Outlook Festival is not a festival for the faint hearted

It was quite obvious it was the final full day of the festival on entering the site because a lot of people were starting to look emotionally, mentally and physically challenged.

This is because this is not a festival for the faint hearted - if you’re looking to have a good time you really need to commit to getting stuck in and trekking the hazardous surroundings, dealing with drinking in the scorching heat and being up and at it until sunrise.

I was excited about jumping on P Money’s boat party, as he is renowned for providing top entertainment and the tickets sold out almost immediately when they went on sale. Someone somewhere made a mistake though…

Knowing that it was such an extreme sell-out someone forgot to tick the ‘large’ box on the boat form and so the mass of people squeezed on to the pint sized boat and into the small front area where the DJ’s were situated was not healthy.

Several of us quickly gathered that any sort of enjoyable movement would not be permitted in these surroundings so hopped to the back of the boat where we could sort of see the action and hear the music but also breathe, which is always a plus.

Overall there was a good mix of crowd-pleasing music played in the three hour boat party with P Money and DJ Logan Sama, amongst others, treating the crowd to grime and dubstep tracks full of dirty bass and fast paced lyrics. There was also some UK Garage thrown in for good measure which definitely excited the attendees, who were mostly male.

I would definitely recommend getting a ticket to a boat party of your choosing if you are coming to the festival as it is a really uplifting experience and vibe – a beautiful experience all in all!

As a long-term fan of Mr Scruff I was overjoyed to hear he was playing a set as I haven’t seen him in a few years. As usual he played out his unique and funky style of electronic hits that had the crowd moving.

It wasn’t until I went to grab a bite to eat and returned that I realised that he was playing an incredible four hour set! I don’t use exclamation marks lightly but I was so impressed at the way in which he delivered epic tunes that spanned across so many genres of colourful music, accompanied by the very cool and lively MC Kwasi with dreadlocks trailing towards the floor.

The highlight for me was his fusion of salsa style sounds and bass and an incredible brass section, especially trumpet based.

The Clearing stage was a good spot for him to work his magic, as it is exactly what it says on the tin – a level clear space facing a moderately sized stage. To say all types of vibrant shapes were being cut is an understatement.

Closing the evening’s entertainment on the stage was the dancehall and bashment collective The Heatwave, who had already played various sets dotted around the festival during the weekend.

They exploded on to the stage in a whirlwind of energy with their 2 MC’s immediately getting the crowd, which had increased in size specially for their set, in the carnival mood as their DJ Gabriel excited the crowd with every record he dropped.

The best thing about them is that they seem to be having as good a time as the crowd and their stunning dancer Zi Zi Scandals has to be noted as being a key visual part of the show-stopping performance as she shook and wound her body to the music, as if her hips weren’t connected to her body.

Everyone was having an uplifting time as we were taken through a smooth journey of dancehall, hip hop, ragga and reggae before accumulating in their trademark finish group ‘palance’ to the music that had the whole clearing jumping about.

It was a perfect way to top of the evening before the trademark dubstep sounds of the early morning set in on the various stages.

All in all I have to say regardless of being very bass heavy the festival has a really good vibe about it. If you’re in your late twenties and older and have an aversion to a younger crowd I would avoid it but in general I met a lot of really fun people who were out to have a good time.

I would seriously consider booking early and getting outside accommodation if you’re squeamish though as the combination of the camping environment and the heat did admittedly lead to some very questionable smells at the end of the long weekend.

If you’ve got lazy bones I’d say stay away too but if you can think of nothing better than enjoying huge sounds in the sunshine and don’t mind a few issues then this is definitely the festival for you.

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