On the fifth anniversary of my residence in the world’s best city, I finally made it down to my inaugural We Love Sounds party this June long weekend. As the clock struck three on a gorgeous day, I waltzed up Errol Flynn Avenue confident of a top notch sellout all-dayer ahead. Emerging from the disappointing reverberating confusion that was the Royal Hall of Industries, the sounds of James Taylor & Ben Morris took the edge off as I made it inside. With a one way system in effect for the two main arenas and thousands of punters jostling between stages, what at first seemed like a chaotic mess revealed itself as an efficient flow once I got my head round it, with navigation between stages refreshingly easy for a festival experience.

Ducking into the Royal Hall of Industries and heading to the warm centre where the beats were sharper, I caught Dirty South boshing out his very own balls-out version of the Hottest 100 with The Chemical Brothers Hey Boy Hey Girl mashed beautifully with Felix’s Don’t You Want Me before chasing it up with some MGMT and Empire of The Sun in typically lovable MOS style. With the blood pumping nicely, it was time to go on a whirlwind walkabout to check what else was on offer. In Byron Kennedy, Redial gave me an unexpected hit of Lithium, while during a pitstop at the bar in the Coachbay, Gus and Jaime gave me 99 Problems.

Heading into the impressively staged Hordern for the inspiring melodic prog house of Chris Lake, I marveled at the production level and salivated at the thought of Armin to come as the sun came down. Barely stopping to catch my breath, I was in The Forum to catch two of techno’s finest females. I managed to catch a snatch of Dinky’s hard edged techno and delightful two-step beats ending powerfully before Anja Schnieder took over bringing layered melodic loops and warped bass for a truly memorable organic Euro style set that wound back the years and made me stray from my original plan to see Matthew Dekay.

An hour in, I headed to see my main drawcard, the one and only James Zabiela. Watching the Southampton maestro wheeling tables and setting up his kit while I Can’t Get No Sleep played in the background was a bizarre sight, but as he sheepishly fiddled with wires, the hall filled up dramatically. Opening with his brand new Scorched Earth edit of Orbital’s Impact (thanks to the man himself on the forums for the ID!) Zabiela began a beautifully programmed hour and a half steadily. Even in the centre, the sound left something to be desired which caused a little aggravation, but the tracks spoke for themselves and when JZ dropped his famed Reckoner remix swiftly followed by the unmissable Pump Panel remix of Confusion made famous by Wesley Snipes’ finest hour, the hall erupted.

As I left my hands-down set of the day grinning from ear to ear, I realized my folly as I approached the queue for the Hordern. With Armin spinning an apparently legendary set inside and a queue round the block waiting for space to open up, I decided to heavy heartedly face facts and use it as an opportunity to do some stage hopping once again. Laidback Luke was typically large and loud and passed the time admirably, before I headed to catch 16bit Lolitas in a bouncing Forum which peaked with the rattling insistence of their Glowfield finery. Determined to have one final hurrah, I wiggled to some stock standard Armand Van Helden fare before heading for the taxi ranks and beyond.

This year’s We Love was a bit of a head scratcher. With such a great lineup and workable layout, I can’t quite put my finger on where it was lacking. I saw some cracking sets and bounced around at more stages than I usually do but I never quite felt the Love. Time was when you could name a festival from a few crowd shots, but thanks to market saturation and the scramble to cover all bases, festival identity lines have blurred and as a consequence crowds have mutated into a generic blob with shrinking respect.

Small misgivings aside, a profitable day out was had, and it’ll be some time before I shake the image of Zabiela triggering effects with his fingertips or scratching like a fiend with Bjork in his ears and mania in his eyes. Perhaps I’m spoilt and ever pickier as I approach the dirty thirty, but when all is said and done and the fat lady sings and all that, I do Love Sounds, albeit with a little L.