Now in its fourth year, We Are FSTVL brings in 50,000 music lovers over its weekend. We were invited to enjoy the day as well as share our 2016 We Are FSTVL experience with everyone after the festival.

There was particular serenity amongst the crowd. As one of the year’s kick starter festivals of the Summer, we were excited to arrive on the Saturday regardless of the grey clouds looming above. It soon heated up both in the tents as well as with the weather…

Since being voted the UK’s best dance festival in 2015 we had big expectations from this year’s event and we were not disappointed. For this year’s event We Are FSTVL had added new areas along with new themes such as the Ancient Realm hosting some of the hottest acts in the underground music scene right now. Impressive!!

First stop of the day was main stage to see what the rising star Theo Kottis had on offer. Although an early set, Theo got things going on the main stage with a progressive set leading up to such classics as “Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy” Every person in the crowd was dancing enjoying the sun and the chilled vibe.

Every stage was flooded with enthusiasts, enjoying the impressive artists and visuals each stage had on offer from so early into the day. We caught up with Theo after his set before he was whisked off the play Motion, Bristol alongside Pete Tong. Interview will be online soon…

Throughout the day we jumped from tent to tent to try and catch as many acts as possible. We spent a lot of time in the techno arena and a set that stranded out to us was the mighty Loco Dice. He went in with a deeper essence of techno to start with, which ended with him playing his heavier pumping techno hits to keep the crowd ready for the next DJ.

We went over to the Area 10 tent to see what other vibes were on offer. Marc started his set with a live performance of his new track ‘Piece of me‘ – Featuring Becky Hill. Her unique vocal filled the tent with a big soul vibe which got the crowd going. After this, Marc switched things up again and dropped Teach me’ – Bakermat. What a response! The Area 10 owner surely made a massive impact to the We Are FSTVL line up as well as to the underground music scene in a whole.

What a day Saturday was! Sunday came around quick enough though and we were back at the We Are FSTVL site for day 2. This is the day we were mostly looking forward as it had a lot of our favourite acts performing.

Sunday’s sell-out line up saw each stage far more busy than the previous day as the festival. The weather at first looked uncertain but with gratitude, the sun was shinning throughout the day.

We had two stages in mind for this day, Jamie Jone’s Paradise party as well as Sven Vath’s Cocoon party. Early in the day, over at Cocoon, The Martinez Brothers played house and techno delivering enriching vibes from behind the decks. Ilario Alicante followed with a two hour assault of stomping techno, whilst aided with green strobes and dispersed visuals.

Over at Paradise, Patrick Topping, who was queued up to go B2B with Richy Ahmed took to the stage filling the tent with tech-house stoping hits, before Hot Since 82 teamed up with Solomun. Convection dictated that Jamie Jones would play an incredible festival set, and without fail, he did it. Richy Ahmed, who was missing earlier, had the incredible honour of closing the Paradise party at this years We Are FSTVL.

Transportation to and from the festival was greatly improved from recent years, the roads were specially closed and exiting and leaving the site was well organised. Last year, people were reportedly left for hours on the roadside as shuttle buses and taxi’s struggled to cope with the number of attendees, though this year didn’t seem to have such problems.

What an amazing weekend, thanks to the whole of the We Are FSTVL team for having us!