Bestival’s Brother Returns: Common People Southampton 2017

Bestival’s little brother returned this year with very high expectations. The May bank holiday weekend is a crowded time for day and weekend festivals and as the summer sun begins to shine, events and crowds start to emerge in the parks and fields.

The two-day event was held simultaneously in Southampton and Oxford with lineups running reversed on each day for each city. inSYNC travelled to Southampton to see Rob da Bank’s newest festival for the third year in a row.

Saturday’s event certainly had the stronger lineup. Pete Tong and his amazing orchestra headlined with thousands of people clearly loving the contemporary take on classical music. Seeing Tong bring in strings, horns and synths to dance classics was one of the highlights of the weekend. 90s electronica band Faithless also performed well, with the crowd waiting patiently for Insomnia – and when it came the crowd went wild. Hip-hop prodigy Loyle Corner continued his fantastic success over the last year with an epic and energetic set. We can expect big things from him in the future.

Although the main stage was the best area, the festival’s dance tent was certainly made amazing by producer Midland and his light-hearted set. He is someone to definitely watch out for over the summer season.

Sunday proved a very different day. Headlined by Sean Paul as the rain came in, the crowd was a little more subdued. Nevertheless, dance duo Groove Armada put in an amazing DJ set on the main stage but we really hope they return to playing their live set sometime soon.

The dance tent was headlined by My Nu Leng and Redlight, which is a little bit of a ‘reliable’ lineup for 2017. Although dipping in and out of their sets it seemed as though the crowd were enjoying it, but both didn’t seem to be playing anything different to their usual sets.

Overall the team behind Common People have yet again delivered an amazing festival. The world’s largest bouncy castle was present again, as well as decorations and friendly security all of which added up to a make it a great weekend out. We’re sure Oxford’s event was just as successful. See you in 2018!

THE FESTIVAL IN REVIEW:

Organisation – 8.0 | Music – 8.0 | Food & Drink – 6.0 | Site Setup – 7.5 | Attention to Detail – 6.0 | Creative Content – 7.0 | Value for Money – 7.5

Overall Score – 50.0/70.0