Basement Jaxx at South Facing Festival 2025 Review

This bank holiday weekend, I was given the honour of seeing the incredible and iconic ensemble that is Basement Jaxx—performing their first duo of South London shows in 10 years, as part of the South facing festival at Crystal Palace Bowl.

As a huge fan in my tweens and teens, I was never able to experience them live, so when I heard they were playing in an iconic venue, in ends, I jumped at the chance.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Nancy and 31 a self-titled festival veteran and a long-time writer for The Pit.

As a huge fan who has been chasing Basement Jaxx DJ sets around various festivals for years, the chance to see them live in one of my favourite London parks was a no-brainer.

The venue was a small festival-style set up by the iconic rusty laptop right in Crystal Palace park! There is just one stage with a great view, from plenty of angles due to the incline of the grass. There were plenty of food stalls serving classics like pizza, gyros, burgers and of course plenty of bars. As a non-drinker I found the non alcoholic options to be great, they had a 0% gin and lemonade which was full of fruit and tasted just as good as the real thing. Alcohol prices were as reasonable as these things get, and the stone-baked pizza was incredible.

As I arrived, I could tell instantly that the show was going to be one of those unforgettable nights. The venue was a great size, small and intimate, but big enough to feel like the buzz of something bigger, a huge juxtaposition from the ever-growing venues that seem to have lost their charm in the past few years.

This was different; it reeked of nostalgia.

VIP was a cute little set-up under a canopy of trees, with lanterns, sofas, and a private bar and toilet section, perfect for mingling before the show and getting those all-important snaps. We headed to the stage to catch a vibe and get a great view before the show. This was easy, even at 5ft!

A buzz of energy soon lingered as the stage drew us in on some classic Basement Jaxx, science fiction visuals, a huge gorilla glaring at the crowd. Kicking off with high energy classic good luck, the black band blew us all away from the get go and the energy was electric. A great start, they continued to play all the classics, including some of my personal favourites, bingo bango, do my thing, red alert, Oh my gosh, and ending with what I can only describe as the most beautiful drum and bass version of where’s your head at I’ve ever heard!

The band, as expected, performed faultlessly vocal range was at an all-time high and their persistent energy was unmatched. It was a genuine honour to see them all play and what a performance. I do have to hand it to the crowd, too, it was nothing but good vibes, high energy, and people just wanting to let loose.

The stage featured A circular countdown DJ booth with lighting effects and an overhead camera that turned regularly behind the band was a consistent stream of art and visuals to match the song. This varied from bright. The stage featured A circular countdown DJ booth with lighting effects and an overhead camera that turned regularly behind the band was a consistent stream of art and visuals to match the song. This varied from bright bold graphic visuals to surrealist Dada style collage not only this but in true performance art style the show bought out various visual art elements throughout including contemporary dance costume design and use of art and texture that I’ve seldom seen in this context and the crowd loved every minute of it belting out classics dancing like lunatics and I was still hearing ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from all around me when a new performer appeared on stage in an incredible inflatable spiky costume or to connect and danced amongst the artists.

 The whole experience was an incredible collection of inspiration and influences in music and performance. The cultural diversity and musical range are unmatched and exactly what Basement Jaxx, South London and safe S facing are all about.

To wrap things up, all I can say is South Facing festival and the Crystal Palace Bowl are exactly what I needed after the over-saturated, oversold, and overstimulating festival season that came before it. An incredible concert venue with an intimate festival feel is exactly what London needed to bring back the charm, eccentricity and London-ism that I feel like has been missing from festivals for a while now, and half of me wants to keep it all for myself! But here I am telling you this is one to watch! Thanks, South facing, same again next year?