‘I’m sad the summer is coming to an end, but I can’t think of a better way to see it off than dancing in a field with thousands of fun, beautiful people at Forwards’
Forwards Festival
Dancing on the Downs to some of the best musicians in the country is always the best way to end the summer. Drinking cider in a field with your friends in the sunshine is as good as it gets, with this year’s lineup at Forwards Festival featuring the return of the UK’s best singer right now.
Two years ago, shortly after releasing her first album, Olivia Dean first sang on Clifton Down to a much smaller crowd. Now just before releasing her second, she came back to the festival singing her sultry soul in front of a huge adoring audience. She was certainly the highlight.
Other standouts this year were Nia Archives, a jungle DJ who stepped in at the last minute after American rapper Doechii mysteriously pulled out without an explanation. Nia Archives was better and it might be controversial but I’m glad for the last minute swap, she was great fun.
This was the fourth time Forwards has held the last hurrah of the Bristol summer, after launching in 2022. Consistently well organised, an eclectic lineup, and a lovely crowd, I’ve been every year and will be immediately buying tickets for Forwards 2026 as soon as they go on sale.
New this year was a dancey stage, the Arches, where we saw Annie Mac play in between sets. The small stage is a good addition, for listening to something in between sets on the main stages, but felt a bit cramped. The last acts there also finished a bit too early, at half seven.
Also new were “O2 exclusive zones”, naff and corporate fenced off bits where you could get a massage or charge your phone. O2 customers could also skip the queues at the bar and get into the festival too, despite that not taking very long at all for everybody else. It was a bit lame.
Forwards Festival
But I don’t want to be too negative. Ezra Collective, who two years ago became the first jazz band to win the Mercury, were amazing and got the crowd bouncing, ending with their hit God Gave Me Feet For Dancing. The Last Dinner Party exceeded expectations, with a lot of energy.
We got to Orbital halfway through the techno duo’s set, as they bizarrely mixed in Heaven is a Place on Earth and the Spice Girls’ If You Wanna Be My Lover. Their visuals behind them on the stage were also particularly bizarre, but sometimes you want to see and hear something weird.
We started the Saturday watching local indie hero Katy J Pearson, a very laid back and pleasant set. But it’s strange she keeps ending her sets with Sky, a subdued song from her latest album, instead of a banger and a crowd-pleaser. We left in search of cider, which was £6.50 per can.
Forwards Festival
The best act on Saturday was Confidence Man, a wacky electro pop duo with outrageous songs and costume changes. I saw them at Forwards two years ago, when I spent the whole day sober, and found them a bit challenging. A few ciders in, their music made much more sense.
We arrived a bit later on Sunday, just in time for Moonchild Sanelly, who I’d never heard of before. A South African superstar, she plays a mash up of genres she calls “future ghetto funk”, very camp and fun and bassy, with the best song about loving tequila. Her DJ had a bubble gun.
We skipped the headliner on Sunday, the soul singer Jorja Smith, and instead saw Dizraeli on the smaller Information stage. Another Bristol local, the rapper and poet was a surprise hit. The headliner on the Saturday, house DJ Barry Can’t Swim, was fabulous and very wholesome.
I was very tempted to listen to one of the talks on the Information Stage, with Zarah Sultana, Gary Stevenson and Carol Vorderman discussing being “pi**ed off with politics”. But my friends told me a sunny Sunday afternoon was not the time, so we focused on the music instead.
Forwards Festival
We still saw Zarah briefly anyway, when she appeared on the main stage to introduce Nia Archives and gave a passionate speech about how the UK is not an “island of strangers”, despite the prime minister’s recent assertion otherwise, but one that “needs hope and change”.
The only food I ate was a couple of chips nicked off a mate and a flapjack I’d smuggled in. Although there was a lot on offer, with the pizza looking particularly appealing. Friends said the queues took a while at half past seven but was worth the wait.
I’m pleased they moved the festival to the bank holiday weekend, as last year work was a struggle on the Monday morning. I’m sad the summer is coming to an end, but I can’t think of a better way to see it off than dancing in a field with thousands of fun, beautiful people at Forwards.