Peckham Rye Music Festival — Your turbo charged night out

Your turbo charged night out

The multi-venue music festival arrived in South London for the first time this year from 13th-15th May. Peckham Rye Festival celebrated the local music scene, bringing together all that is musically wonderful – in order to create a truly fresh, forward thinking, creative festival. There was also the small incentive of headline acts from across the globe.

It was the perfect way to whet your appetite for the upcoming festival season – the multitude of music, locations and visual variation ensured it felt unique and independent, which is what the festival is all about. Held in popular Peckham, alongside organisers with a real passion for music, it was bound to measure up. You could describe it as a turbo-charged night out.

Friday was very much a light warm-up to the weekend – there were workshops and seminars on offer which involved artists playing at the event. Saturday however was the main festival event. Bouncing from one venue to another, you could create your own blend.

The weather was good to us, and as a result it made the festival that little bit better. Bussey Rooftop was a real treat – Dan Snaith and Gazebo DJ’s transitioned day-to-evening with smooth electronic tones. The mood was full of anticipation, and more importantly everyone was ready to party.

Canavan’s was the next spot, and yes, though we may have played a few games of pool the music was on point, with Ben Boe dropping some of the funkiest electronica this side of the river. It was like being in an eighties montage. The place wasn’t packed, it was a reasonable level of busy – enough room to ‘express’ yourself, with some serious dance moves on show. It was an education.

The atmosphere around Peckham was super chilled, the pedestrians owned the streets (in a nice way) and the place was buzzing with life. Then again, who’d be unhappy at the prospect of a 15+ hour party (well some – but they’re just boring right?)

Four Quarters offered a mixture of music, alcohol and old skool arcade games – there’s not really much that could go wrong with that combination. Killjoy was the best set at the festival, his mixes were very individual – with an undertone of garage, and heavy bass the place went off. If you’ve never experienced skanking whilst playing Street Fighter II you’ve not lived. In need of a cooldown we headed down Bussey alley, leading through to the great open space by Nines and Copeland Gallery where there was plenty of seating to take a little downtime.

Then it was time for Benji B. The expectations were high when he got on stage, with such love for the new Drake and Kaytranada albums we were expecting a big set. Whether it was because we so highly anticipated it, or other factors – the set wasn’t his best. The beats were repetitive, and the crowd took a while to settle into it. The main disappointment was that we just knew he could do so much better!

Sunday was very much a bookend, and recovery time to a mega weekend (there were also still spots for people to keep going). Full of originality and vision – Peckham Rye Festival provided a wonderful advert of just how musically diverse London is (and how going back to your own bed can be so much better than a tent sometimes).