Project 6: a better representation of British culture than the last three Coronations put together

With Outlook Festival’s new UK branch of the festival on pause after just one year, the timing couldn’t have been better for the launch of Project 6. One of London’s most exciting one day festivals arrived this bank holiday weekend and it’s here to stay.

Friday May 26th saw Brockwell Park’s one-size-fits-all arena host Project 6, a brand new one-day festival which promised to bring together a host of different scenes for a non-stop party of grime, drum ’n’ bass, house and guilty pleasures. A truly eclectic crowd descended on a cloudless Brixton for a 3pm start ahead of a three-day weekend.

What went down was a joyous celebration of sound-system culture that quickly erased the sour taste left in people’s mouths after the nationalistic bombast of the recent Royal Coronation. With 7 stages spread generously across a reduced site – the arena’s huge main stage sat this one
out – Brockwell Park proved to be a well-oiled machine and was in full swing when we arrived at 5pm, with 3 or 4 smaller stages pumping out rollers and wobblers to an eager crowd of younger revellers.

Credit: Amy Boyle.

Mala’s much anticipated live show with Joe Armon-Jones immediately beckoned, with a decent sized crowd hitting the main tent for what would be a festival debut and just the second outing of this new collaboration. Huge swells of sub immediately put smiles on the faces of many dubstep purists, while Armon-Jones and his band noodled their way through tracks from last year’s EP between the pair.

As the ever-familiar vocal and bass-line of Mala’s ‘Anti-War Dub’ rang out, it was a struggle to tear ourselves away but time was of the essence – Outlook’s grime stage was about to hit full flow, with Novelist taking over from Flowdan’s set with Kahn and Neek. Firing his way through
pensive tracks from 2020’s immaculate Inferno EP and old hits over fresh beats, Novelist  showed up with the ambitious intention he so often raps of in his bars, ending with a profound acapella/freestyle before passing over to P Money.

Bigging up the north, east, west and finally south corners of London, P Money spat over Mala’s Changes and Redlight’s Source 16, shouting out birthdays and reminding us all that grime is first and foremost, a lot of fun.

As the sun set, an evening chill set in catching many punters off guard – but it didn’t stop the party – a quick trip to the Dodgems stage to catch Bakey b2b Izco was written off given that it was bursting at the seams, so we headed to the Metalheadz stage to catch the end of veterans DJ Storm b2b DJ Flight with Medic MC which gave a good dose of original jungle, with stalwart MC, Cleveland Watkiss reminding everyone that the legendary label was hitting its 30 th year.

Slightly underwhelming sound limited some of the stages – it was also a shame there weren’t any traditional stacks in effect given the sound-system focus of the music, but we’ll take a well organised site with good modern sound over a rushed affair any day of the week. Needless to
say, the FABRICLIVE Presents stage was one of the best, pulling in a big crowd for Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn, before Calibre delivered a concise and delicate masterclass of liquid rollers.

Fabio & Grooverider and The Outlook Orchestra was the obvious final destination for many of the punters. A slightly late start made way for a retrospective celebration of all things drum ‘n’ bass. The production in the mainstage tent was spectacular and the approaching 30-year
anniversary of the golden age of 94/95 felt poignant.

As young and old fans sung their hearts out – led by Jenna G belting out anthems like Chase and Status’ In Love – it was easy to see that drum ‘n’ bass is one of our finest exports. Given that it’s most popular in the UK, there’s a sense of British pride and heritage to the genre which is only strengthening with time.

Project 6 felt like a joyful victory lap for sound system culture that could’ve gone on for days – stages clashed all day and night to great effect, leaving everyone satisfied and running to catch a bit of everything they could squeeze in. We couldn’t resist one final sprint for the end of
Channel Tres’ closing set on the FABRICLIVE Presents stage, where disco-house anthems 6am and Topdown were pounding out after a faux-early exit by Tres and his two fully choreographed dancers. A cherry on the top of a very varied day of uplifting, filthy bangers.

We’re sure Project 6 will have people running back to Brixton for more, for many years to come.

Project 6 will return to Brockwell Park in London on Friday May 24 th 2024. Tickets are available now for £24.50 from here.

Words by Leo Burrell.