Review: Love Saves the Day 2026

By Arianna Balsamo, Music Subeditor and Federico Nanni, Third Year, English

Returning to Ashton Court for another year, Love Saves The Day once again proved why it has become such a staple of Bristol’s festival calendar. This scalding hot May weekend, Fed and Ari take on the ratty Coachella vibe at Ashton Court Estate that only the Bristol crowd would know how to bring, with a lineup that moved between UK garage, house, techno, jungle, pop nostalgia and everything in between.

Saturday

Saturday began the festival strong – once the constant threat of sun stroke and the visible beginnings of many a silly looking burns dissipated, the day could properly be savoured. Sam Alfred brought his signature Australian hardgroove to the Centre Stage as the scorching sun mercifully began to fall, and house heavyweights Enzo Siragusa and Rossi closed out the iconic Brouhaha stage with bumping energy.

Artists more cemented in the underground dominated the smaller stages; the legendary Tim Reaper closed out the Firmly Rooted stage with a multi-genre set exploring outside of his usual jungle tendencies, while Pearson Sound closed out the Transmission stage with strong UK techno.

The setup was nothing short of impressive and undoubtedly deserves to be mentioned. Despite having attended last year, this year felt so much bigger and far more eye-catching. There was a constant sense that you never quite knew where to look next, particularly with the ungodly amount of lacy outfits that clouded my field of vision while wading from one stage to another.

Katy B brought a rush of nostalgia to the Love Saves main stage crowd, delivering the kind of set that visibly got the millennials in the audience reminiscing about their wild youths. Classics like 'Katy on a Mission,' one of my favourite hype tunes, landed exactly as expected, while her performance of 'Lights On' ended the set with a proper burst of electricity. It was fun, familiar and clearly a crowd-pleaser, reminding everyone why her tracks still hold such a strong place in UK dance-pop.

Sunday

Sunday kicked off with another unrelenting day of heat, and while it was difficult to navigate across the field in knee-high boots that had been causing me pain from the moment I left my house, I soon found my feet some relief. In times of great need, pads inside shoes, ladies, trust me!

After bouncing from tent to tent trying to find my bearings, and after quenching my thirst with a much-too-sweet can of Jubel Peach, we settled in for Rizzle Kicks. They brought a deliciously energetic change of pace to my morning of lazing around, pulling the crowd into a feel-good set packed with nostalgia. Tracks like 'Down With the Trumpets' and 'Mama Do the Hump' were always going to land well, and their easy stage presence made the set feel perfectly suited to the sun-soaked Sunday crowd.

Joy Orbison brought his legendary blend of UKG and dubstep onto the Love Saves Stage in the afternoon, supported by frequent collaborator SP, who had the unenviable task of riling up a crowd which had been basking in disco classics and ABBA just a few minutes before the set. Nevertheless, the crowd grew into the set, and Flight FM was always guaranteed to receive a warm reaction as one of the most influential electronic tracks of the last few years.

Special Request faced the double-edged sword of the most attractive time slot in the day, with his set running from 21:00 through to 22:30, causing him to clash with tech-house giant Max Dean and, for the later part of his set, headliner Sammy Virji. These clashes meant that the crowd at the colourfully decorated Centre Stage was small but passionate, and the full power of the custom sound system deployed could be felt by all in attendance. The music featured a combination of groovy UKG, dubstep and some techno influences, and Special Request’s ability to navigate the genres fluidly provided an exciting and dynamic set.

The headliner and closer of the festival, Sammy Virji, delivered an adequate conclusion to the festivities. His set included all of the expected hits from his discography: 'Damager with Interplanetary Criminal,' 'Shella Verse with Flowdan,' and his remix of Unknown T’s 'Goodums.' Yet, in my opinion, the highlight of the set was the closing song of the festival, an encore after playing his most-streamed track 'If U Need It;' when Virji played the Isgwan edit of 'What’s a Girl To Do,' a UKG cult classic, and neither one of Virji’s own productions nor a massive commercial success, showing Virji’s continued close connection to the UK garage scene which he helped to skyrocket to the mainstream. All in all, a beautiful way to end our third and final year at Bristol; Love Saves, we will be back!