Mutiny Festival makes a welcome return to Portsmouth for two days of dancing in the sun

Mutiny Festival 2016

Saturday 28th to Sunday 29th May 2016
King George V fields, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3TJ, England MAP
£55

Making a welcome 'return to Port', Mutiny Festival 2016 was held in the King George V field near Cosham, Portsmouth this year on the 28th and 29th of May. With over 15,000 festival goers enjoying the smashing line up in the sun, Sister Bliss, Groove Armada, Pete Tong, Sub Focus and Example were amongst the headliners.

There were festival stalls ranging from Gourmet sausages and burgers to a banging, all singing all dancing Cocktail stand which seemed very popular. Swinging around in amongst the stalls were various state of the art Fairground rides ranging from a super high rotating swing thing to a gigantic flashing pendulum-type ride. The dizzying heights although for everyone, always had queues to get on.

There was a V.I.P area which you could pay extra for and it had a 'pamper area' consisting of flushing toilets and nice smelling squirty soaps. It had a bar, a couple of food stalls and general festival stalls. The area was also home to the Capital FM DJ stall which had some great sounds coming out of it. For the rest of the festival goers there was the usual green temporary toilets but the queues weren't too bad and there was fresh water on tap dotted around also. A particularly nice surprise after my phone battery ran out, was finding the lovely Wayne from 'Recharge' who did phone charging and lockers to rent, great idea that.

The festival was an age 16 + so there were well covered welfare facilities and extra checks for them on coming in, which had to be: two under 18's to one adult signing in responsibility for them. It seemed to work as it balanced the age groups out nicely.

There were four main event stages, the Main stage, Warehouse Big top, Capital FM in the V.I.P area and the Astoria secret disco.

On the main stage one of the acts I was most looking forward to (and she didn't disappoint) was Sister Bliss. Multi-talented keyboardist, composer, record producer, DJ and probably best know for her work with Rollo Armstrong and Maxi Jazz as band Faithless. The little blonde fire cracker visibly enjoyed making the crowd go Supersonic to classics like 'God is a DJ', 'Insomnia' and 'We Come One' in between some of her own banging House music. On the big screens behind her there was a baby with headphones flashing up with other multi coloured flashing images which lit up her blonde hair in time with the music. More towards the end of her set flames were shot out of the front of the stage interspersed with steam or air shooting out more towards the crowd. It was a nice effect although it must have been quite warm for her!

Following Sister Bliss on the Main stage on Saturday was No 1 Dance hit making Electronic Music Producer Sub Focus. This really was one of my favourite acts of the weekend, mixing charisma with records and talent the crowd absolutely loved him. Asking everyone to hold their hands in the air he played, 'Lean On' and the crowd sang along, "Blow a kiss, fire a gun, we need someone to lean on..." This was followed by the Euphoric, 'Tidal Wave' which he played with a massive smile on his face, he looked like he was enjoying himself as much as his audience. Popping electro, 'Out of the Blue' featuring Alice Gold's lyrics went down a treat too and finishing off with his drum and bassy remix of, 'Breath' the crowd clearly didn't want it to end.

Over in the Warehouse big top Groove Armada were on next. Clearly being a lot of raver's favourites the highly successful Duo, Andy Cato and Tom Findlay had it so packed it was difficult to get any further in than just inside the tent entrance. Through the hot sweaty crowd you could just about make out the lazer show but the whole place was pumping and banging with Groove Armada's finest uplifting House and Groove.

Back over at the Main stage there was a bit of a time clash with Steve Angello beginning half an hour later but perhaps this was a good thing as it split the Groove Armada crowd up a bit giving people a bit more dance space. Swedish-Greek DJ and producer Steve Angello's stage show could be seen for miles around starting off with rubber streamers shooting out like tagliatelle above the audience and finishing up with flames, steam and fireworks. Formally a member of Swedish House Mafia his passion for electro, hiphip fused house music swept through the packed crowd as the Saturday night came to an end.

Starting again at Midday Sunday Dubrocca then DJ SKT kicked off the festivities but being quite a young crowd the attendance was a bit thin at this time of the day with just a few people up and dancing. Vato Gonzalez was up next Main Stage with his nice soft bassy style with tunes like 'House Every Weekend' drawing the crowd in ready for the larger than life Kiss FM's Majestic. Starting off MC-ing at just 15 the man who likes to say, 'he does everything' has dabbled in drum and base, house and dub-step. He has a lot of stage presence and a lot to say. He gave a big shout out to Pompey, Southampton and Craig David in between heavily interacting with the crowd finally getting everyone up to speed for the day ahead.

Jaguar Skills: Mutiny in the Park 2016

The masked Jaguar Skills, followed with his stage dancers dressed in red hot pants either side of him. Jaguar Skills who likes to add mystery to his performances by wearing a balaclava and likes to keep his origins unknown played some uplifting drum and base, house and dub step to a very appreciative crowd as the afternoon went on.

DJs MistaJam, and Yungen, '#deep and dark' drew in a big audience at 6pm. Popular with the younger crowd the two performers rapped and mixed calling out for the 'energy crew' whilst rocking IN2 - WSTRN. They were followed by Fatman Scoop then the talented Example.

Yungen (with Mistajam): Mutiny in the Park 2016

At 20.30 Main stage UK singer, songwriter, producer and rapper Example gave lots of shout outs to all the ladies as the evening went on. Playing his hugely popular hits, ' Changed the way you kiss me' and 'Stay awake' as the crowd jumped and waved their arms in the air. Dressed in jeans and a black T-Shirt with a cartooney white Skull on the back he sung and entertained with his tunes 'Kickstarts' and 'Midnight Run' as the sun went down.

As Cee Lo Green, took the main stage by storm the amazing Pete Tong went B2B with Patrick Topping in the Warehouse big top to bring the festival to a close. A hot sweaty steamy end to the night in the big top Pete Tong and Patrick Topping made the crowd forget their aching dancing legs and lifted everyone's spirits for a fantastic end to Mutiny 2016. Lazers flashed out through the tent as the crowd clearly loved every minute of their show.

A tired but buzzing crowd made their way to the gates sad that the bank holiday weekend was nearly over. Mistajam, Soul Divide, Ku De Ta, Monkelove Stunt Team's Studio 54 'plus secret guests' then took the baton with an after party elsewhere for the hardcore until 5am.

The Festival has brought a lot to Portsmouth this year as well as donating leftover rider food to the Food Cycle centre helping the homeless . I'm sure everyone is looking forward to another fab fest next year.

review by: Kim Gordon

photos by: Louise Payne