Love Saves the Day 2017: Who to see

28th March 2017

Cocktails and Dreams. Image: ShotAway.com

With the almost-full line-up for this year’s Love Saves the Day festival now announced – including Arcadia Afterburner and secondary stages – we thought we’d take a minute to pick out the highlights. Whether you want to gurn under flamethrowers or boogie on rollerskates, these are our top picks for the late May bank holiday.

The Main Acts

Number one on the list has to be Saturday headliners Little Dragon. We’re hoping that the Grammy-nominated four-piece from Gothenburg will be bringing their usual eclectically entertaining live show to Eastville Park, showcasing this year’s Season High album, as well as career high-point Ritual Union from 2011. The last time we saw them, frontwoman Yukimi Nagano bounced about the stage like an overexcited imp while interfering with her bandmates’ equipment. Here’s to more of that. Bristol’s excellent Elder Island will be on the Main Stage during Saturday afternoon, so we’ll also be hopping over to see them.

On the Sunday, the Main Stage will host internationally renowned slacker downtempo legends Fat Freddy’s Drop for a dose of dub, reggae, techno and jazz. We expect many a jazz fag to be raised in salute when they play ‘Ernie’. Preceding Fat Freddy’s Drop will be London poet-rapper Kate Tempest, whose acclaimed second album Let Them Eat Chaos should get a good airing here. Meanwhile, on the Crack Magazine Stage, Gilles Peterson-favourites BadBadNotGood will be playing one of their few UK shows of 2017 – this is a must see.

Bump and Grind

When it comes to turntablists and selectors, Love Saves the Day never fails to deliver. This year, the Just Jack stage will be headlined on Saturday by Irish duo Bicep, who featured in the somewhat-questionable Resident Advisor Top 10 DJ list last year. If their Marble Factory set of 2016 is anything to go by, they’ll be serving up a crunchy dose of hard house and techno. 

Meanwhile, the Arcadia Afterburner will once again return, the 360 degree stage built around a central flaming spire featuring at LSTD for it’s only UK appearance this year. Bristol’s hotly tipped Saorsie will be playing, as will the illustrious Craig Richards. Headlining the Saturday will be the world renowned Ricardo Villalobos.

Away from the larger acts, the Shambarber Temple of Lust will be offering up a perfect selection of the finest local crews specialising in disco, house and more. Expect glittering unicorns and spray-on spandex to accompany the likes of BodyworkBoogie CafeSoulworks and Sleazy Sessions. Meanwhile you can attempt to dance and rollerskate at the BUMP Rollerdisco with favourites Hot Buttered SoulRumpfBedmo Disco and more providing the beats.

Tickets are still available for Love Saves the Day 2017. Get yours here