Since its debut in 2022, Forwards Festival has become one of the most talked-about events in Bristol’s cultural calendar, annually drawing 60,000 attendees to the verdant Clifton Downs for diverse and thoughtfully curated line-ups that have seen Aphex Twin, Erykah Badu and Jamie xx top the bill.
The impression that Forwards has made on the city is evident in this, its third year, which was far and away the most well-attended edition yet; the place was practically heaving by mid-afternoon on Saturday as two stars of the flourishing UK jazz scene made a convincing case for the genre’s contemporary relevance at either end of the festival site.
