Forwards Festival 2024 – Review

I’ve been going to Forwards Festival (and Bristol Downs Festival before that) for a few years now, and it’s become one of my favourite festivals.

My enthusiasm for the festival caught the attention of a friend who writes/shoots for Backstreet Mafia, so he decided to finally check it out for himself.

Return train from Liverpool was £150 – Return Coach was £36 – so coach it was! To be honest, it was absolutely fine.

Last time we caught the train to London there were problems on the line and it turned into a nightmare journey, equally if there are problems on the M6 or M5 then the coach can be a nightmare, but on this occasion it was a smooth journey both ways, arriving on-time, and with a change in Birmingham breaking it into 2 x 2hr stints with a bit of time for a sandwich in-between, we couldn’t fault the journey at all.

Bristol really is a remarkable city – effortlessly cool and quirky, and the Clifton area where the festival takes place really is stunning – I enjoy just wandering around aimlessly and soaking it all in.

Hotels in Clifton are far from cheap, and there aren’t many of them, so if you’re planning on going there I recommend booking ahead as far as possible. You could stay in the city centre – it’s a 44 minute walk to the city centre Premier Inn for example, or wait in a long queue for a taxi, but after a day photographing every band it was nice to have a hotel a short walk from the site.

On the Friday night before the festival we headed to a Pizza and Beer place I randomly discovered last year – called Beerd. If you like pizza and you’re in Bristol – without question you should go there. If you love pizza, you should make a special trip to Bristol! Seriously – my son loves Pizza so one year we tried several of the highest rated pizza places in London, and they were nice, but for me Beerd takes the crown.

Afterwards we retired to the hotel beer garden.

Of course when I’m away in a city I’m not too familiar with, I tend to pace my drinking knowing I need to find my way back to the hotel. But when you are drinking at the hotel, there were no such sensible restrictions in my mind. It seemed like a good idea at the time…

In the morning, not so much.

I don’t follow new bands as closely as I used to – with so many bands out there, work and family commitments etc there are some bands who are obviously very famous that I’m not even aware of.

We realised that all the bands we knew were playing on the Sunday and we didn’t know ANY of the bands on Saturday’s bill, other than Loyle Carner only because I looked him up when the lineup came out – with millions of views on his YouTube videos I’m clearly very late to that particular party!

With a hangover and a full day of photographing bands we didn’t know, ahead of us – it was going to take something pretty special to get us back in the festival mood.

Fortunately, we found something extremely special – Forwards of course!

I should know by now that their bookers don’t muck about – they always put together an inspired lineup of musical excellence whether you already know the acts or not.

Last year for example I’d never heard of RAYE but thought she was great, and her career has really blossomed.

Paraphrasing Bros “My favourite bands I’d never even heard of, until I heard them, ooh ooh yeah” or something. Actually, remind me not to do that again.

Still feeling a little delicate, we kept hoping the next band wouldn’t be to our taste, so that we could just get a few photos and head to the press area for a sit down and a chill, but we got right through the day without finding a single band we wanted to pull ourselves away from!

Way back when I started going to gigs as a teenager I couldn’t afford the big bands I knew from the radio, I could only afford grassroots gigs, and in those days there was no Internet to check them out – so very often I’d go to see a band knowing literally nothing about them.

Whilst of course mileage did vary, you can’t beat that feeling when you see a band knowing nothing about them and they end up your new favourite band. Something we’ve largely lost due to the Internet.

Normally at a festival I’d mainly watch the bands I know and/or heard good things about, photographing them means I try to catch all the bands if I can, and we didn’t regret seeing a single band all weekend. I’d thoroughly recommend doing the same! The great thing with a festival is that if the random band you go to see isn’t grabbing you, you can always wander off.

From the first act of the day (Alysha) we were hooked! I love the variety on offer at Forwards – Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Pop, Electronic, Rap and more, sometimes dragging me out of my music comfort-zone, and all the better for it!

The friendliness of people at the festival really are the icing on the cake – everyone we spoke to was chatty and even late at night I felt totally safe even though I was carrying a big camera lens around.

The weekend went too quickly as always and by the end we were already looking towards next year, tentatively booking our hotel for next year.

If you’re looking for a festival to try next year – look no further – it’s the way Forwards.

Musical Highlights

I could genuinely say “All of them” because every single band grabbed me in some way.

But that would be lazy… so here’s some examples!

Romy

Romy was one of the many acts of the weekend that I wasn’t previously familiar with, but instantly won me over.

Reading up on her afterwards turns out she’s Romy Madley Croft from the xx.

Romy’s songwriting is introspective and personal, exploring themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. Her music has been described as both intimate and powerful, capable of evoking a wide range of emotions in listeners.

Her early evening set was a pure adrenaline rush – with a large audience going wild, which made her set all the more enjoyable.

Da Fuchaman and his Fire Blaze Band

You can’t beat a bit of Reggae especially when the sun is shining, and Da Fuchaman and his Fire Blaze Band were just the early morning life-affirming tonic we needed on the Sunday morning.

Upbeat energetic music, catchy rhythms, playful lyrics, and a positive message is exactly what we needed!

Da Fuchaman’s music is influenced by traditional Jamaican reggae, but he also incorporates elements of dancehall and hip-hop.

His energetic live performances and infectious personality contributed to an absolutely stunning set, and a definite highlight of the festival.

Holysseus Fly

I read a music-marketing book recently that pointed out that the difference between a gold medal and no medal at the olympics can literally be a fraction of a second.

Likewise, the difference between global superstar and playing relatively low-key gigs is often tiny, sometimes down to something as simple as having the right connections, or sheer luck.

Holysseus Fly’s performance could easily have been a headline set – with her superb mix of choreographed dance routine upbeat numbers and piano ballads.

She describers her live performance as a mixture of James Blake and Lady Gaga, moving between “super intimate emotional vulnerable moments at the piano” and “extra showmanship vibes”. I couldn’t put it better myself!

One of the more poignant moments was when she talked of being diagnosed with breast cancer aged just 25. Her first thought was “but I haven’t released my solo album yet”. Clearly a dedicated artist, and a fighter too as she’s thankfully now cancer-free.

Researching her, she’s also a member of Ishmael Ensemble – another band I wasn’t previously aware of, but their current album “Rituals” is now one of my favourite albums of the year (along with Attention Economy by Kills Across The River and The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel by Chimes School).

Take a listen to this, this is incredible!

CMAT

When the weather forecast promises a weekend of perfect festival weather, you know to be a little skeptical!

To be fair, the weather was good for most of the weekend, but the enivitable rain came on Sunday afternoon, with lightning in the area CMAT’s set was sadly cut short.

And that was a real shame, because she was a real highlight of the festival.

Her stage presence, her humour, her voice and her songs make it easy to see why she’s considered such a hot live act at the moment. Someone you have to go and see.

Alysha

Alysha is one of those artists where as soon as you hear her music you feel like she must already be massively famous. With 218K views on this video she’s obviously on the way up though, and with an incredible voice and a strong early 2000’s R&B Soul sound, she is sure to be topping bills before too long.

Jersey

2 guys with (presumably) home-made wall synth type things – fascinating to watch, and catchy tunes. Stellar in the early afternoon, I’d imagine out of this world in a club.

Baxter Dury

Baxter Dury always puts on an incredible show, and he just seems to keep getting better and better.

His live performances are known for their raw energy, dark humor, and charismatic stage presence. With his distinctive gravelly voice and unconventional lyrics, Dury delivers a unique and unforgettable experience.

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Looking at the lineup on screen we started asking each other “who are Chain? They weren’t on the original lineup!”. Until we noticed that “The Jesus and Mary” and “Chain” had been given different slots in the lineup 🙂

Levity aside, The Jesus and Mary Chain were absolutely brilliant, they are of course legendary for their intense energy, wall of sound, and iconic shoegaze aesthetic, the relentless barrage of feedback, distortion, and driving rhythms. 45 minutes of sheer joyous noise and a reminder of why so many people love them so much.

Loyle Carner

I’d heard nothing but good things about Loyle Carner, and they were all true. With a mix of hip-hop, jazz, and soul influences, his storytelling is impeccable.

It’s no surprise that he’s so popular.

Yard Act

Everytime I’ve meant to see Yard Act I’ve not for one reason or another, this time I finally saw them.

And the hype is all true – just go and see them!

LCD Soundsystem

As the number of bands left diminish and the realisation that the festival you’re having a ball at is drawing to a close, you need a pretty special band to lift the spirits one final time.

LCD Soundsystem were just such a band. An absolutely perfect, uplifting set that proved them to be worthy headliners.