When Tony Colman and Chris Goss launched Hospital Records in 1996, they probably didn’t think their label would go on to spawn a club brand that would regularly sell out events all over the world.
But Hospitality is now recognised as the go-to party in drum & bass, and on Saturday (August 17) it hosted its flagship event of the summer, Hospitality in the Woods.
With a line-up showcasing the biggest and best names from the genre, the one-dayer took over the idyllic Beckenham Place Park for a packed day of beats across six stages, with legends of the game including Pendulum, LTJ Bukem and High Contrast playing alongside some of the freshest talent around.
Buoyed by the sunshine, the atmosphere was electric from the outset as thousands of revellers looked forward to one of the capital's biggest drum & bass parties of the summer. An excitable chap behind us in the queue told us he came to the first outing of Hospitality in the Woods in 2021 which was "one of the best day festivals I have ever been to".
High praise indeed, and it didn’t take us long to see why our new acquaintance was so full of adulation. We headed over to the Shogun Audio stage where Technimatic were playing to a large crowd clearly already well in the swing of things, despite it only being mid-afternoon. With the duo perfectly blending some of the genre’s best-loved tracks, with MC Lowqui at the helm, who could blame them?
As we explored the site after their set, we were impressed at how easy it was to get between stages, with no roadblocks or queues anywhere despite the relatively compact layout. This applied to the many bars, too, where we never had to wait more than a few minutes to get served. Last year the festival implemented a one-way system which, it would be fair to say, didn’t go down too well with revellers and didn’t have the desired impact. Organisers listened to feedback and, thankfully, did away with such pesky crowd control measures this time around.
After enjoying a chicken katsu curry from one of the several food stalls dotted around the site, we ducked into the Hospitality and Friends tent to catch LTJ Bukem – a selector who has been at the heart of the scene since the very start – playing a mix of jungle and liquid to superb effect. The design of the tent, with the DJ booth jutting out into the centre of it like the end of a cruise ship, makes it feel like an intimate venue with everyone able to watch the master at work up close and personal.
Some of the attendees will likely have been concerned about restricted sound levels after the festival’s debut in 2021 received noise complaints from local residents, but they needn’t have worried as the sound system on each stage was tuned to perfection, with just the right amount of bass and no bleed from neighbouring tents.
This was particularly true of the Run x Rumble in the Jungle stage, home to a weighty Raze sound system which delivered a clear, crisp and bass-heavy sound. The sound was complemented by the design, styled like an Aztec temple tucked away in a clearing in the woods with trees hanging overhead. And it played host to some of the best sets of the day, particularly from two of the scene’s most widely respected producers, Break and Skeptical, who showed why they're just that.
Across the six stages there was plenty to suit all drum & bass fans no matter what their sub-genre of choice, from heavy jump-up to old-school jungle, to mellow liquid. Fans of the latter will no doubt have enjoyed SpectraSoul’s set on the Shogun stage, with the equally revered SP:MC on hosting duties.
Although it was a shame that only one half of the duo, who announced their split in 2020 after making music for 14 years together, was behind the decks – with many assuming it would have been a reunion of sorts after they were named special guests – the set was filled with many of their classic releases from over the years, including Light In The Dark, Forsaken and Calibre's timeless remix of their song Away With Me.
As the thousands of revellers headed for the exit following the conclusion of the headline sets, the majority will no doubt have already been eagerly anticipating next year’s edition. There’s no wonder the festival is cementing its position as a firm fixture for fans of drum & bass.
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