Scandinavian electronic veterans Little Dragon demonstrated their sheer experience and effortless craft in a set dominated not just by their charismatic frontwoman Yukimi Nagano but also the bands ceaseless and startling percussive sidesteps. Appropriately the sun was on hand to witness Little Dragon but Maverick Sabre fared less well, his smooth soul sporadically erupting into dubstep workouts in tandem with bursts of rain from the skies.
The insistent raunch of StooShe provided the second stage with supreme soul inflections, culminating in a fitting cover of TLCs Waterfalls while over on the main stage Emeli Sands unadulterated emotive outpourings was an early triumph of the evenings bill. Festival co-founders Groove Armada positively took over the main stage, their celebratory return to Lovebox confirming their status as pioneers of utterly vibrant, positive dance vibes if anything, it would have been incomprehensible for the band not to provide one of the weekends highlights.
Friendly Fires set brought the days event to a close on the main stage the bands combination of beery anthems and indie melodrama were an ideal match for their headline slot. The Saturday line up on the whole certainly brought out the music lovers in their droves thanks, in part, to the iconic presence of Groove Armada but also to the more focused programming. The increasingly sleek sounds emanating particularly from the Second Stage were sufficient advance from Fridays speculative beginnings to provide a necessary trajectory towards the triumphant finale of the festival.
