Brownstock Festival – The Review

Set in the midst of rural Essex, a far cry from the counties glitzy and glamorous reputation, a whole bunch of lucky locals swapped their platform heels and chiselled cheekbones for a weekend of mud, portaloos and more live music than you could ever wish for.

 

The Tunes:

Headlining Saturday’s main stage was none other than the British electronic music duo Basement Jaxx. The duo are known for their spectacular performances not only vocally but with amazing on stage performers, bright colours and visually pleasing stage aesthetics. Their headlining set was certainly no exception, with the appearance of gorillas on scooters, obviously not real ones, now that would be something, plus the several different costume changes they put on quite the show. Friday nights headlining act DJ Fresh also pulled out all the stops and got the crowd up and throwing their hands about in no time. With huge chart topping songs like Louder and Hot right now the crowd were in their element as was he which was clear to see throughout his set, his buzzing energy was infectious. Other artists to make an appearance included huge names like Example and Lethal Bizzle, the festival was definitely not short of top class artists to keep the party going.

 

The Atmosphere:

Thankfully due to the glorious good weather everyone was in high spirits, there’s nothing like a wet weekend to put a downer on things but in this very rare occasion the sun stayed shining and set the scene for a fabulous weekend. One of the things that make Brownstock such a popular festival is the way it caters for so many different people, although it’s primarily a dance festival it draws in such a wider more diverse crowd through its many varied artists and genres of music.  The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly with a whole variety of people all coming together for a brilliant weekend, it almost feels like you’re at a large scale family party but without the cringey dad dancing. If your new to the festival scene then Brownstock would be perfect to ease you in or if you’re a regular festival goer then don’t turn your nose up just because its ‘small scale’, this award winning festival rightly deserves its place and judging by the raving reviews it’s going to get even bigger and better next year.

 

All the Extras:

Brownstock 2015 saw the addition of many new exciting activities and extras to keep your weekend full of variety. One new addition was the B – Pampered spa area which was open to VIP customers and offered a variety of different treatments over the weekend, and of course with the festival being in the heart of Essex it was undoubtedly a very popular addition. There was also a roller disco and fairground rides so you could go wild and let out your inner 12 year old! Another popular new addition for festival goers was the Brownstock bus which was perfect for those of you who didn’t fancy staying the night. For just £2 per journey you could be easily transported to a local town in no time at all, preferable over a lengthy and probably very expensive taxi ride.

 

All you lucky lot that got to experience Brownstock first hand have given it raving reviews with pretty much all of you giving it 5 stars, by the looks of it Brownstock is far more than just a small festival in the rural countryside of Essex, something tells me you would be a fool to miss out next year!

 

By Sophie Black