Review: Nottingham’s Splendour Festival 2019

With a wide variety of musical talent and comedians joining the 25,000 ticket holders, Nottingham’s family-friendly festival was already set to be a success.

The gates opened at 11:30 am, welcoming the thousands of attendees and the first of many performers of the day across Splendour’s five stages.

The main stage got the day off to a flying start, with Nusic’s ‘Future Sound of Nottingham’ winner Remy gracing the stage and opening the festival on a positive note, despite the unpredictable weather conditions.

However, the clouds parted just in time to welcome singer-songwriter Rob Green to the main stage, whose vocals have seen him outgrow the Courtyard stage that he debuted on back in 2012. Encouraging the audience to sing along to his medley of Jessie J, Whitney Houston and Aloe Blacc; the Nottingham-based artist left the Splendour main stage gaining thousands of fans after demonstrating his raw ability to perform and entertain.

We then made our way to the Courtyard stage to appreciate some more of the lesser-known but promising local acts, in the form of Re Teu. Supported by his band, Re Teu is said to not be “defined by genre,” and he more than proved this with his set bringing the smaller stage to life. With a unique sound that may well have pulled on the heartstrings of all those listening, his performance of ‘Isle of Dogs’ and the haunting inclusion of recorded speech made him one of Splendour’s artists to watch in the coming months.

Meanwhile, X Factor winner Louisa Johnson graced the main stage with her presence and successfully reminded us why she won the competition back in 2015. After singing fan favourites like her collaboration with Clean Bandit Tears and Yes, Louisa demonstrated her hidden powerhouse vocals and ability to get the crowd moving. Towards the end of the performance, she admitted to the audience that she wasn’t feeling her best before the show and coming on stage really boosted her confidence.

Soon enough, it seemed as though all 25,000 attendees joined the main stage to watch Rag ‘n’ Bone man perform, and with good reason. His hit songs Human and Giants went down a treat with the excitable audience, but it was his single Skin that really caught the attention of his fans. Revealing that it was one of the first times he’s ever heard the audience sing it back to him, he reveals his next album is three quarters done, before treating the audience to a brand new song about parenthood. Wrapping up his headline set, the performance left festival-goers with more than enough to look forward to on his upcoming album.

By Faith Pring

Feature Image Courtesy of Splendor Festival

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