Nestled between two universities and a football club is an emerging electronic festival in Brighton, where the organisers and punters alike are extending the UK festival season, using an amalgamation of big artists and local talent; Boundary Festival may have just cemented an extra weekend to the summer.

Boundary Festival

In conjunction with Mixmag and music label Elrow, whilst teaming up with the best clubs Brighton has to offer, Boundary Festival brought the likes of Craig David, Groove Armada, Krafty Kuts, Jaguar Skills, Seth Troxler and Wilkinson to Stanmer Park - a one-day city festival that had everyone leaving wanting more.

With four stages on display, three being partnered and hosted by Brighton clubs, it was Craig David who stole the show though. Despite appearing to market itself as a festival for electronic music, the RnB singer was the headline act, taking the plaudits, and pulling the biggest crowd.

Each stage seemed to share the same jovial party-like atmosphere, though the diversity in age was noticeable from stage to stage. No more so than when Craig David took to the main stage, being hosted by arguably Brighton's most premier live music venue Concorde 2.

Most of the crowd were there well before the man himself took to the stage, hoping for that piece of nostalgia that would crown an amazing day. After hitting the festival circuit all summer, Craig David has been aggressively pursuing his comeback, playing his TS5 set all over the UK. For just over an hour, the set see’s him go through his classics 'Fill Me In', 'Seven Days' and 'Rewind', whilst amateurly mixing tracks from Dr Dre and TLC. It was a set to please all the nineties babies, though at times his performance seemed flat, almost like he hasn't enough material to fill the hour. Something he will have to address when he embarks on his 2017 tour.

Wilkinson closed the main stage after Craig David, allowing the drum n base DJ to provide the crowd with some high octane tunes and one last chance to dance before having to go home. Earlier on the same stage, at a surprising tea time slot, Groove Armada were in fine form. 

As the sun started to fade behind the hills and treetops, the pair of DJ's played a beautiful set in an even more beautiful and friendly atmosphere. Being utter professionals the duo had the main stage bouncing, dragging out samples and snippets from their greatest hits like 'Superstyling' for their entire set - something which went down a treat.

The Arch (formerly known as Digital) teamed up with notorious party planners Elrow, who are most known for the work they perform out in Ibiza at the infamous club Space (R.I.P). The team hosted an artistically crafted tent that looked more at home at Glastonbury or even Woodstock. With the hippy decor hanging from the tent roof, it was almost paradoxical to think that the tent had Seth Troxler and Richy Ahmed blasting out their beloved deep house and techno.

The LWE stage merged with Brighton's greatest electronic club Patterns, (formerly Audio). With Jackmaster headlining the stage, the hosts gave the first 3 and half hours of the day to the local residence DJ's who perform at Patterns, which also had the greatest stage at the festival. Attempting to mimic the aesthetics of a club from the outside, the inside definitely had that feel. In almost pitch black the stage had nailed that excitement and pleasure of being in a club, a fantastic idea that was a huge draw throughout the day - they even made you queue to gain entrance, though thankfully the 'bouncers' let everyone in very quickly. 

 Elsewhere on the Bandstand stage - the smallest stage in the festival, Jaguar Skill has his style of mash-up music in full effect. Appearing after a b2b from Krafty Kuts and A Skillz, the masked DJ seemed in his element, though frustratingly most if his set clashed with Groove Armada, but thankfully the small arena allowed punters to traverse stage to stage very easily. 

With approximately 10,000 in attendance, Boundary Festival closed its doors on its first year with a date for 2017 already cemented. With a mixture of genres showcased this year, it will be intriguing to see which direction the orgainisers take Boundary to in 2017.

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