose set was in fact briefly paused owing to the lightning – would it be a British festival without a little thunderstorm?
Making up for lost time on her return, she ploughed into early favourite ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’ before closing with Crazymad, For Me anthem ‘Stay For Something’, her bellowing, country-twanged vocals never letting up no matter how frantically she moved between the stage and the crowd.
Likewise, Baxter Dury seemed in particularly high spirits. The storytelling cool cat donned a suit and scarf, more often than not taking both off and “dancing” in a manner more akin to a martial arts lesson. If that sounds a little peculiar, that was precisely the point, as his eccentricity stretched to telling the Bristol crowd “I love the whites of your eyes, the smell of your hair, the moisture of your ears”. His euphoric set-closer with Fred Again.. track ‘Baxter (these are my friends)’ ensured spirits ended on a huge high.
Yard Act, too, continued the party, and were joined onstage by both CMAT and Katy J Pearson (the latter in her hometown of Bristol) for ‘The Trench Coat Museum’ in the most spirited manner I’ve ever witnessed them in.
And Forwards had yet more aces to play, with electronic behemoth Underworld acting as more than a mere warm up for LCD Soundsystem. The festival prides itself on having “diverse and heritage music acts alongside emerging artists” and here proved the latter in spades with two genuine legends in their fields bringing the weekend to a close.
Forwards Festival might be striving to be a place where ideas and music meet. And that they are. But really, if it can continue to offer such unrivalled lineups for a two-day event, that might just be its reason for being.
