We Are FSTVL review: 5th anniversary celebrations are a roaring success

Celebrating its 5th anniversary, We Are FSTVL made a triumphant return to the Damyns Hall Aerodome in Upminster, Essex.

The three-day festival celebrating the best in grime, dance, house and techno marked the start of the UK festival season with thirty thousand revellers descending to the site to - let’s be honest - become inebriated, partake in somewhat questionable dancing and ultimately have a good time.

Now I’m a huge fan of Craig David and his second coming has been nothing short of an absolute feat - his set at We Are FSTVL paid testament to this. Bringing his hugely successful R&B/hip hop mash up TS5 to the festival, partygoers packed into the huge Terminal 1 stage (a new 450ft long, 45ft high and 150ft wide stage) making it look tiny as Craig David delivered tracks from TLC, Dr Dre and Drake amongst many more alongside his own archive.

BBC's People Just Do Nothing and 2017 BAFTA winners, Kurupt FM also played to a packed-out Terminal 1 Stage with their unique blend of comedy and garage, whilst Detroit native, MK marked his much anticipated set with a tribute to those affected by the Manchester terrorist attack, with hundreds of red balloons released from the stage.

Smaller stages, such as The Little Festival, welcomed up and coming artists such as Lewis Jimenez to give crowds samples of the breadth of talent on show.

Taking on more of a house and techno vibe, the Saturday night saw heavyweight DJ Marco Carola take to stage, whilst Seth Troxler, joined by the equally talented Martinez Brothers, closed the evening on the CircoLoco stage with a display of confetti, fireworks and incredible drops to an audience that would clearly have carried on long into the night.

The final leg of We Are FSTVL brought with it an adverse change in weather following the abundance of sunshine the previous day, however the at times, biblical weather failed to dampen the spirits of festival goers as they turned up in their thousands, still wearing sunglasses, you have to give it to them really – sterling effort.

The UK grime scene has exploded over the last couple of years with the likes of new releases from stalwarts such as Stormzy, Kano and Skepta, along with a cluster of newcomers, however it was the godfather of grime, Wiley who took to the stage at We Are FSTVL, enforcing the friendship between grime and dance.

Dizzee Rascal delved into his now incredibly rich archive, performing tracks including ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’ and ‘Jus a Rascal’, with Giggs and Mist also present.

Veterans of the electro house scene, Basement Jaxx kicked off their set with weather appropriate track ‘Raindrops’ as the heavens opened up on an audience that from the looks of things, couldn’t have cared less – too busy were they enjoying themselves with what was a meticulously curated set. Consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe the duo kept crowds moving amongst rain and confetti with renditions of 'Good Luck', 'Romeo' and a remix of track 'Smile’.

We Are FSTVL is getting a lot bigger as it gets older and the fifth anniversary of it saw a continuation of the trend, attracting bigger and better DJs whilst combining that with the best and brightest of upcoming British talent, it’s easy to see why it can be heralded as the start of the UK festival season.