as much charm as bite. In what seems to be a summer packed with festivals, to the point fatigue is real, LIDO Festival stood tall with its stacked lineup; unleashing headliners Maribou State to elegantly round off the UK’s hottest summer on record – on the final bank holiday of the year… and it rained on East London. Poetic.

If you have been in attendance at one of this year’s festivals, you will have been plagued by scorching temperatures, dust gusts and painfully dull weather chat that wasn’t insightful the first time. Set against the backdrop of Victoria Park in East London, LIDO also welcomed , , , , , and to construct the flow of the day in preparation of the worthy headliners. 

So let’s take it back to the beginning, a little after the first downpour of the day, and is playing ‘Millionaire’ on the mainstage – as always with Kelis, she brings the feel-good anthems and on a day where the weather was buffering like YouTube video in 2010, it was the warm hug that was needed. A trusty partystarter. 

Next up for us, and quite rightly, was checking in with Detroit legends and , who embarked on a three-hour b2b set consisting of records that paid homage to their illustrious careers as pioneers within the electronic space. The fluidity and orchestration of this set was incredible, and visibly seeing a DJ respecting the records they’re playing with a rhythmic bop is what adds to the energy of a set – we even saw the enjoyment shining through the facial covering of Moodymann. 

What the third stage delivered with the booking of was nothing short of masterstroke. Drawing on decades of influence, Bukem rattled through jungle and breaks that transcended generations as the crowd locked into the groove, heads nodding and bodies moving beneath the late-summer sky. 

But as the end of the day dawns, the hustle and bustle of the crowd shifts, and the crowd flock in their masses to reserve a spot for the biggest production of the day… . Coinciding on the release weekend of the deluxe edition of their highly-anticipated album ‘Hallucinating Love’, the electronic duo provided fans the show to top all of shows that have come before, reacquainting themselves with fans to bring forth a spectacle to mark their headline moment.

A twenty nine person cohort joined the stage as they initiated themselves with a stunning ‘Intro’, soon rolling into fan favourites ‘Otherside’ and ‘Beginners Luck’. This set felt different to other Maribou State shows we’ve seen before, it oozed class and just the sheer amount of effort that went into this performance really impressed us. Next song of note, was the early release ‘All I Need’ – from their new release – which rang through with those emotive male intro vocals rippling across Victoria Park.

To put it succinctly, Maribou State simply smashed this performance. It felt way more elevated than anything we’ve seen them do before, and what is most important, is that they didn’t lose the essence and oomf that has always followed them throughout the career, and as the set went on and we’re stood appreciating their journey, we hear them roll into their classic Midas. But in the final stages of their show, following the close of ‘Turnmills’, ‘Blackoak’ rings out to the swaying crowd looped arm-in-arm emotionally reciting every word. Bravo guys – what a show.

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