Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FORAVA young
How remarkable festival is keeping it fresh with new site & great line-up
It’s remarkable AVA Festival exists in the first place - let alone is flourishing seven years in. A multi-stage weekender promoted by independents, thus constantly battling against the big boys deemed to have a monopoly over acts.
Focusing on genuinely alternative dance music, focusing further on local acts while shining a light on the truly left field. Expecting (and getting) somewhere in the region of ten thousand people to turn up each year.
It’s all very impressive, and founder Sarah Mcbriar (along with her team) has created something unprecedented. It’s likely promoters at a similar level around Europe and beyond are left scratching their heads, just wondering what the secret is. Endless kudos is well deserved, for sure.
AVA Festival returns this weekend, dripping with ambition having moved to a snazzy new site beside Titanic Belfast and boasting its most impressive line up to date. Here’s 10 reasons to get excited!
1 LIGHT & SOUND
Forgetting the music for a second , but watching someone hit buttons for a few hours isn’t exactly hugely entertaining. I mean, if we’re being honest.
Which is why the lighting and visual (the V in AVA, to be fair) aspect of proceedings needs to be on point.
AVA have always led the way here, using state-of-the-art technology to create something engaging and memorable worthy of matching and enhancing the music.
The sound-systems and audio techs are pretty much the best available, too. That’s pretty important, after all.
2 NODS TO LOCAL DONS
Granted, it’s important to encourage and break new production and DJ talent but AVA also knows the importance of respecting the OGS – the kingpins who have helped keep the scene here so vibrant over the last number of years.
Timmy Stewart (Saturday, 9.45pm, The Baltic), who’s been a forwardthinking DJ, collaborator and promoter since the legendary Art School days last century, leads the way here.
Credit also to the likes of Carlton Doom (Friday, 8.15pm, The Baltic),
Nez (Friday, 4.15pm, The Baltic) and
Jordan Nocture (Friday, 8.45pm, The Baltic).
3 NODS TO NATIONAL DONS
No AVA Festival line up has ever been released without a global icon of dance music or two included – and this year see’s Underground Resistance founding member Robert Hood join the party.
The Detriot DJ and producer brings his Floorplan (Friday, 6.30pm, The Nomadic) alias to Belfast, now a collaboration between him and his daughter, Lyric Hood.
Robert Hood’s legacy is based around bringing minimal techno to the masses. Floorplan is better suited to festivals, incorporating as it does gospel, disco and house – basically a lot more colour.
4 REPRESENTATION
It’s important for any festival to have a varied line up – a balance of genders and representation for LGBT+ acts.
But it shouldn’t be something rushed into either, and it’s hardly ideal if acts are added almost at random to fulfil some kind of quota or tick a box.
Having encouraged so many grassroots DJS and producers via the festival, the accompanying conferences and various collaborations, AVA has always given opportunities to those who may have been otherwise unfairly overlooked.
As a result, they are inviting back acts they’ve actually helped develop and now have an incredibly varied, close to gender balanced line up.
But this has happened naturally and you can rest assured every incredible act is featured entirely on merit. Trailblazers without needing to try.
5 BIG NAMES TUCKED AWAY
Why, it’s only Ewan Mcvicar (Friday, 6pm, Main Stage), the guy who made the biggest house crossover track of 2021, tucked away on the line up.
The Scottish DJ has already made Belfast a second home of sorts, and developed a reputation beyond Tell Me Something Good, his remix of the old Rufus and Chakha Khan track (written by Stevie Wonder) which became a proper chart hit last year.
6 TAKING A PUNT WITH ALTERNATIVE SOUNDS
I’m still a little baffled as to how a punk quartet will work among all the techno and house but one of a random handful of live acts are gnarly postpunk heroes-in-waiting Enola Gay (Saturday, 5pm, The Grasses).
The Belfast act will pickle heads at AVA as part of a monster tour around the UK and Europe, which already boasts a number of sold-out shows thanks to a great deal of hype and love from (amongst others) 6 Music.
7 BICEP
There was a time in AVA’S infancy when the whole event felt like a BICEP gig with supporting DJS – and it was notable then that Matt Mcbriar (one half of the Belfast production duo) was AVA founder Sarah’s brother.
BICEP’S involvement was merely a foot-up, however, and thanks to Sarah’s incredible ability to build momentum (often with the odds stacked against her), her ear for what works and general hardwork, the festival quickly outgrew any one act and became a very big deal indeed.
That said, this is the perfect year for BICEP (Friday, 9.15pm, Main Stage) to make their return. With two albums, two Brit award nominations and countless shows around the world under their belt, they are now one of the biggest dance acts on the planet – and their headline set on Friday night, a live AV set first for Belfast, will be very special indeed.
8 THE BOILER ROOM
If you can’t make it – or (probably wrongly) assume you’re too old to join in the fun – two options exist:. Listen live to a huge six-hour show on BBC Radio Ulster tonight from 6pm until midnight or watch moving pictures via The Boiler Room. The online broadcast platform has been a regular fixture at AVA, with the unique format (the crowd are allowed alongside and behind the DJ) meaning particularly eccentric dancers and camerafriendly punters often steal the show despite the DJ talent on display.
Among those competing for attention on Boiler Room TV at The Nomadic Stage over the weekend are Brien (Friday, 1.50pm), Propsa
(Friday 4.30pm), Mark Blair
(Saturday, 4pm) and Skin on Skin
(Saturday, 5pm).
9 A SENSE OF FUN
There’s always a risk that this type of festival – with a line up loaded with achingly cool, infinitely credible DJS – could, well, disappear up its own rear end.
But AVA at least shows signs of not taking itself too seriously. This was best illustrated last year when small screen legend and national treasure Julian Simmons off of The UTV opened the whole festival by referencing Liz Mcdonald in an introduction to local favourite Danny Simpson aka Swoose (Saturday, 6.45pm, The Baltic)
10 THE AFTERPARTIES
Do many people actually live out by Titanic? Surely they could extend a little later than 10.45pm when everything is forced to wrap, meaning the festival gets barely an hour of darkness?
But, hey, at least there’s plenty more on offer back in the city, with official aftershows on Friday and Saturday at Ulster Sports Club, Banana Block and Thompsons and a closing party on Sunday at Thompsons. The line-ups are mini-festival, with legends like Crazy P, breakthroughs like Propsa and Skin on Skin and locals Cromby and Carlton Doom among the names set to keep the parties going.