Love Supreme Jazz Festival 2024 Review

 

The Love Supreme festival in gloriously calming Glynde Place has Jazz in its title, but is actually as welcoming to disco, funk, soul, acid-jazz, rap and all genres focusing on groove and a core musical integrity. Founded over ten years ago, Love Supreme clearly caters for a large niche audience of music lovers in the south of England and has seen some huge names headline over the years, from Grace Jones to Van Morrison to Lauren Hill and Herbie Hancock. 

The 2024 iteration is an impressive lineup blend of new envelope-pushing names and vintage and heritage acts. It’s been a strange summer indeed, and the weather for the saturday of the weekend festival could best be described as blustery sunshine; the winds were so strong throughout the day that many of the smaller tents had to close for safety, and yet for must parts the vibe was sunny and certainly blissfully chilled. The wind didn’t deter the ensemble South London Samba collective, who merely played outside unplugged in the festival arena to an appreciative crowd. There was also a huge England football game being played on the day, but that didn’t dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm for some great music on offer. 

 

 

What is the USP of Love Supreme? The vibe was relaxed and fun throughout the weekend - many families old and young were seen enjoying themselves and the festival certainly gave the impression of being extremely child friendly. The grounds of Glynde Place in East Sussex were expertly organised and felt large enough whilst retaining the weekend’s boutique appeal. The capacity is circa 40,000 but it never felt that large, and there was never a large queue for food or the many types of alcohol on offer (it’s the plush South coast so there’s a Champagne tent after all!). The many camping options on offer range from general to Supremium (the festival’s version of VIP) all the way to pre-erected glamping. Think all the luxury of Wilderness Festival with a stronger backbone of core-musical-sensibility. 

 

 

We always talk about the struggles that UK festivals face due to saturated marketplace and rising costs, alongside the challenge to attract big names. Love Supreme clearly trusts its musical instincts and manages to offer fresh lineups without deviating from its inherent values. Sanada Maitreya, the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby played many of his hits to a delighted crowd on the afternoon main stage; Sanada may have reverted to his birth name but that didn’t stop many Trent D’Arby tees once could spot amongst the fans in the audience. The wonderfully exuberant and musically accomplished Trombone Shorty, along with his Orleans Avenue collective, was a welcome burst of frenetic excitement and got the afternoon crowd dancing wildly. 

 

 

 

The South Downs tent, with its aesthetically attractive neon Love Supreme Jazz Festival sign inside, certainly lived up to the jazz side of the bargain, with some expressive and rigorous playing from legendary drummer Billy Cobham and his band alongside other lineup notables as French drummer and songwriter Manu Katché, who has collaborated with artists such as Peter Gabriel and Bee Gees on a spectacular discography. Probably the biggest draw of the weekend, and surprisingly headlining the second stage tent, was the much-loved Dionne Warwick, who wowed the absolutely-packed tent with her impressive sprightliness at 83-years-old alongside hit-after-hit-after-hit. In fact, you could criticise that there wasn’t enough time in the set to give each hit enough of an airing, with many songs such as Don’t Make Me Over or Anyone Who Had A Heart slightly abridged. Warwick’s pink tracksuit was the fashion item of the weekend! 

 

 

It’s a shame that Warwick was shunted into the tent, because her audience was approximately five times that of Jordan Rakei’s on the main stage. Rakei’s soulful smooth croon was certainly welcome as the evening sun drew in, and he came on stage declaring that “It’s Coming Home!” a reference to the very-recent England football win. Warwick would have been a good sub-headline to the big draw of the Main Stage, Olivia Dean, who only two years before was a last-minute replacement for Gabriels. Now, in 2024, she’s the headliner, and very worthy of that accolade, fresh from her appearance at Glastonbury just a few days before. Dean’s nu-soul and smiley demeanour felt like a natural fit for Love Supreme, and with a solid Sunday lineup of Chaka Khan and Noname alongside Black Pumas and Joss Stone, it was another fantastic and broad weekend further cementing the Love Supreme brand of supreme musical taste and fabulous festival experience.  

 

 

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