September 25, 2026 |
It’s going dark before 8pm, we’re out of our shorts and back into trousers and yes, we have a serious case of the summer blues. What a silly few months they were!
A soothing balm for approaching the colder months has been putting a plan in place as to what we’ll be getting up to once next July and August roll around.
If one thing’s for certain, we’ll definitely be returning to Field Maneuvers. This was our third year at the “no frills, dirty little rave” plonked in a field in the middle of Norfolk, and my god, wasn’t she a stunner! Top crowd, top costumes – shoutout the group dressed up as “Pepto Bismol Airlines”, each in sugary pink uniforms – and top tunes from some of the world’s best DJs. And it’s all happening again, 20-22 August, with tickets dropping today.
Before all that though, let’s relive the action from this year, where we tour through the fezzy’s best bits across all its stages. Now that’s what I call a belter weekend.
FMMT
After a few hours of torrential rain – putting your tent up when you’re like a drowned rat ain’t the cutest – we shielded inside FM’s main stage Friday evening. Luckily for us, Call Super and Parris’ joint label, Can You Feel The Sun, was curating the night’s proceedings. We have to shout out Danielle for delivering a personal highlight with her bubbly house stylings. Parris and Call Super also brought their A-Game with sets that were weird and wonderful in all the right places.
Saturday was the turn of Prague-based Harmony Records, who linked up with Roza Terenzi’s Step Ball Chain for a stacked line-up that included a live set from Alfred Czital and a two hour masterclass from one of London’s finest selectors, OK Williams. To close out the evening, D.Tiffany and Terenzi stepped up to the plate, bringing with them fresh UK garage cuts and wobbly basslines to send the tent to another orbit.
The final night inside the FMTent is always left to East London’s queer pleasure palace, Dalston Superstore. After the likes of Ivy F, Lexii and J.Aria got the vibes flowing at FM’s lakeside daytime stage, the action moved indoors where we were treated to the stylings of house veterans Grace Sands and Mike Servito. Hannah Holland came armed with a bag of straight heaters courtesy of her Batty Bass label, accompanied by fierce MC, Mama, who took to riding the shoulders of not one, but two festival goers during their magnetic set.
The grand finale was left to the legendary Detroit In Effect, igniting Norfolk with the best and bassiest sounds from the Midwest in a set we wish we could relive all over again.
SPUTNIK
Anyone who’s been to FM knows there are few dance floors that compare to the beloved Sputnik. The rave cave, with its abundance of lasers bouncing off every surface, is a place we’d very much like to live in forever. You can always count on this stage if you’re looking to properly go for it. This time around, the DJs were immaculate.
Despite us all dancing in our soggy clothes after Friday’s biblical downpour, Michelle Manetti ignited a smiley singalong when she dropped a gorgeous Spice Girl edit, leading into Tasha, who dropped Nu-Birth’s Anytime under a sea of green strobes – *chef’s kiss*.
It was pretty difficult to leave the dome on Saturday night. A six hour marathon of rave excellence kicked off with FM favourite Angel D’lite, who delivered possibly the set of the weekend with a stellar selection of Hi-NRG slammers. Then it was onto I.JORDAN and their History of Euphoria set, played to a packed out tent. It was a tour through house, trance and hardcore par excellence, peaking when they dropped Goodfello’s mix of Lisa Moorish’s Mr Friday Night. And what a treat it was to get to see the legend that is DJ Storm absolutely shell it with her bag of D&B goodies. You basically had to drag us out of Sputnik kicking and screaming by the end of it.
THE PACKET INN
FM’s beloved pub The Packet Inn has had a refurb! The FM team called on Uhaul Dyke Rescue – the team behind the festival’s Mobile Dyke Bar – to give the watering hole a 60-minute make-over. Ali Wagner and their team are focused on bringing more awareness to dancefloor accessibility and providing more inclusive spaces within nightlife. They were in charge setting up the pub and its brand new Function Room, which also featured artwork from Glasgow’s Trackie McLeod.
Who knew the back room of a boozer could provide so many bangers? Not only did Uhaul Dyke Rescue kill it with their six person b2b, chockfull of gorgeous edits, but the Function Room also played host to the likes of Panorama Bar veteran Lakuti and FAFF who played an ace live set accompanied by Kurtis Lincoln on the mic.
We spent our final dance inside the Function Room Sunday eve to the sounds of CCL. They brought their genre-bending set to glorious crescendo when dropping Kelis and Andre 3000’s Millionaire out of nowhere. Gorgeous stuff.
AMBIENT TENT
For the moments we needed a breather, you could always find us inside the Ambient Tent, probably scranning one of those delicious vegan masala toasties or watching an episode of Sex and the City season 4 that was playing on repeat on two old MacBooks (can every festival do this, please?).
The calm and tranquil space – this year given a colourful makeover by designer Ed Curtis – played host to its fair share of fab moments, too. There was TAAHLIAH’s closing set on night one, where she played Rihanna’s Take A Bow (legendary behaviour), a twinkling live set from Yawning Portal and an atmospheric send off from Luvandula and Teleopath that brought us down to earth in the early hours of Monday morning after three days in a gorgeous FM bubble. Same again next year?
Photography by Maddie Moore. Buy tickets to Field Maneuvers 2027 here.
