- Besides weary feet, long drinks queues and squelchy grass, UK festivals often live on in my memory as a blurred series of highlights. This year's Found Festival, which took place at Brixton's Brockwell Park for the second year, was no different.
Arriving just in time for the day's first torrential downpour, I sought shelter in the secretsundaze tent and found Marcellus Pittman and Theo Parrish beginning their four-hour set. The image couldn't have been more welcome: the silhouette of Pittman in his bucket hat, wreathed in smoke and purple light, expertly moving through a series of funk killers and '90s R&B jams. The relaxed nature of the music meant it didn't draw a huge crowd, but the small group of dedicated dancers all wore broad smiles.
The FACT tent, meanwhile, provided the darkest sounds of the day. The obvious highlight was Trade, the live techno pairing of Surgeon and Blawan, who belted out a remorseless analogue set on their modular kit. Legowelt's closing slot was another blinder, reinvigorating the flagging dancers with rolling breakbeats and viscous swells of acid.
Of the five main venues, three were in tents and the fourth was a big outdoor stage. My favourite, though, was the Feelings stage, a glittering caravan in a sheltered glade with house acts like Mood II Swing and Dream 2 Science. The best bit was the killer one-two punch of Beautiful Swimmers followed by Pender Street Steppers. Max D was too tall to stand up straight in the tiny booth, but that didn't stop him and Ari Goldman from spinning a selection of leftfield disco, blissful house and funky synth gems.
The main stage was a trickier proposition. Midland's set was almost rained off, but he pulled it back when the sun came out for his last ten minutes. As the rain was still steaming from our jackets, he dropped Omar-S's velvety "Heard Chew Single," a perfect parting shot. Following him were Dyed Soundorom and Paranoid London, who both played to a largely static crowd, the intensity of their selections diffused in the open space. It took the mastery of Derrick May to help the stage make sense, his set streamlined and powerful as an arrow tip. The Detroit techno icon mixed briskly through tough and soulful house joints, varying the rhythms to prevent an endless 4/4 trudge.
Found felt the perfect size for a dance festival. It was contained enough for you to see everything you wanted, but never lacking in variety. The festival had received complaints about sound quality in previous years. While the sound this time was always crisp, it could sometimes be too quiet if you weren't right up next to the speakers.
The one thing I found a little sad about Found was how it seemed to symbolise the decline of Britain's free-rave spirit. The opening hours, from 11 AM to 9 PM, were painfully civilised, and the token system to buy drinks felt a little over-managed. Kerri Chandler's explosive closing set saw him sing over classics like "Strings Of Life," Octave One's "Black Water" and his own "Rain," but then he wasn't allowed to play a final song, despite his willingness and the crowd's pleas. But London is changing, and perhaps this is how festivals are now going to be. If you have to abide by strict rules from councils, the least you can do is provide a stellar lineup, and here Found was a complete success. It's the music that matters most. During Derrick May's set I saw a guy throw a purple balloon into the air, expecting others in the crowd to keep it up. No one paid much attention. They were too busy dancing.
