Junction 2 Festival 2024 Sunday review

London's Junction 2 Festival expanded to three days for 2024, providing five stages of predominently 4/4 beats in Boston Manor Park from Friday, July 26th to Sunday, July 28th. 

Mike Barnard checked out the Sunday featuring acts such as Marie Montexier, Salute, Sairose, Craig Richards, Eliza Rose, Francesco Del Garda, The Martinez Brothers, and ANOTR.

A solid debut Sunday schedule from Junction 2 Festival with tweaks to the site welcome, they just need to work out how to manage the demands of The Bridge. 

Junction 2 on a Sunday was a new experience for 2024, with Friday and Saturday previously established as having their own distinct crowd identities. Since launch in 2016, Saturday has grown to be the peak for Junction 2 attendance and general crowd excitement, while Friday has offered a more chilled crowd throughout the day rewarding those willing to take a day off, with a burst of life late in the afternoon as the headline acts approach and the weekend starts. Sunday seemed to sit between the two: quicker to get going than the Friday with similar levels of excitement throughout the day as the Saturday, but you could tell people had their minds on work if they hadn't had the forsight to take the day off. 

Our Junction 2 Sunday began shortly before 4pm with the sun beating down. Love Remain was on at The Grid dropped tunes such as Joy Orbison's 'flight fm' to get the feet moving. The vast outdoor stage was again well set up for sunworshipper to soak up the rays alongside the beats with a series of raised platofrms creation a circular dancefloor in the centre. Nearby was the fabric tent celebrating 25 years of the London club, while the field behind had a new stage design: the Dome. Here a high ceiling space featured an array of LED lights and a glitterball hanging from the centre. Anna Wall was going b2b with Bobby in the former, while Dee Diggs play the latter, however we headed straight the zap! bang! favourite stage: the Woods.  

Nestled in among the trees, the Woods has always had the vibe of a hidden space. You could be at a secret stage or a random free party - somehow the self-management of the crowd means its rarely impossible to find a space to enjoy the music emenating from a bunker-styled DJ booth and well-positioned speakers, and the selectors who play here keep the dancefloor chuggers coming aiming for sonic subtleties over aural theatrics.

We were treated to the end of Doudou MD's set leading into Marie Montexier's second of the weekend (she played the fabric stage on the Saturday), and they provided the kind of soundtrack we know and love at the Woods: understated dancefloor bangers. Around us it was all smiles in the shady setting which provided a cool environment to dance. 

When we did go exploring, we found Eliza Rose keeping the sun-drenched Grid bouncing while Christian AB b2b OK Williams was a more cereberal affair in the fabric tent where the only light was a sunbean shining in by the exit. Those who wanted to get closer to the DJs and see their hands at work could use the raised platform behind them which helped create a more intimate atmosphere than you usual find in these tented venues.

Saluate generated plenty of whoops and cheers as the Dome went from being a third full to being one of the busiest spaces on site.

Hot on the heels of the release of album True Magic, Salute's set in the Dome was full of expectation, but it took a while for the crowd to get up to speed with his pacy mix of house, garage, and techno. Once they did, Saluate generated plenty of whoops and cheers as the Dome went from being a third full to being one of the busiest spaces on site.

That may have not been helped by the frenzy to be at The Bridge which was so busy you had to weave between barriers to slow ingress down to the narrow space under the motorway, and once there it took the brave to try to squeeze into the crowd. This sardine situation was encouraged by Joy (Anonymous), then made worse in anticipate of a Barry Can't Swim live set. 

We hung our at the bar watching flustered people emergy from the unmoved mass swaying to the music while others took a look at their friends, grabbed their hands, and disappeared into said mass. With a lack of speakers at the bar area, there were a lot of frustrated faces: Junction 2 organisers should note a second dancefloor should be encouraged with additional speakers and a screen if they are to keep booking the most in-demand acts at such a limited capacity stage (even if that stage does have a sizable capacity!).

Our tactic was to dance to the most lively part of Salute's set, with a dip into Craig Richards at fabric's tent (where else would the former fabric resident be?). We'd finish up with two further highlights: Fransco Del Garda's choice selections keep the Woods vibe pumping as the sun set, plus Sairose's closing set in the fabric tent. A solid debut Sunday schedule from Junction 2 Festival with tweaks to the site welcome, they just need to work out how to manage the demands of The Bridge. 

Images taken from the Junction 2 Festival Facebook page.