Music / pop punk
Review: Fat Lip Festival 2018, Various Venues
After the success of the first Fat Lip Fest last year, expectations for this years event were high. The 2018 instalment of the festival took place across four stages at three venues. The Lanes, Rough Trade and SWX are all located next door to one another, so this significantly reduced the chance of any bad clashes.
Alt-rock four-piece Mallory Knox headlined this years event, performing on the Fireball Stage at SWX. They dropped hits such as Lighthouse and Better Off Without You and got the crowd singing every lyric with them, unintentionally getting us ready for the after party taking place at The Lanes shortly after their set. Their set saw the crowd jumping around simultaneously whilst living in the moment which perfectly summed up the whole event.
Other stand out acts this year to name only a few were Hacktivist, Astroid Boys, Tigress, Lotus Eater and of course Black Peaks. It wasn’t all peachy though, after performing a lacklustre and broken lead riddled set on the Rough Trade stage, Luke Rainsford returned to perform again, this time on the Acoustic Stage. After a last minute cancellation and not wanting to let the spot go to waste he tried to conjure up something from his set at The Lanes. Unfortunately his approach still showed to be obvious, falling somewhat flat in the rain.
is needed now More than ever
On the whole though, Fat Lip Fest which is run by Ian Chadderton is a way of giving more representation to up and coming alternative bands and artists and those who are already making waves in the industry. As well as that it’s a way for Bristol people who particularly love this music scene to come together in some of Bristols unique venues and support the acts that they love.
With the annual fixture growing so much in just a year its exciting to see how big this festival can go and which acts will be performing next year.
Words: Georgia Attiwell and Rhys Buchanan