One half of a world-touring band enjoyed a packed homecoming when they headlined Brighten the Corners Festival in Ipswich on Saturday.
“It feels so good to be back here,” the frontman and rapper of Mobo-award-winning grime-punk duo Bob Vylan told a hundreds-strong audience inside the Corn Exchange.
Declaring that this was his and the drummer’s debut gig in the town, he went on to reflect on his own journey from growing up as a Chantry “council estate kid” to playing Coachella in California and touring Australia with punk band Amyl & The Sniffers.
After teasing his band’s upcoming Glastonbury booking, he went on to share an inspiring message that aimed to encourage people to pursue their dreams.
“If we can do this, you can do absolutely anything you put your mind to,” he said before tearing through the gritty riffs and drums of ‘Dream Bigger’.
From start to finish, there was a mosh pit up front and people were bouncing along to hits from the pair’s 2024 album ‘Humble As The Sun’.
After the set, the duo made their way to the merch stand where they happily posed for photos with their fans – a pleasing yet rare sight for artists of their stature within the industry.
Earlier in the evening, at the nearby St Stephen’s Church, Manchester rapper OneDa proved another highlight.
With a queue of people patiently waiting outside, she won the crowd over instantly with some call and response interaction.
Looking effortlessly cool in a jacket and sunglasses, she brought the heat to an already boiling venue - and built on her fanbase following a performance at SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.
It’s about the last place you would expect to see a rap show, but for the crowd under the arches it was an up-close treat. She got them moving, too, during drum n bass anthem ‘Balling’ which, showcasing her rapid-fire flow, turned the church into a club.
In the middle of the afternoon, the festival’s only outdoor stage shared a similar party atmosphere.
With the sun beaming down on one of the hottest weekends of the year so far, the free to watch Cornhill was buzzing with families making the most of the unusually balmy weather.
It was also a great platform for local acts to grow their listeners, including Suffolk-formed electronic duo .DREGS. who transformed the paved square into somewhat of a rave.
Their live club-ready set, which included bongo drums, had those of all ages dancing, including young children getting their first taste of techno.
It was rather random to see, and likely one of the more bizarre sets that the group has played, but parents certainly weren’t going to turn down some free entertainment.
“We’re happy to be back and in the sun,” the duo said, recalling that their last gig in the town was in the pouring rain, before plugging their new EP ‘Kultura’ and closing with a remix of Flight Facilities' 2010 song ‘Crave You’.
Other notable sets throughout the day included Welsh post-punk trio Adwaith and all-female rock trio HotWax, both of whom made their Ipswich debuts with formidable gigs at The Baths venue.
Overall, Brighten The Corners once again brought an impressively genre-spanning line-up to the town while putting Ipswich’s music venues on the national touring map.
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