Flofest/Glofest is a community festival which has a daytime and evening component in Florence Park. Apparently it has been running 13 years but it had somehow escaped my attention until now. It is purely volunteer-run and does a lot to champion local businesses and charitable causes, many of which have a presence there such as Restore and Oxford City Farm. I only caught the end of the daytime event, but there was still a wide array of acts on show; I enjoyed the jazzy covers of the Hot Crumpets band in the V Stage (there are two music stages with regular sets from 11am-4pm). I was sorry to just miss out on the Oxford Playhouse Plays Out tent which had two free showings of The History of (Almost) Everything). There is a decent selection of food on offer, again platforming Oxford-based enterprises including Waste2Taste, Tap Social and Jericho Coffee Traders. I had a delicious barbecue chicken meal from Oxford Community Action - I will have to go and visit their cafe on the Cowley Road.
Glofest, tickets for which subsidise the free daytime activities, runs from 6pm to 11.30pm. DJ Kwassa Kwassa was sweating it out to fill in all the gaps between the artists from 5pm until close. He was actually the unsung hero with his chill, beach-side Latin vibes.
The opening act Wilderness States were one of my favourites; it was a shame that they didn’t reach the bigger audience which filled out a couple of hours in. Their lead vocalist (Shauna) gives Hayley Williams-esque energy with her soaring, heart-felt lyrics about grief, love and one that was written for their children. There was a bit of an inside joke about it, but I loved hearing their explanations. Their song-writing was inspiring and their set felt intimate and genuine.
Life Underground came next; describing their style as “grungy americana”, they definitely brought a grittier sound which built up from the bass and male vocalists with strong choruses. I enjoyed their more tender numbers, “She Said” and “My Favourite Cup”. Papa Nui came on next and skilfully brought the crowd alive with their fusion genre energy pushing rhythms out with the horns. It was clearly not their first festival and they knew how to get everyone up and dancing. I appreciated their play on words with satisfying lyrics like “she was the early bird, I was the worm”.
The headline act was Secret Rivals and this was well-deserved. They are obviously a big deal, playing at Truck Festival this summer and known to BBC 6 Music and Radio 1. They have serious attitude and it works! They manage to hit that balance of a strong grounded instrumental with 3 electric guitars and drums, but then also allow the voices to come across powerfully clearly. Glofest ends with the laser show which gives it its name. My expectations weren't too high, but it was actually quite exciting to watch, especially with the lights flashing off the trees and then the ceiling beams giving an impromptu open air night-club vibe up near the stage. It was fittingly accompanied by a pulsating journey through dance music with DJ James Ussher.
It was a real treat to be at Flofest/Glofest today, it felt like a joyful way to mark the summer solstice (given that I didn’t manage to do the sunrise thing,..). I came away with pointers for exploring the Oxford music scene, especially impressed by Wilderness States and Secret Rivals, and am keen to see what they do next.