With a fully stacked line up and beautiful sunny weather scheduled, the weekend was set to be a beaut. The festivities began on the Friday, it was a sort of short and sweet kind of day with things only kicking off at around 5pm. Festival goers had only 6 hours in the festival that day to enjoy themselves. But we made the most of the opening day all the same. The two biggest names being uttered around the city as the ones not to miss on the Friday were its closing acts. Nicholas Jaar and house music legend Fatboy Slim who were both closing on different stages. Decisions had to be made as to who to see and who to miss. A house legend who has been an active member in the scene for the last 20 years? Or relative new comer in comparison Nicholas Jaar.

Nicholas started off slowly but only in terms of pace, the crowd was ripe and ready to go. With swirling melodies washing in and out, this highly melodic house music was a slice of something a little bit different. Thought provoking house music in his usual fashion. Nicholas has always done whatever he wants in his music and disregards what all others are doing in the scene around him. He slowly brought up the intensity and by the time the first of his two hour set rolled around he had the crowd firmly transfixed and in the palm of his hand. It could be said that a little bit more risk taking and trying different things in his set wouldn’t have gone astray either. But it was a very solid performance all the same.

Fatboy Slim attracted a huge crowd to his closing of the main stage. As to be expected by a man of his stature in the scene. His set was ok. Commercial Americanised house music was on offer here, which went off well with the enthusiastic crowd. The highlight of his set for me was a tribute to Frankie Knuckles. His portrait appeared on the screen behind Fatboy, to which he turned and bowed. Nice touch. Lost on most but appreciated all the same.

Once things rounded off at about 11pm it was then time to go back into the city to the night program. With events organised all over the city in a variety of clubs every night of the weekend there was something for everyone. I headed towards a night of disco and funk in Grand Social courtesy of local dj’s and club night Malibu.

Saturday began where Friday had left us off. Kicking things off early was one of our own Dan Stritch pumping it out. With this being one of the earliest sets of the day it was rather quite about the festival grounds but but that didn’t stop Dan from giving the early heads a good rattle. It was the perfect way to start the day off. There was an air of anticipation around the place. In a few hours each stage would be in full flow with people moving in every which way. Alive with noise, colour and movement.

Ejeca followed up Dan Stritch with even higher intensity set. The grounds were starting to fill up at this stage and people began to loosen up, Dj’s included. Having never seen Ejeca play before I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised to listen to two hours of some of the finest techno and house all weekend. The place was bumping by the end of it and it was then time to move on to the next act.

Floating Points! One of my favourite producers at the minute. His subtle and understated method of producing tracks and use of beautiful melodies over thumping base lines has made me a big fan of his for the last number of years. He has done what many can only strive to do and that is to be consistent. He was only given an hour long set but could have gone on for five more. Mixing some of his best records in with strange melodic house it was a fantastic set. If you ever have the chance to go and see floating points play I can’t recommend it enough.

Joey Bada$$ was then next on my list of acts to see. Part of the more hip hop side of acts at this years festival I was unfamiliar with most of his work so I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect at all. Bedlam. Mayhem. Whatever word you want to use. It was one hour of pure fire! He brought so much energy to his show and connected with his audience and got them involved. To put things into perspective at the peak of things there was even a mosh pit! I’ve never seen a rapper bring so much energy and love to a performance. Where its so common to see rappers who look almost bored up on stage it was a refreshing taste of something different.

Once that had rounded up it was time for the main event and someone who I had been looking forward to seeing since I first saw his name on the line up sheet. Jamie XX. Having just released his debut album to critical acclaim there was much hype surrounding his set. From the get go he had the crowd dancing and moving to each beat and sound. One of the best performances of the weekend, if not the best. Throwing in tracks of his both old and new it was a master class that left everyone smiling. By the end of that it was time to head back into the city for the night time shows in clubs. Tonight it was Crosstown rebels head honcho Damian Lazarus and Floating Points in the Button Factory.

Waking up Sunday morning I was reminded of why festivals like Forbidden Fruit are so good. I wasn’t in a tent. I was in a normal bed with a normal roof over my head with a normal fridge downstairs. Now I have been to my fair share of camping festival and they are all fun and games and have a plethora of pros as well as cons. But nothing beats waking up in a nice warm bed.

First off today was something a little bit different. Trinity college orchestra were playing some of The Gorillaz biggest tunes. Now I was pretty sceptical of how well they could manage to pull this off but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was bloody excellent. Songs like Feel Good inc. and Clint Eastwood were all given an honourable rendition and it was the perfect way to start off the day with a gentle push.

By then it was time for Waze & Odyssey who brought us back into the house music swing of things right before the standout performances of the day from miss Maya Jane Coles. The first 45 minutes were something I never would have expected to hear from her. UK Garage that would have made DJ EZ happy. A genre that sadly never gained much speed in this country, a garage set is few and far between on our shores, but it was brilliant. The other 45 was more of what she has made her name upon which is house and techno.

Last performers of the day were Dusky. Having seen them a couple of times before I was slightly disappointed with their set. While it had all the elements of a good set it just seemed to lack something. Whether it was the crowd or the fact that it was the last day I am unsure. But this has done nothing to harm my opinion of them, neither should it do anything to yours.

Then it was time, once more, to go back to the city and see what the clubs had to offer us tonight. Tonight was something a little bit different. Tensnake was playing in Soder & Ko. Asian/Scandinavian fusion food restaurant by day, Perfect club venue by night. This was the first time they had done a night time event and it went off without a hitch. Tensnake played us into the early hours of Monday morning and closed out what had been a weekend to remember. This was the perfect start to the Summer and I can’t wait for next year!