Mint Festival 2013 review

Image: Justin Gardner

Tickets are now on sale for Mint Festival 2014, the line up announcement is here.

On Saturday 21st September, Skiddle headed to Lotherton Hall in Leeds for the second year of Mint Festival. This year we were promised an even bigger fare as the capacity was upped to over 10,000 and the site does not disappoint.

As we check through the gates within the grounds of the stunning venue, we see that the vast area now boasts seven covered arenas. We were preparing for typically British weather; however we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the sunshine.

Warned that headline acts would be appearing from the beginning of the day, the majority of revellers arrived at the site early doors and Mint Festival was booming from the off.

Unsurprisingly the denim cut-off, barely-there, shorts were the staple fashion style for the females and the UV face paint was in full throttle. The bars were busy, beers were flowing, the burger vans filled the air with that familiar nostalgic festival scent and spirits were high. Now, let’s bring on the music!

Ferry Corsten at Goodgreef & Digital Society lived up to expectations. Corsten has always been notorious for a signature style, but over the years these styles have grown into distinct sounds that only he seems to so effortlessly bring to every production.

His set built and maintained momentum from beginning to end and the visual/production was breath-taking. What amazes us most about Ferry is that after over 15 years, he’s still got it… and got it with a vengeance! This kicked off the Festival for us, and what an absolutely brilliant way to do so.

Ed Mackie also put on a top notch set over at the Blacklight stage that also functioned as a home to Marcel Dettmann and host to a stellar performance by Jeff Mills.

 Playing to a packed out tent, he played a variety of monsters that raided the seminal Underground Resistance techno label and his own varied back catalogue, including such techno classics as ‘The Bells’ (above) and ‘Sonic Destroyer’.

There was a huge buzz around the festival site about the Jamie Jones extended set over at Teknicolor & Distrikt. The sound system was other-worldly, and as Jones took his place and kicked off his set, every beat he dropped could be felt through your very core.

His varied style had the crowd in a state of suspense and he teetered between some lightly funky, laidback house and off-kilter classics, providing a healthy dose of unpredictability that fans have come to expect from him. He was still spinning with the same exuberance that has catapulted him to the top of the industry. 

Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike owned the Bitch tent throughout their set, intertwining dramatic orchestral instrumentals with uplifting progressive synths and a unique snapping beat. It was here where Felix Leiter also made his presence known, the guy we asked to warm up for the festival on our podcast once again not failing to disappoint.

Eats Everything played at the Circular Arena later on into the night. Deploying a signature mix of thundering bass and dance-inducing grooves to the delight of the crowd, his talent as a producer is not to be questioned and particularly evident from the continued presence of his own tracks throughout the set, alongside gems from Jessie Ware and Joy Orbison.

His brand of jungle influenced deep house and techno stayed fresh for the duration, cementing the current hype and raising him even further up the ladder as one of the UK’s top producers. Marco Carola put on one of the hottest shows of the evening too. His orchestrated build-ups and array of drops whipped up the revellers into a frenzy, a peummeling mastewrclass in techno at its most visceral.

It is so easy to get lost in the moment and completely lose track of time when at Mint Festival. With so many tents and so many credible acts to try and fit in within such a seemingly short space of time, it gets to a point where you have to forget about sticking to a strict schedule and just take heed and go with the flow.

It’s at these times that you stumble across an act that you might not have necessarily seen before, or find yourself within a vast crowd waiting for an artist that you realise you have seen previously but you’re too far wedged in the middle to even want to consider moving.

That’s exactly what happened when we were present for techno heavyweight, Seth Troxler, and aren’t we glad that we stuck around. The Michigan born DJ took control of the decks in the System tent, who supplied the faithful with a 180 minute journey through all that is magical in the realm of tech house.

Michigan's number one export of recent times has been making some great music over the last few years, injecting his weird and playful character into the house music genre. His enthusiasm and down-right thirst for fun transfers directly to his sets, enabling him to take crowds through the most unexpected of journeys.

Just when you think you know what to expect next, Troxler switches it up and throws a curveball. The phrase ‘raise the roof’ has never been more suitable, Troxler seeming to give the performance of his life and in our eyes, the performance of the festival.

To only be in their second year, yet to reach this standard and notoriety already is an outstanding accomplishment. Mint Festival has the ability to throw out the major players and could soon be THE Dance Festival of the country if they continue to build on what they have in the same fashion. 

We look forward to see what the future holds and are counting down to next year. As the saying goes, the third time’s the charm…

Liked this? Check out Weekends Matter 47: Felix Leiter (Mint Festival / Bitch)

Tickets are no longer available for this event