Festivals / Reviews
Review: Nozstock 2024 – ‘Brutal breaks and defibrillating bass in a converted cowshed’
It’s bittersweet to discover something wonderful just as it’s about to end. Unfortunately a lot of us will be feeling that way this summer, with so many festivals calling it a day after one last bash.
Nozstock – which, like a certain event in Somerset, takes place on a dairy farm – has grown from a family barbecue into an annual pilgrimage for 5000 ravers.
Billed as The Last Dance Saloon, this year’s finale has a Wild West theme which festival-goers embrace both casually (Stetsons, water pistols) and boldly (here’s looking at you, assless riding chaps!)
is needed now More than ever
Having missed Friday’s sunshine due to other commitments, our first day at Nozstock is a muggy, drizzly one.
At 3pm the Bandstand is starting to get lively again, as sore heads are massaged by the furious noise-punk of Birmingham’s Spits Milk. A more cerebral form of therapy is available at the Department of Cultural Affairs, courtesy of a linguistics lecture from Keith-Hahn Harris.
There’s also an Arts and Crafts Village, with workshops in everything from wood-turning and blacksmithing to DJ skills. Unusual happenings include Acid Morris dancing, a human fruit machine and something called chicken bingo (the fowl picks winning numbers by, uh, fouling on them).
By 4.30pm the faithful are already out in force as APH spins a high octane set of drum & bass. She’s joined by fellow Bristolian Gardna on the mic. Meanwhile, a smaller but committed crowd throw psytrance shapes to Tribe of Frog affiliate Dr G.
Back at the Garden Stage, The Nextmen’s mashups are quintessential festival fuel, with Dooms Night / Forgot About Dre and Higher State of Consciousness / You Got The Love being particular highlights.
Arrested Development‘s set leans heavily on their debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…, which was a big crossover hit back in 1993. The Afrocentric hip-hop collective start with the Clinton-esque Give a Man a Fish, followed by Revolution from the Malcolm X soundtrack.
If the set dips slightly in the middle, it comes roaring back with protest classic Tennessee and hard-rocking 2020 single Back Down, before the inevitable closing one-two of Mr Wendell and People Everyday.
Born on Road‘s set in the Cubicle is the ruffest – and best – session of the night, and Saturday’s highlight overall. The Bristol crew’s brutal breaks and defibrillating bass wobbles tear through the converted cowshed as inflatables bounce around, Bangface-style.
Later, 24 Garage Girls provide a sugar rush of Ibiza and Ayia Napa staples from the 90s and 00s. A DJ, two dancers and a singer, they boil your favourite house and garage anthems down to pure hooks, which are sung right back at them by one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. They’re more Kisstory than Kurupt, but no-one’s arguing.
Sunday starts with Bristol’s Emily Magpie – emotive alternative pop featuring powerful, soul-tinged vocals. The Slippery Slope hosts the heart-stirring Americana of Bromyard’s own Huw Knight and Viv Bell, whose intense male / female harmonies bring to mind early Low. They’re followed by Cruel Folk, a duo from Norfolk whose spin on traditional English ballads is deliciously doomy.
Mr B‘s Rees-Mogg accented rap covers are about as funny as tinnitus, so it’s off to the Garden Stage for edifying latin-tinged funk from Capas. There’s yet another Bristol act on The Orchard Stage as True Strays’ roots rock is elevated by soaring, Ry Cooder-ish lead guitar. They’re backed by Greg White – possibly Bristol’s most in-demand drummer.
Sunday afternoon sees takeovers by underground stalwarts, as free party scene veterans OOOD bring trance and acid to the Coppice.
On the other side of the lake (yes, Nozstock has a lake), the vibes are deep and heavy as Worcester reggae soundsystem Ital Sounds bury the Elephant’s Graveyard in ten tons of dub. Meanwhile, hell breaks loose as the Slippery Slope hosts the mother of all paint fights.
Boney M’s Sunday evening performance is a joy. Their bizarre fusion of euro-cheese and Caribbean spice spawned some of the greatest pop of the ‘70s, and the TikTok generation know the songs just as well as those who first heard them fired up on Top Deck shandy at a primary school disco.
There’s more than one version of the group doing the rounds (this one includes fabulous founder member Maizie Williams) and the three newer recruits bring contrasting vocal talents to the party.
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect festival opener than Sunny, while Rasputin and Daddy Cool are rapturously received by the intergenerational crowd. Set closer Rivers of Babylon provides the weekend’s most heartfelt singalong moment, while the encore, Gotta Go Home, is fizzing disco perfection.
Randall and Dillinja close out the Garden Stage. It’s a masterclass in drum & bass from two of the scene’s most justly revered selectors, ably assisted by veteran party starter MC GQ. The Nozstock faithful are at least 50% junglist, and the ‘one more’ requests go on for at least half an hour at the end of the set.
Everyone else is at the Orchard stage to watch House Gospel Choir. The original Chicago house movement owed a debt to gospel music and the HGC reclaim it with a soul-shaking performance that blurs the line between hedonism and spirituality.
“Even though Nozstock is coming to an end,” says festival organiser Farmer Noz in his programme notes, “it doesn’t mean you’ve seen the last of us.” After the weekend we’ve had, we certainly hope not.
Photography by Hannah Burrows. Top image: Boney M featuring Maizie Williams (middle).
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