In recent years Lovebox has grown to compete with the big boys of the summer music festivals, appealing to those that enjoy the comforts that more mainstream festivals like V Festival with corporate branding and placing it in the so-hawt-right-now cool climes of East London.

Spread over 3 days festival goers can expect a healthy mix of pop, rock, dance, hip hop and more. The festival clearly has a huge appeal to Londonites as it offers all the pros of the festival with none of (or at least of) the cons like having to sleep in a field. As such the glamorous outfits were in force bringing on entertaining, yet clearly highly judgemental game of stereotype bingo – Hipster? Check. TOWIE-ite? Check. Sloane Ranger? Check. Which only goes to show the diverse appeal that LOVEBOX actually has?

The final day of the festival however has almost grown a persona of its own, affectionately being named gay day with the line up in previous years including…. And with Grace Jones, Chaka Khan, Chic at the top of the billing who can argue that the air in Victoria Park undoubtedly takes on a fantastically camp tone.

With a lazy start of the day the synthy familiar beats of Ronika brought us to the main stage. The Nottingham-based starlet set the tone for the rest of the day striking a great balance between retro and modern.  Tasked with an early slot is never easy at a festival but with infectious singles like ‘In The City’ it wasn’t long before the crowd was well and truly loosened. Being familiar with her performances in smaller venues it was great to see Ronika really own a larger stage. ‘Do or Die’, blasting in with a - and without an option for a better (read cooler) description – funky tune that does not drag you back to the 80’s but entice you with more than a helpful hint of Madonna.

The Golden Filter up next offered a welcome change of pace and a return to a modern sensibility. With the Brothers cider flowing the crowds were undoubtedly now up for something a bit more from their Sunday than the average roast. The eclectic looking band brought a refreshing fusion of dance beats, catchy choruses and indie credentials to East London evoking a stripped back interpretation of Tears for Fears. The Golden Filter takeover from Hercules and the Love affair as a band that you can not only be happy to unashamedly dance along to (and HOW we did) but also provided some brilliantly evocative lyrics.

The set from Crystal Fighters continued things over at the main stage, scaling back some of the more extreme shapes thrown over on the Dalston Superstore stage and progressing onto anything from a mild sway to a full-on jumping drunken loon which felt somewhat fitting for a festival on its way to wind down. Hit like ‘At Home’ had the audience captivated and involved whilst their track ‘Follow’ with its world music inspired drums can be described as nothing but infectious, whipping the crowd into a skanking frenzy – a festival environment; they did suit which brings you to hope that their fans will only continue to grow in the next few years.

Exclusive interview with Crystal Fighters for OFF GUARD GIGS at Lovebox, London, 2012

A quick break at the bar and onwards to the thumping vibrations of the Big Top tent and the exciting prospect of seeing a solo James Murphy (along with Pat Mahoney) deliver a set with an ever growing crowd. Having caught Murphy two years previously at Glastonbury with LCD Soundsystem (RIP) the bear was set high. From this writer’s perspective and background (Alas I am from a film background, which I am sure is apparent from this write-up) the prospect of seeing his documentary on the last days of LCD Soundsystem ‘Shut Up and Play the Hits’ (which is as far as I know without a UK distributor) is almost overwhelming. Whilst the set was, as anticipated, brilliantly catchy and funky as you would come to expect from the man who penned and orchestrated broad tunes like ‘Daft Punk is playing in my House, ‘I can change’ and ‘pow pow’ one couldn’t help but long back for the days of Murphy’s past. Hmm, Shut up and play the hits…

Returning to Dalston Superstore’s Outdoor stage brought us to the delightful and uplifting camp pop of Patrick Wolf who, along with his clearly present and huge following, combated against the darkening and threatening gloom of the afternoon clouds. Classic hits like ‘Magic Position’ and ‘The City’ brought in the crowd and singing loud (and proud) whilst his lesser known singles still knew how to infect and continue the fun of Lovebox and the ever evolving (or in some cases by this stage devolving) dance moves. Wolf proved he was an old pro on the festival stage providing a lean and perfectly timed set. Video source

Up next was the current ‘enigma’ of pop Miss Lana Del Rey whose live performances have come under such intense scrutiny ever since she emerged (or at least re-emerged) early this year. Her performance on SNL earlier in the year is the most glaring concern heading into the set – half the crowd clearly fans whilst the other fully anticipating another viral-video-spurning warble in the making. With this in mind it was almost a relief to now confirm that Del Rey gave an almost pitch perfect run-through of her recent singles but yet still left the crowd feeling as if they had come to a crashing stop.

From the lively events already mentioned in the piece the crowd interactions were poor – clearly the efforts have been made to ensure that first and foremost that that her singing did the talking… if only her talking did the talking too. Each song merged into the next without little concern for an actual performance – Instagram filtered home videos will not keep a 40 minute set going alone. 

To top it off Grace Jones a 64-year-old former model minus the hoola hoop gyrated her way through a one hour, 15-minute slot in front of her mum!. There was costume changes in abundance and a Lion King-esq mask adorned for "My Jamaican Guy". Other tracks included "La Vie En Rose" and "Pull up To The Bumper", one word Iconic.

And at that, and with the prospect of a full day of work ahead of me on Monday, I had to leave Victoria Park and LOVEBOX, with regret for the acts I missed.

Review: James Warren