By Benji Chapman, Music Editor
Ticket holders of Bristol's blowout weekend festival were faced with a standard lineup this year: Nia Archives and Overmono who have previously played the festival, and a collection of popular touring DJs who are already frequenting the Summer festival circuit.
All this suggested that Love Saves 2025 was going to be a standard weekend of roaming around Ashton Court Estate inebriated, with a frequently lost group of friends. But there was something different in the air this year.
Last year, I made it my mission to capture Love Saves from an externally pristine lens. Accompanied by a professional photographer, I made it my mission to produce a write-up that would faithfully report on the weekend with a sober voice.
Armed with only a film camera and a steady supply of Jubel, I wanted my account of the festival in 2025 to be a more honest reflection of what Love Saves really is.
As I dived around from stage to stage with little to no plan of what to see next, I found the weekend to be a different experience entirely; one divorced from expectations and refreshingly unpredictable too.
What followed? A religious experience during Mall Grab's set, a happy hardcore revival, and a sizable blister to top it all off. It was probably just what we all needed as the term comes to a close.
Making our way through Ashton Court on Saturday was painless and became an interlude from the busier crowds we would get used to across both days.
Once I became settled in the press tent I stepped out to start things off with Ms Dynamite, who for my money was one of the most esteemed artists on the lineup.
As a rapper best known for both the breakout single 'Dy-Na-Mi-Tee' and a more extensive career as a drum and bass MC, her reputation certainly preceded her: the performance was equal parts nostalgic and full of more modern jungle tracks produced by a long-time collaborator, Shy FX, who took to the same stage the day after.
Ghetts subsequently welcomed a similar feeling of retrospective hubris to the field, using a selection of tunes from 2024's Mercury Prize nominated record On Purpose, With Purpose alongside older tracks.
Following a Sampha cover with 'Pulse X' was one such bold combination of old and new, co-meddling classic grime with soulful harmonies.
Mentioning how he was back in the city for the fourth time now, he thanked the crowd by ending his set with the closing remark that 'Bristol ain't changed, I love Bristol'.
A feeling of drunken curiosity was beginning to surface as me and my friends explored further afield from the Love Saves stage and the sun came closer to setting, and with it arose increasingly questionable dance moves.
With Main Phase taking on the Teachings In Dub tent, a bouncy collection of new-school garage was next to inspire our steps.
Bouncing organs and skipping drum patterns were churned out by a cooperative valve sound system that rocked the crowd to its core with ricochets of bass. Only a short movement away next was Sully and Tim Reaper's B2B at Transmission.
For two superstars of the nu-jungle scene, their set was expectedly characterised by a slew of Amen break laden belters, while my only gripe was with a slightly too vocal MC.
When the tracks were allowed to breathe however, the open air of the smaller Transmission stage became a hearty mosh that did Bristol's lively rave heritage justice.
Having made my way through several beverages myself, it was around this time that night became day and the festival really bared its teeth.
What I imagined to be well-timed skanks were turning into nearly faceplant-inducing trips. As I powered through the crowds, I found myself increasingly needing to rest my weary legs during the brief periods of free time my group had.
Such points of respite were often cut short by the need to surge to a new area, especially with 4AM Kru's taking to the stage at Big Top later on. Having seen them twice previously, I feel uniquely qualified to make the habitual judgement that happy hardcore is very much back.
I am always a fan of music with creative breakbeat usage, but with one too many Think breaks ringing in my ears I joined the herd for a trans-field journey to see Saturday's headliner, Overmono, at the day's close.
It may have only just gone nine but I was truly knackered. Choosing an unusually left-field series of tracks, from a remix of 'Street Spirit' to Death Grip's 'Guillotine', I was left bewildered and surprised by the set's oddity.
It was everything you'd expect from two superstars in nu-garage though, who the co-founder of The Prospect building had affectionately dubbed 'this generation's Chemical Brothers' when I spoke to him earlier this academic year.
I myself wouldn't be so quick to place them on that pedestal, but it's easy to see why the group are turning so many heads at the moment with their challenging take on garage and techno.
As David Andrew Balfe came to the stage for his spoken-word piece 'I Have A Love', my tired brain was unhelpfully caught somewhere half between picturing Allen Ginsburg and MC Grindah.
Having said this, the uplifting tune was pretty magical between the stage's dramatic lightshow. Though I would have never expected to see a Death Grips and Radiohead feature, the festival was evidently setting itself apart from its previous counterparts by doing so.
Waking up into a benevolently sunny morning, the next day of the weekend bonanza began with a trip to Aldi to refuel on a bumper breakfast after I had finished my pilates, and relaced the pair of hiking boots that had been protecting me from the well-trodden earth beneath.
One blink later and I was back in Ashton Court standing in front of Bakey and IZCO, who were joined by Capo Lee and Reek0 on the mic(s).
I had seen Lee before for his show at Love Inn, and was well-acquainted with his work in the UK garage scene.
He brought a notably more enthusiastic vibe to the large Brouhaha stage than he had at Love Inn: his interplay between both MCs and DJs was also absolutely seamless despite its energy and fervour.
Spinning old-school hits like DJ Zinc's '138 Trek' marked another touchstone in the festival's many open homages to dance music's legacy and old-school garage's continued influence on new artists.
Continuing this theme, Shy FX brought a cocktail of well-loved dubplates next, like 'Roll The Dice', 'Gold Dust', and of course 'Original Nuttah' in a more contemporary jump-up style courtesy of Chase & Status.
Maybe, like me, you were slightly sad to see more drum and bass than jungle from the performance, but it's fair to say that he's earned the right to some creative license.
What followed couldn't have been further removed as we moved to the Dubtendo stage for Bushbaby. Rather than dark basslines, chirpy dub sirens and sparkling synth lines peppered the soundwaves as the stage's costumed collective moved to the beat.
The Dubtendo All Stars collective have evidently charmed Bristol's nightlife with their childlike Mario Kart influence that has become so well known here.
While this was another instance of my personal tastes not quite aligning with the offerings, it was to be expected that not every act on the gigantic two day spread were precisely what I had hoped to see.
I had, however, been keenly anticipating the next act: Skream & Benga. Seeing dubstep on Bristol's mainstage performances is a rarity in itself, but with two royals from the genre taking to the stage as 'My Heart Will Go On' romantically soundtracked their entrance, we were really in for a treat.
Graphics that swerved around the screen, morphing and stretching as though they were made of putty, ran behind them during the show.
It felt at once psychedelic and imminently real thanks to the pounding drops that swept over the audience to restore sonic focus.
The posed question 'Who's Found Charli?' stood out during the duo's remix of 'Von dutch' that reminded us, unavoidably, that it seems Brat summer will never fade.
The recession pop princess has been able to extend the playthrough of the album beyond previous metrics for most British stars, and to great effect, as the crowd surged back to life between the tune's cosmic drop and release cycles.
Approaching a Brat overdose I returned to the more mellow Brouhaha stage next where Mall Grab had just taken the stage.
In my first year I was had been fortunate enough to see him in Bath at Komedia, although this time his choice of tunes was far more attuned to a taste for electronic music that has significantly developed since then.
With a surprise feature from who is probably my favourite electronic music producer of all time, Skee Mask, the track 'Dial 274' that played out after his biggest hit 'Liverpool Street In The Rain' resulted in what can only be described as a micro religious experience.
Surrounded by the friends I made bonding over dance music, geeking out on the most niche of subgenres, and endlessly sharing our own obsessive research into each tracks' production, I was embarrassingly soppy as Skee's track slowly faded out.
It was a cathartic and personal moment: one that stood for all Love Saves should be for its student attendees.
With a year that's been full of unpredictability and achievements, I was proud to be accompanied by a group of people who have made my university experience as lively and sweet on the soul as the weekend itself.
We soon poetically formed a daisy chain and linked arms, to make our timely escape before Nia Archives closed off a two-day experience that was reaching a climax.
What I expected from Nia was the carefree youthfulness of her persona attached to Silence Is Loud, though what struck me most throughout the final performances was how fast she's matured into a more professional identity, and seamlessly too.
While she seemed giddy at her last time in Bristol during the reopening of The Underground, her more collected but equally energised presence seemed cool and confident in the far larger setting.
Going from day act in 2022 to headliner three years later, Nia rounded her time at Love Save with far greater impact than before. Screens that accompanied her displayed equally probing visuals, such as a walking platoon of digital clones that marched to the rapid-fire beat of her own tracks.
Beautiful handycam videos panned the larger screens on the Love Saves Stage's sides, which reflected her earlier DIY music videos that were created for her first releases like 'Headz Gone West'.
I couldn't feel more fortunate to have witnessed Nia's rise to fame during my time at university: from 'Baianá' featuring at almost every fresher's week house party during her initial mainstream notice, to her headlining of the festival in my third and final year.
Her selections hopped between older classics and more recent remixes like her 170 spin on 'Waited All Night' by Jamie xx, MIA's 'Paper Planes', 4AM Kru's 'Incognito Rythym', and an unamed tease of her sound to come with an unreleased drum and bass track that ended the weekend with a triumphant sonic boom.
Featured Image: Benji ChapmanDid you go to Love Saves The Day this year?
