Day # 2 of the fabulous Love Supreme Festival in East Sussex was much kinder weather-wise, when the rain and wind of Friday was swapped for sunshine and no flipping wet stuff.
Perfect weather for a cracking line-up full of legends, rising stars, future stars and surprises…
Today we have the lovely Olivia Dean making her debut festival headliner on the main stage and we have the legendary Ms Dionne Warwick filling up the giant big top tent that is the South Downs stage as headliner.
“Tent Full” signs out early for her sublime set which of course treated fans to a slew of her hits such as “Walk On By” and “Do You Know The Way To San Jose”, “Heartbreaker”, “All The Love In The World”, “Alfie” and “There’s Always Something There To Remind Me”.
Her voice sounding wonderful at 83-years-old. Dionne has charted 69 times on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making her the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–2010), after Aretha Franklin, and she has sold more than 100 million records (over 75 million singles and 25 million albums) worldwide.
Over on the North Downs Stage, an hour after Dionne Warwick took to the South Downs stage to rapturous applause, Saturday night sees a debut festival headline slot for Oliva Dean. We caught her in Manchester in April and she was sizzling.
Oliva’s hit debut album “Messy” was released in June 2023 and Mercury Prize-nominated, which peaked at # four in the UK album chart. She will be delivering some of those tracks at Love Supreme, you can bet.
Three times BRIT-nominated, London-born Olivia has proven her star is very much on the ascent and shining brightly, in the fact she sold out three nights at London’s iconic Eventim Apollo on her spring tour– and she smashed it on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury last weekend. [You can see that on BBC iPlayer and it is worth watching.]
She was on point at Love Supreme and pulled in a huge crowd and lots of youngsters singing every word. Her performance deserving of a headline slot.
Another legend in Sananda Maitreya playing his first gig in the UK for 22 years was a very welcome part of Saturday’s lineup; for a classy hour-long set at 4pm on the main stage after US blues star Christone Kingfish Ingram’s brilliant set.
If you do not recognise Sananda Maitreya’s name, cast your mind back to the fab hits such as “If You Let Me Stay”, “Sign Your Name”, “Dance Little Sister”, and “Wishing Well” under his previous name, Terence Trent D’Arby.
Yep, that very man…
Sounding just like he did back in the day too. Hope he tours here in the near future; you must go see him.
Love Supreme really is one of the sparkling jewels in the crown of UK music festivals, which will see more than 60,000 music fans flock to the picturesque East Sussex site this weekend.
Last year celebrating its 10th anniversary with a star-studded menu of artists such as Grace Jones, Little Simz and Tower of Power; how to follow that for the 11th edition?
To borrow the word ‘Supreme from the name of the event, that is what the lineup is best described as this year…
There was a surprise guest during Joel Culpepper’s set opening the North Downs stage at 12.30pm. Tom Misch joined in the fun.
Friday’s headliner Mahalia was brilliant, and Sunday we have a Royal visit to the East Sussex site, with the headliner Ms Chaka Khan gracing the stage, celebrating 50 years in music.
Expect her solo hits such as “I’m Every Woman” and some fabulous Rufus tracks, such as the timeless, “Tell Me Something Good” – and maybe some songs from her many collaborations across a glittering five-decade career.
Also appearing on day # 2 among the fabulous acts we caught were Trombone Shorty, Jordan Rakei, US drum legend Billy Cobham, French drummer Manu Katché and French jazz artist Cécile Sophie McLorin Salvant.
- Check out coverage of Friday and Sunday in our Live Zone….
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