Review: El Dorado Festival – ‘An abundance of variety for every attendee’

El Dorado Festival welcomed us and 9,000 others to their woodland wonderland.

After attending previous years we were keen to see if they could go bigger and better with the sets and stages and all we can say is that we can’t wait for 2024.

As we made our way across the festival we were taken back by what was a visual spectacle of colourful outfits and stage designs.

One of the stages that must get a special mention was Treasure Island which lights up at night and floats on a lake. After only 30 minutes exploring it became evident that the festival offers an abundance of variety on their programme for every attendee.

We were pleasantly surprised by the activities ranging from hot tub sessions to Disney karaoke and were very excited to see what was a multitude of music genres across the weekend.

Highlight sets included HAAi, deploying a secret set in the glamorous queer bar Sue Veneers before taking over Mount Boom, while Barry Can’t Swim took us on a journey packing out The Nest with his hit song Sunsleeper sending the crowd wild.

Sampa The Great delivered a memorable performance in The Garden.

A Little Sound, who has become a huge hit in Bristol after growing up down the road in Taunton, showed up for all of the Drum and Bass fans crafting an incredible set with her blends and live singing.

The weather had somewhat halted proceedings on Friday but we still managed to get down to watch Bristol’s very own Gardna on The Garden stage.

Although the weather had resulted in there being less people than he probably would have hoped, Gardna put on the type of performance that you need to make you forget that you are drenched in a soggy poncho.

He brought the energy with his mix of garage and bass with some great remixes with classic songs as well as some of his own notable tunes such as Massive and R.A.V.E.A.S.A.P.

KC and the Sunshine Band did not disappoint on Saturday, taking over with their Las Vegas show and fireworks finale creating a spectacle in the sky which has now become an El Dorado tradition and one that is memorable for everyone attending.

We did manage to stumble across the Disney Karaoke area that acted as a centre point for anyone needing to sing their heart out.

Although it is safe to say that the singing was questionable in parts, it was a room full of energy and everyone was having a great time.

It was an area that summed up the festival with people letting loose and getting stuck in the weird and wacky labyrinth without a care in the world.

The highly anticipated Vengaboys brought out the sunshine and party vibes after a dramatic but short-lived storm temporarily stopped the show on Sunday, adding to the wild anticipation for their appearance as the arena sprung back to life.

This was exactly what we’d hoped it would be with nostalgic tunes and good vibes in the sun with friends which set up the last few hours of the festival perfectly.

What really stole the show however was when they brought out Bristol DJ Badger to play their collaboration of the song We Like To Party (Vengabus).

This unexpected drop of the remix which was a popular selection from all DJ’s across the weekend brought the biggest cheer of the festival from what was a packed Garden Stage with almost everyone from the festival gathered together.

Badger also commanded one of the best sets all weekend in the GoodLife stage in Vice City which quickly turned into 1 in 1 out in what became a sweatbox but one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever been in.

A huge shoutout must be given to Vice City which is easily the best part of El Dorado. Vice City acted as an impressive metropolis enriched with colours and lights with different sets happening in every building making it a great place to spend a night and explore different genres of music.

After attending the previous two years we wanted to see if the masterminds from Cirque Du Soul could produce a memorable festival again.

I can honestly say that the festival truly did live up to our expectations with the team managing to outdo themselves yet again.

They managed to capture the essence of an experience-led festival that didn’t compromise on music or more importantly a really fun time.

Main photo: El Dorado Festival

Read next:

• Review: Glastonbury 2023 – ‘Wonderful, unique and utterly chaotic’
• Review: Dot To Dot – ‘Another success marked off on Bristol’s music calendar’
• Review: Love Saves the Day, Ashton Court – ‘Lived up to its expectation in every single metric’

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