Festival Review: Boardmasters 2024

It’s mid-August. The sun’s beaming on the clifftops of Watergate Bay. Music fills the air, and the skyline is dotted with colourful tents, music stages and a white Ferris wheel, all with a backdrop of the sparkling sea and golden sands. It could only be Boardmasters 2024.

As it continues to solidify its place as one of the major UK festivals, Boardmasters packed this year’s lineup with South West musicians such as Peri Rae, Tors, and Saff Juno, alongside internationally acclaimed headliners like Chase & Status and Sam Fender.

This year, Friday brought sunshine, Saturday brought the classic Cornish mizzle, and Sunday was a proper scorcher — a perfect encapsulation of a British summer. Rain or shine, this year’s festival was an unforgettable one.

Relive Boardmasters 2024 by diving into some of the highlights…

Friday

Peri Rae

With the sun shining and a backdrop of turquoise waters and golden sands, live music filled the air from The View stage. BBC Introducing hosted a lineup of South West’s emerging artists and ones to watch, including singer Frey and indie-pop musician Peri Rae, who brought an energetic performance to the Friday afternoon crowd.

Playing her tracks from her EP, i moved to the beach, and some new musical numbers, Peri Rae and her close-knit band brought their fun and uplifting stage presence (as always) to the festival, all while getting the crowd dancing and singing along! With new music on the horizon for the singer-songwriter, we’re excited to see what she has planned for the coming months.

FFO: Phoebe Bridgers, Nina Nesbitt, Lizzy Mcalpine

Master Peace

Wow, what can we say? Two words: A masterpiece. Quite literally. 

With a seamless dynamic blend of indie sound with hardcore punk riffs layered with booming baselines and melodic rap, Master Peace blended a fusion of sound that directly transported you to the dance floor. The Land of Saints tent was filled with a sea of hands and was roaring with excitement and cheers — a powerhouse performance and a party to remember!

FFO: The Hives, Bloc Party, Fontaines D.C

Good Neighbours 

From going viral on TikTok to performing on the Main Stage at Boardmasters, it’s been quite a year for the London duo, Good Neighbours. Let’s just say they brought the sunshine with their feel-good, happy songs, infused with an abundance of positivity and good vibes.

Their tracks Daisies and Keep It Up are certainly up there with the soundtrack of festival season, and it’s safe to say that Home is shaping up to be one of the highlight songs for 2024. We’re excited to see what’s in store next for them!

FFO: Bleachers, Grouplove, The Wombats

Chase & Status 

With the misty sea air slowly enveloping the festival site, Friday’s Boardmasters headliners took to the Main Stage, creating an immense atmosphere. The drum and bass trailblazers put on a stellar performance, playing hits Baddadan and BACKBONE, as well as classics Blind Faith and End Credits — a proper nostalgic nod to the early 2010s hits to wrap up Friday’s incredible collection of live music!

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Saturday

Saff Juno

With the weather a tad more soggy on Saturday, the festivalgoers were out and about in their ponchos and raincoats, but that didn’t stop the heartfelt love for Saff Juno.

Despite the Cornish mizzle, the Devon-based indie-pop singer-songwriter’s performance on The View stage was a ray of sunshine, truly captivating the audience with her velvety and dreamy vocals, combined with delicate storytelling and sparkly riffs.

After the set, we caught up with Saff and her band to chat about her Boardmasters debut, which you can listen to on WhisperCast. Stay tuned for a Boardmasters interview with the singer-songwriter in ISSUE 04 — which will be released later this year!

FFO: AURORA, Birdy, dodie

Sprints

We were lucky enough to see this four-piece Dublin band for a second time! Put shortly, their fusion of contemporary rock and post-punk creates a perfect recipe for a Land of Saints moshpit, with an added dollop of headbanging. The band’s performance was raw and energetic filled with a lively atmosphere from the crowd.

FFO: IDLES, Coach Party, Yard Act

The Beau Bennett Collective

Returning to the home ground where the band first formed, The Beau Bennett Collective delivered an incredible performance at The View stage on Saturday afternoon!

From being introduced to Beau Bennett and Caitlin Pinkess at grassroots music venues in and around Falmouth to watching their set at one of the UK’s most major festivals, it felt like a wholesome homecoming, with the crowd beaming with joy and grinning with happiness all while singing along to Apricity, Rose Tinted Glasses, and so many more songs!

The band’s polished sound and tight musicianship truly shone through during this set, and it proves that if you’re determined to do something, you can do it.

Listen to Beau chatting about her experience at Boardmasters and meeting one of her idols, Holly Humberstone, backstage at this year’s festival on WhisperCast.

FFO: Ellur, Gatlin, MUNA

Holly Humberstone

One of the many Boardmasters acts we have on repeat! Holly Humberstone was someone we had been anticipating seeing at this year’s festival, and she and her band did not disappoint.

Opening her set with the coming-of-age track Paint My Bedroom Black, she intimately drew the crowd in with her personable stage presence, ethereal vocals, heartfelt lyrics and potent storytelling about everyday life and relatable situations.

Throughout the set, Holly swayed back and forth across the stage playing tracks including The Walls Are Way Too Thin and Scarlett. She’s a rising star to watch and it’s no surprise her next stop is opening for Taylor Swift at the ERAs tour in London!

Becky Hill

With the festival crowd waiting in anticipation and the LED stage and podium all set up and ready, electronic pop music powerhouse Becky Hill took to the Main Stage on Saturday evening.

Becky Hill put on an electrifying set performing party banger after party banger, including Afterglow and Disconnect, leading up to the penultimate song Wish You Well and rounding off with Remember!

Her wholesome gratitude for performing on the Main Stage was evident, and her energetic stage presence and crowd participation throughout the set could have easily placed her as a worthy Boardmasters headliner.

Sam Fender

From playing The View stage in 2014 to being back at the festival 10 years later to headline the Main Stage on Saturday night, it’s fair to say that Sam Fender has had a truly incredible journey!

The crowd was filled with a sea of Newcastle United shirts and the energy was sky-high. Sam Fender kicked off the set with The Kitchen and Getting Started. While taking in the atmosphere before the third song, Sam noticed a festivalgoer in the crowd with a cardboard sign saying “CAN I PLAY THE BORDERS”. One of the most wholesome and heartwarming moments of the festival happened when Sam invited the festivalgoer, Bryon, to the stage with him to perform the hit song.

Closing the set, the crowd was buzzing with excitement when another fan favourite, Hypersonic Missiles, was performed. Once again, the energy throughout the crowd was electric, with people on their shoulders belting out every single word, complete with the addition of pyrotechnics and fireworks to close off Saturday at Boardmasters 2024!

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Sunday

Tors

Representing the incredible music coming out of the South West and fresh off a US tour, indie band Tors graced the Land Of Saints stage on a chilled Sunday afternoon with their soulful sound, tight musicianship and uplifting lyrics.

Not long after the set started, the crowd participation was second to none with a wave of excitement, clapping and singing along to the live music. One highlight was the sheer energy from the crowd, all the way to the back of the tent giving all their Sunday afternoon fuel during the band’s new track Never Give Up. The joy from the crowd when the band performed Happier and Miracle was so wonderful to experience.

Earlier this year, Tors headlined the BBC Introducing Showcase at the Exeter Phoenix, along with Pattern Pusher, Liang Lawrence and Saff Juno. It truly is a testament to how incredible the South West music scene is.

We caught up with Matt, Theo and Jack later that day about how their set went, their home comforts and… beans. Yes, you read that right. You can listen to the full interview on WhisperCast.

Haytor

Keeping with the ‘Tor’ theme, indie rock band Haytor took to The View for a stellar Sunday afternoon set! The Devon band is quickly making waves in the South West music scene with hit tracks, Osaka and Love Songs.

With the sun shining directly onto the stage, Haytor brought such high energy creating a feel-good, happy atmosphere! The band’s soaring melodies and lively performance pieced together a truly anthemic set and we’re excited to see what’s next for Haytor. Certainly, ones to watch!

FFO: Sam Fender, The 1975, Catfish and The Bottlemen

Kate Nash

Kate Nash’s performance at this year’s festival was like catching a perfect sun-soaked wave on Watergate Bay.

With a soundtrack of sweet melodies and heartfelt lyrics, the singer performed a couple of tracks from her recently released album, including Millions of Heartbeats and Misery, and closed with the beloved classic Foundations.

She spent most of her set right in the heart of the Boardmasters crowd. Kate Nash had this wonderful heartfelt connection while singing directly with the festivalgoers, creating an unforgettable highlight of this year’s festival. It was a sea of smiles and joy all around from start to finish.

Redrø

The Keg & Pasty stage hosted a whole host of local South West musicians and bands throughout the weekend, including Will Eason and Joe Hurworth, Boss Cass, and Falmouth’s indie shoegaze band, Redrø. Making waves in the local music scene since 2020, the band have quickly become a must-see act! It was great to see Redrø grace the stage on early Sunday evening with their dreamy vocals, entrancing guitar tones, tight rhythms and chilled drum beats.

FFO: Slowdive, Lord Huron, Cousin Kula

Maisie Peters 

A definite highlight. From growing up listening to Maisie Peters, it felt so special to see the singer-songwriter headline the Land of Saints stage on Sunday night. Like Sam Fender, one of Maisie Peters’ first major festivals was at Boardmasters, playing The View stage in 2017.

From the moment she opened with her track Coming Of Age to the final notes of Lost The Breakup, she and her incredible band put on a show to remember! Throughout the set, Maisie owned the stage and between songs chatted with the crowd like she was having a conversation with her best friends. Her stage presence was simply incredible.

Halfway through the set before The Band and I, Maisie talked about the nostalgia of touring with her band. The wholesome atmosphere in the tent with Maisie and the crowd during There It Goes and History of Man was a moment to remember.

With the front rowers belting every lyric of every song at the top of their lungs and singing their hearts out and a sea of arms swaying from left to right, this set was a cherry on top of a fantastic year of Boardmasters 2024.

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