Reviewed: Hospitality Weekend In The Woods – Studio 338 Warm-Up Party

On September 17th and 18th Beckenham Place Park in South London will be taken over for the second year in a row by Drum & Bass veterans Hospital Records for their Hospitality Weekend in The Woods festival. In 2019 I was lucky enough to get myself down to Beckenham Place Park and to this date, it is still, without doubt, one of the best festivals I have been to. It was everything you could imagine and want from a Drum & Bass festival, perfectly encapsulated into two days and I couldn’t be more excited for round 2 this year. In order to get me and everyone else in the mood, on the 23rd of July Hospital Records threw a stellar warm-up party filled with a whole host of artists on the 2022 festival line-up. Just enough to give us a taste of what to expect in September. Here are some of the standout sets of the day.

Before heading to Studio 338, I and a few others were fortunate to ride on the Hospitality Party Bus, soundtracked by none other than Unglued and Whiney. I won’t go into too much detail as I’m sure you can only imagine how good it was. Picture 30 or so ravers on a double-decker bus, blasting Drum & Bass throughout some of the busiest streets in central London, the vibes were unparallel. We need a petition to make this the regular form of travel to every rave!

On to the good stuff…

Amoss B2B Arkaik – The Garden

Heading up the Flexout Audio takeover in The Garden, Amoss and Arkaik served up a seriously tasty set filled with all the dark, minimal Drum & Bass you could expect. Individually, these two are some of the freshest, forward-thinking producers going at the moment and one can only imagine the carnage when they come together for a back-to-back. In and amongst the array of dubs, the pair played out some of their own recent releases such as, ‘Amoss – Front Left’ and ‘Arkaik – Ominous’. Two absolute steppers which epitomise everything these two are about.

Serum + Trigga 

One of the final sets of the night was Serum in The Terrace (main room) and when it comes to late night, final sets, there aren’t many better at them than the man himself. Weighty, aggressive synths, chunky basslines and memorable melodies are exactly what Serum is about and that is exactly what we got. Spinning through a wicked selection of hard-hitters, Serum had the vibes in the main room at a serious high for the day as dropped a whole host of tracks from the Souped Up back catalogue and what I can only imagine as upcoming material on the label. In particular, tracks like ‘Original Sin & Trigga – Chronic’ and ‘Mozey & L-Side Ft. Natty Campbell – King Any Sound’ had the venue absolutely bouncing.

T>I B2B D*Minds + Trigga

We kicked things off in The Garden, for the end of the Run In The Jungle takeover, with T>I back-to-back D*Minds on the decks and Trigga on mic duties. When T>I is on the decks you already know what’s going down, fast-paced percussion, snappy drums and some seriously weighty basslines and that is exactly what we got. Now add D*Minds to the mix and the bar gets raised even higher. We’re talking angry synths, chunky drums and basslines that can make anyone throw some hands. The pair in control were destroying the decks as the dropped tracks like T>I’s ‘Belt Speed’ and ‘D*Minds – Charlie’s Sheen VIP’.

Bassi & Charli Brix

A duo that has been hot under the limelight recently, Bassi, the Flextout Audio head-honcho, on the decks with Charli Brix on the vocals, this was easily a standout set of the day. The vibes in The Garden from start to finish were second to none. I’m sure everyone reading this knows all about Charli Brix but if you don’t then get yourself onto Spotify and thank me later. The set was the perfect example of Flexout Audio. Dark, rolling liquid supplied by Bassi with Brix gracing the set effortlessly with her incredible vocals. Stepping left to right, everyone was rolling with the music as we were guided through the set by Brix. Bassi was spinning an eclectic mix of unreleased Flexout with some fan favourites such as ‘Invadhertz & Felix Raymon – Heartless’ and ‘Monty – Games (Ft. Charli Brix).

Hats off to the Hospitality crew, they really know how to throw a party. If you were crazy enough to miss out on the warmup party, get yourself a ticket and head to Beckenham Place Park in September. You won’t be disappointed.

Final remaining tickets for Hospitality Weekend In The Woods can be found here!