On a blessedly beautiful and warm day on Saturday August 3rd, the 5 Mag and Groovehaus crew from Cleveland headed out to Trent Park, London to experience the 5th anniversary of 51st State Festival.
Unlike many US festivals, this time we had our must-see DJ cards full. There was simply no down time to get food or drinks or rest our feet, too many fantastic DJs to see, with many of their sets overlapping.
If you’ve been following 5 Mag you know we have a HUGE love for anything Garage, and with the Back to 95 and Hot Wuk Stages filled to the brim with so much talent covering that spectrum, we found ourselves spending a lot of time there. We ran into many of our UK heroes along the way: Matt Jam Lamont, Jeremy Sylvester and Joey Negro, Sweden’s answer to the next soulful don Opolopo, as well as US House legends Todd Edwards, Terry Hunter, Kerri Chandler and Dennis Ferrer.
Wookie absolutely murdering the Back to 95 Stage
The crowd was a nice, very diverse mix with ages going from 20s to even 60s. We loved that there was a certain kind of musical maturity amongst everyone. Not too many first timers here running around acting the fool. It was music first and last all the way. From the intimate energy of the Soulful House FM VIP and We Love Soul stages, to the super sexy vibes of the Disco Disco stage at the other end of the grounds, the party people Jungle/Reggae vibes of Hot Wuk, to the techier Found Stage, the always packed and frenetic Back to 95 Stage where it seemed like everyone that partied back in that heyday was there, to the massive mainstage that gave us House and Disco life, our
little musical hearts were full.
Will we be coming back? You bet we will!
