After a well-deserved fallow year, No Bounds returned to venues across the city (and Rovrum) with everything from relentless bass techno, high energy wobbly bangers from Off Me Nut Record’s, East African metal, grime, bassline, pop and well, everything in between – it was, as ever, a lot of fun.
Returning with a renewed energy for its seventh outing, No Bounds Festival once again strived for innovation in more than just the music, hosting an ambitious programme of events across a variety of disciplines. Eleven different locations took centre stage, including Sheffield Cathedral, Delicious Clam, Hope Works, Gut Level, Green Estate and Rotherham Bridge.
No Bounds has long been somewhere to party until the small hours (and that’s exactly what we did) but it’s worth mentioning that recent iterations of the festival have expanded its remit by leaps and bounds, starting this year with orchestral performances in churches and leading to art installations that respond to the River Don. It’s all very impressive and an incredible marriage of creative endeavour against the backdrop of the city.
It’s at the main hub, Hope Works, where the party truly gets going and the heart and soul of the event can be experienced. Friday night sees performances from Lord Spikeheart, an East African industrial metal act, alongside grime acts Flowdan and Sheffield’s own Coco in the main room, while next door in the Janky Room, Off Me Nut Records are busy blowing the roof off with Gullyteen and Spyro.
On Saturday night we venture to Delicious Clam to catch Haus Horo but have wildly misjudged our arrival and the venue is chocka. So much so it’s a one in, one out situation, and the weather has turned! The beauty of No Bounds though, and in particular this year due to the expanded programming, is there’s always something else to experience. For us, it’s back to Hope Works for some live coding and algorave, before loading up on some dancing carbs from Sunshine Pizza and throwing shapes to Batu and re:ni, who was probably my fave DJ of the weekend.
The atmosphere at No Bounds events is always super inclusive, friendly even. There’s definitely a strong no dickheads vibe, and over the weekend we end up with a few solo partygoers tagging along with us (shout out Nathan!). It’s always been a space to let it all hang out until the early hours, but their commitment to providing a pioneering programme of interesting and thought provoking daytime events only enhanced the experience this year. We can’t wait to see what they have in store next year.
