Mint Festival shines on debut…

The illustrious Mint programmers duly announced another festival to us this past July after another successful Cocoon in the Park. The proud owners not only have the festivals to their name but have two stalwart clubs in the city of Leeds, hotly tipped as the Berlin of The UK to many an artist around the globe. This time round the owners and bookers changed things around with 5 different arenas apposed to the the one main stage at CTIP and he even changed the venue to Lotherton Hall, another major player in the city’s limelight, previously hosting huge festivals such as The O2 festival which was famously headlined by Daft Punk on the final tour of their career to date.

With that said, there was also a decision to cover up the arenas, a great idea with our reliable weather – not! Further more, there was also the additional comfort that the tents were all hosted by different genres of the electronic music scene. System, the in-house brand of the Mint kingdom were joined forces by the high rising Flux, while dubstep soiree Bigger than Barry held their own in an apposing one. Blacklight the techno arena also owned by Mint held the 3rd, while the historic faction of Asylum played to their disco theme and Eddie Halliwell and crew hosted the final saga of events.

I arrived early to get a huge feel of the tents and surrounding elements, the music was already playing to a mass crowd in the Flux tent by 4pm. Soul Clap added a deep and eclectic vibe while further into the evening I was pleasured by the sounds of Seth Troxler , who on his birthday was surprised to have his set halted by a huge chant from the 2,000 strong audience all wishing him a happy birthday. The festival also went as far as to get him a huge birthday cake along with some special pyros to take the night into the late hours. Jamie Jones and Reboot finished off the amazing System arena with huge bombs and drops for the crowd to seriously sink their teeth into. Tracks from the hotly tipped wAFF were on hand to create those special festival style hands in the air moments.

Blacklight was the tent that caught my eye the most and it has to be mentioned that I spent the most time in there, apart from the Disrikt tent which had the paying bar! Ben Klock and Surgeon had pretty early sets but that didn’t hold back on their legendary techno basslines and this certainly got the male orientated audience into a frenzy. Adam Beyer also added his take on things with a huge set to take the night into the early hours. He never seems to fail.

Asylum also held their own with the man himself Greg Wilson performing a special reel to reel set which was just amazing. The Revenge were also a fine late addition to the festival with PBR Streetgang, one of the duos of 2012, playing another stand-out set before leaving for Ibiza and the finale of We Love Space in Ibiza.

All in all the debut of Mint Festival was a total success and the organisers and people behind it should be certainly proud of their efforts in programming to the whole show. It keeps the city alive with what seems to be a saturated and bustling environment for electronic music in the city of Leeds. Unfortunately its only time before some of the events will fold but for The Mint contingent this will probably never be the case. They alsways seem to arrive with new and fresh ideas to keep the punters thinking and long may it continue.