It’s a beautiful sunny day by the Riverside Museum as Four Tet takes to the MasterMix stage; Electric Frog and Pressure’s Riverside Festival has become an unmissable event on the Scottish electronic scene in recent years and the blue skies and scorching heat set the tone for the sixth coming of the event to be bigger and better than ever before.
Having already seen acts such as Joy Orbison who would sell out a Glaswegian basement on his own, the party is already well underway and Four Tet continues it with a heavy start giving it some drum and bass.
A bit of oldschool funk from ‘Question’ quickly follows this and soon he is ramping it up another level with tunes such as his remix of Bicep’s ‘Opal’ building tension and really getting the crowd going.
The familiar start of ‘Lush’chimes out to a huge cheer and everyone is dancing like there is no tomorrow.
Such are Four Tet’s mixing skills that he turns Selena Gomez’s ‘Bad Liar’into an absolute banger for all to enjoy and helps close out a memorable set for a man whose reputation is only continuing to rise.
Fatima Yamaha is well known for his live sets and he doesn’t disappoint with tunes such as ‘Borderless II’ going down a hit
Undoubtedly the highlight for many is when he releases his not-so-secret weapon ‘What’s A Girl To Do’; the speakers need not be on everyone is singing along so loudly.
A new addition to the festival this year is a stage inside the actual museum, an incredibly surreal experience seeing the precious exhibitions of cars, trains and trams of Glaswegian days gone by being turned into the scene for this off the rails party.
Andrew Thomson of Huntley and Palmers, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams and Subculture’s legendary Harri & Domenic played hosts in here across the weekend.
As well as expanding the stages at the festival, the organisers have ironed out many of the logistic woes that have haunted the festival in recent years including getting rid of the frustrating drink token system which allows everyone to have a much more hitch free day.
As the sun stoops lower in the sky and evening draws in, Skream plays a Colombian infused ‘Hotline Bling’ instrumental by Quantic Y Los Míticos del Ritmoand hips are shaking.
He soon launches into some heavier dub that people are getting in the mood for at this time of night.
As always, Jackmaster closes out the festival he has helped pioneer and with his huge entourage on stage for the final ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, you can’t help but feel you’re at the best party in town.
Looking around at the thousands of slightly sunburnt faces having the time of their lives in the fading sun beneath the majestic Tall Ship, it’s clear this is a festival going from strength to strength and will be here for years to come.
Words: Chris Cox
Photos: Stewart Fullerton
Rave Child 