MADE Festival review: Eclectic lineup brings together different generations

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, MADE Festival returned to Birmingham’s Digbeth Triangle for another year. The event dropped an eclectic line-up of music within the dance and electronic scene, including drum and bass, garage, house, grime and more. 

The atmosphere at MADE was like any other music festival, except with better bar organisation as it had various self-serving drinks dispensers on site. The demographic was just as broad as the lineup, as distinctively noticeable university students and older generation ravers roamed the grounds.

Playing an energetic set on the festival’s main stage was rising jungle tech duo, 4am Kru. Made up of Howie and Stu, the duo served a taste of summer with heavyweight jungle bangers as Stu controlled the decks and Howie slammed it on a live electronic drum kit. Playing a dub-heavy remix of Elf’s 2015 classic, ‘Golden Boy,’ throughout their setlist the duo kept high energy levels with a slightly punk-rock attitude.

Wrapping up his set at The House of Legends: The Factory stage, was Fish56Octagon, who paid a nod to British rave revival as he flexed noughties trance cuts. 

Playing a Prodigy tribute set swiftly after was multi-genre DJ Jaguar Skills. Arriving in a balaclava and a snap back, Jaguar prepped the audience with a couple of scratches on the decks, before spinning into a warped remix of Ye’s ‘Mercy,’ and into General Echo’s ‘Arleen.’ 

Within approximately 10 minutes, The Factory was already full of sweating bodies, gun fingers pressed into the air and people wearing comical bucket hats that either read the words ‘Tory Scum,’ or ‘Cunt.’ 

Igniting a fire in OG ravers, throughout Jaguar’s set, he spun into jump-up remixes with hardcore techno drops. Not the shy type when it came to reloads, Jaguar edged the audience with a couple of back-to-back scratches before he chopped and skewed a hard remix of Tempa T's ‘Next Hype,’ and straight into Lethal Bizzle’s ‘POW (Forward).’

Similarly to music showcase festivals like The Great Escape and Focus Wales, MADE had dedicated club venues as stage locations. Some proved more popular than others, as spaces such as Weird Science: Zumhof Main and Zumhof Junkyard had constant queues. Hosting 10 stages across Digbeth Triangle, throughout the day we found ourselves mostly lost in the gravitational pull of Dubtendo and the summery, tropical house vibes of the Serious Selectas x 2Tekky, Roof Garden. 

Switching things up from our last set, Bryan Gee took to Dubtendo with kaleidoscopic jungle riddims mixed with Caribbean-centric afro beats. The setup for this was trippy as the MC rapped alongside backup dancers dressed as Nintendo characters Toad and Yellow Toad. If you didn’t already feel somewhat delirious by the scorching temperature levels that day, then the trance-inducing graphics on the Nintendo screen were sure to make you feel so.

“I’m gonna switch the style” Bryan boomed into his mic. Taking command, his DJ spun garagey tunes into an instrumental of Shy FX’s ‘Balaclava,’ whilst the MC added flirtatious adlibs. 

Spinning off the back of Rinse FM DJ Tañ’s garage vibes, Denham Audio entered the Roof Garden with bouncy house vibes and into Madison Avenue’s ‘99 classic, ‘Don’t Call Me Baby.’ 

Finishing the day off with a headline slot was original grime star and music chameleon Dizzee Rascal. Playing MADE’s main stage, Dizzee had the courtyard packed from top to bottom. 

Dropping his rebellious classic, ‘Jus’ a Rascal,’ as the second song, Dizzee quickly ramped up the energy levels with his Chase & Status feature track, ‘Heavy.’ “Made festival 2024 we’re active,” he said, before dropping his garage single ‘What You Know About That.’ 

Graphics of a young Dizzee appeared on the backdrop for his ‘03 classic, ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp.’ ‘Baseline Junkie,’ swiftly followed, while fans threw themselves into mosh pits. Throughout his set, the artist paid a nod to his grime roots while giving a taste of garage undertones and his famed quick wit across his lyrical flair. “We need something for the ladies especially,” said Dizzee before spinning into, ‘Dance Wiv Me.’

Playing a setlist of conventional pop bangers and old-school grime cuts, if Dizzee’s performance at MADE taught us anything, it’s that his genre-bending discography allows him to have fans everywhere. 

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Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.