Foreverland Urban Stage
This year’s Foreverland Urban Stage did not disappoint. With SUBU organising acts such as Stormzy, Artful Dodger and Whitey, the crowd was prepared to have a blast at this year’s Summer Ball. Additionally, Bournemouth’s very own J-Fresh was undeniably one of the most popular acts at the Urban Stage. He was already able to prepare himself for Bournemouth’s students at Bournemouth 7’s two weeks before and definitely did not disappoint. He played his own good mix of more common songs and got everyone to sing along.

Afterwards it was easy for Artful Dodger to keep the crowd going with their timeless UK garage music. People especially enjoyed their hit “Re-rewind”, which shot Craig David to the top of the charts and kicked off a new era for garage music. The Southampton band got the audience even so far to sit down as soon as they were asked to. Another Bournemouth local kept us entertained. DJ Baddis made the audience his own by entertaining with the latest hits.

The Urban Area’s main act Stormzy was one of the most highly anticipated acts at this Summer Ball. Especially after he joined Kanye West at this year’s Brit Awards. Therefore it was no surprise that he knew how to keep us all going. With his performance of grime, rap, jokes and just pure entertainment the students were able to dance the night away and make time fly. Stormzy even tweeted before his gig that he is “coming to bun down everything”, which is exactly what happened. Overall, the Urban Stage was a good mix of common music to keep everyone entertained and some grime, rap and garage to attract a more narrow audience. Everyone seemed to enjoy the night, especially the acts. It will be hard for SUBU to top this one next year.

We Are Your Friends stage
Julio Bashmore was one of the most hyped acts this year. From producing records in his parent’s house, over DJing at various festivals and hosting his on show on BBC Radio 1 Bashmore finally made it to this year’s SUBU Summer Ball’s We Are Your Friends stage. The DJ from Bristol did a great job with his unique angle on house music. He seemed to enjoy his time behind the decks just as much as the crowd enjoyed their time on the dance floor showing off their best moves to Bashmore’s biggest hits. Especially songs such as “Au Reve” and “KONG” kept the audience on their toes waiting for the next sick beat to drop. However, Julio had the pleasure to keep an already excited bunch entertained.

London based, Ten Story, who used to run their own club nights in Bournemouth heated up the tent with their mix of house classics and disco and garage favourites. Also, the Bournemouth based DJ Duo Bitcool did not disappoint. The two brought a massive energy to their set and the WAYF tent, with utilizing a broad range of different genres. The duo showed of their skills with a very unique and versatile set using different angles on Drum’n’Base, Dupstep and house. Bournemouth based DJ’s were highly represented in this year’s WAYF tent as also aspiring DJ Ben Read was hitting the decks with some variations of tech and bassline on the latest house tracks.

After all these amazing beats and sounds the DJ’s from WAYF were on and kept the crowd going until 2am. Students were definitely left with a thirst for more. In general, the WAYF tent was a good option at Summer Ball and showed how long summer nights should end in the upcoming months.

Southside Stage
The Southside Stage was a great alternative this year for people who were not too fussed about common music. This year the stage was filled with great rock music, some amazing instrumental solos and a genuine crowd. This year’s Southside Stage was very much Bournemouth based with The Villanovas, Jawbone and Adam Fox all being from our beautiful beachside town. Jawbone especially enjoyed their summer ball performance as they met up with main act Sunset Sons, who they used to support. Jawbone definitely learnt a lot from them and Sunset Sons should maybe even watch out that Jawbone don’t steal their spotlight in the future. It was a pleasure to see how the two-piece entertained the crowd with their raw and very blues heavy sound. 

The Villanovas, who only started to perform in December 2014 and already received a Larmertree Festival Breakthrough Music award, also offered an incredibly entertaining performance. The group of four showed that they definitely deserved their award with keeping the crowd going with showcasing their talent in their range of music genres. The band is influenced not only by contemporary rock but also incorporates the best elements of classic blues, soul and more rock. The Villanovas showed that they are just getting started with including a massive amount of energy that could have kept them going and performing until the early hours of the morning. However, all good things have to come to an end and by 2am the Southside stage also got packed up.

The atmosphere and the vibes in the tent were really positive and upbeat. For most people in the crowd in did not seem to matter if they knew the bands’ music or not, they were still able to enjoy an absolutely fantastic night.