Farr Festival remains an exhilarating, essential and joyful experience

Farr Festival has grown from a small gathering of friends exploring the mostly-uninhabited forest of Bygrave Woods in Hertfordshire, to a festival with a capacity of around 8,000 revellers across six curated stages. And with a 30°C heatwave kicking in that is still roasting the UK today, it added an extra dimension the experience.

In fact, it was dangerously hot. People were cramming under every slither of shade they could in the daytime, trying to grapple hangovers and sunburn at the same time while the likes of Skee Mask, Jah Shakh and Trojan Soundsystem head Earl Gateshead B2b with disco purveyor Stuart Patterson, plus other daytime DJs, pushed a mix of dub, house and heavyweight bass throughout the long hot days.

The heat brutally pounded on into the early evenings, when the shaded areas of The Shack and Adventures in Success were at their best. Shrouded in thick woodland canvas, Adventures in Success took the heat off the crowds who had crammed in to see the likes of Eclair Fifi play an experimental-leaning set.

Amounting to late-night work out at the stage, Optimo b2b Young Marco delivered a 4-hour knees up of disco, synth and weird cuts, including everything ranging from Abba to Tessela’s ‘Hackney Parrot. Meanwhile the restless, often pounding Roman Flugel also burrowed down at AIS on Saturday night, dropping jagged edged cuts and woozy, off-kilter techno romps to a tight knit and energised crowds.

The Shack was the central focus for foot-down, pedal speed techno sounds - a dimly lit, natural amphitheater surrounded by woodland with a ramshackle wooden structure as its main stage. On Friday, Call Super delivered a superb midnight set while on Saturday, the dusty clearing played host Dutch pioneer, Running Back records founder and Rush Hour regular Gerd Janson and his brand of anything goes, melody driven house sounds. Job Jobse, label manager for Life and Death records and another reliable Dutch figure, rolled out plenty of prog, synth and italo bangers for the masses, keep the vibe positive and eclectic with surpsing cuts such as Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record).”

Dixon followed and the Innervisions boss slayed the crowds on Saturday night, dropping his trademark, bass weighted selection, underpinned by driving basslines and bottom-heavy rollers from the likes of Marcus Wolgrull and Manpower's brand new, big room remix of Juan Maclean's 'What Do You feel Free About' commanding a heads-down response from the crowd.

Meanwhile, in the pokey, hidden away Ma Dahu stage (reached by a winding path through the forest), Paranoid London delivered an acid techno set that ranged from synth heavy acid squelchers such as their 2014 cut 'Transmission 5' to Detroit vocal tinged arsenals such as ’Light Tunnel’ and ‘300 Hangovers a Year’. Interestingly, it was the second show the techno duo played during the weekend, their double performance within the line-up felt like a stroke of genius by the organizers, ensuring no one missed out on their breathtaking, hypnotic performance.

Long time UK aficionado and techno don, Mr G, also delivered two sets across the weekend, including a funk and soul DJ set in the afternoon and his roaring dat-machine powered live set, playing only his own cuts and controlling the crowd in the way only a master and artist of his caliber can. Raw, un-treated techno and house with bags of swagger and flex.

DVS1 didn’t hold back when he helmed the intimate stage, cranking out imposing, balls-to-the-wall techno that the now legendary figure is known for. Hair raising stuff at 3am, but his relentless energy was both exhilarating and captivating in the warm overnight air.

One of the festivals main gems, however, was the Factory Stage, an industrial themed area constructed from shipping crates and other post-industrial structure - a similar, yet mirco-sized version of Nuites Sonores' night time stages in Lyon, or Sonar's gargantuan industrial night time festival in Barcelona.

The Factory played host to some of the more visual artists of the festival and some absolute live beauties to bask in. Maribou State played a cantering, steady set that grew in pace and BOM as it went on, while Daphni, AKA Caribou, nearly brought the containers down with his closing set on Saturday night.

But for this writer, Mount Kimbie delivered the goods with a live set that cherry picked mostly from 2017's heavily underrated Love What Survives, bringing their more experimental, post punk aspirations to their sample heavy post dubstep sound.

The ground was scorched, the air was thick and by the end of the enchanting festival, the sound of electronic music’s cream ringing through their ears. And as it drew to a close, chatter about next year’s line-up and the surprises in store for further editions could be heard chattered in passing as we made our way with a 1,000 other revellers to bed.