Unmissable Festival Acts

Innovative and eclectic house DJ with a festival show every weekend

Averaging an event every week over the coming summer – among them Field Day, Gottwood and Iceland's Secret Solstice – Leon Vynehall's festival experiences this year should be memorable for the right reasons, unlike his festival debut.

"My first festival as an artist – and I use that word extremely loosely – was back when I was 15. A band I was in at school won a competition to play at a festival near a swimming pool in Germany. The gig was shit… but the swimming pool was alright."

Leon – who had a breakout year in 2014 with a clutch of EPs that confirmed him as one of electronic music's most innovative talents – has earned his festival fun this summer. He's spent much of the winter months squirrelled away in his Leicester studio having charged himself with emulating the success of records like last year's 'Butterflies' on Clone Royal Oak and 'Music For The Uninvited on Martyn's 3024.

Just like his productions, Vynehall's DJ sets place great emphasis on attention to detail. He's not afraid to drop in the funk and soul records his mum brought him up on, while a call to contribute to Ninja Tune's Solid Steel Radio mix series saw him delivering a hip hop set, made up of his own finely crafted edits. He's also performing at Gottwood as part of the Future Disco stage.

"I'm honest when selecting records," Vynehall explains. "There are certain songs that cater for the festival environment more than others, but I wouldn't play something I didn't like for the sake of it. I'm invited [to festivals] to play music that is representative of me. I try not to tailor what I play as such."

A talented multi-instrumentalist, Leon spent his formative years in bands, so it's no surprise that his first proper festival experience, at the age of 17, was at that bastion of indie rock, Reading.

"As a teenager, it was so exciting being part of this huge communal event, watching bands on big stages with elaborate light shows – although by the end of it I was praying for a mattress and hot water!" says Vynehall. "I saw Interpol and Arcade Fire that year, before I got kicked out for buying a fake wristband from a pair of suspicious touts. I spent the rest of the festival searching for a legitimate ticket and getting high in the camp site." So what did he learn?

"Don't buy tickets off touts, don't be an arsehole to others, get an air bed – and good footwear is essential!"

Catch Leon Vynehall at: Love Saves The Day (UK, May 23), Lost Village Festival (UK, May 23), Ohm Festival (Netherlands, May 30), Field Day (UK, June 6), Gottwood Festival (UK, June 11), Secret Solstice Festival (Iceland, June 19), The Garden Festival (Croatia, July 1), Peacock Society (France, July 10), Farr Festival (UK, July 16), Voltt Loves Summer (Netherlands, August 29)

[Words: Stephen Worthy/ Photo: Khris Cowley]