New FORWARDS Festival sees 50,000 people descend on Clifton Downs in Bristol

Watch Ellie Barker's report

A new festival has descended on the Clifton Downs in Bristol, bringing music, talks and an expected 50,000 people across two days.

FORWARDS Festival began on Saturday (3 September) with a line up of artists including Charlie XCX, Little Simz, Fred Again and Jamie XX, as well as talks by a range of speakers.

Organisers behind the festival say the two-day event is about more than just music, also hoping to bring about positive change through social initiatives and discussion.

Tom Paine, organiser of FORWARDS, said: "Previously, we've done some concerts up on the Downs, which have gone really, really well. But what happened with the pandemic is it gave us a bit of time off to think about what we wanted to achieve up here and we really wanted to create more of a festival, and a festival feel.

Festival-goers turned out in large numbers despite the grey clouds and drizzle - with 50,000 expected across two days

"So, as well as the two main stages of amazing music, we've got a really great kids area and we're doing a lot of work with other Bristol community projects to really kind of create positive change out of the festival."

Word about the event had also clearly spread. Organisers believe around 25,000 festival-goers are expected on each day, including some travelling from places outside of the southwest, such as London.

A series of talks and panel discussions have formed a big part of the festival - all held at the Information Area

Beyond the music being performed on the two main stages, the festival has an Information Area, where talks and panel discussions are being held on topics such as 'modern love', drug support and 'the state of food'.

Antonia Cross, who organised the Information Area, said: "We didn't want talks or panels or kind of more like the ideas side of it, the opinion side of it, to be an afterthought."

Organisers hope FORWARDS Festival will be the first event, with many more to come

"We know what Bristol's like: it's opinionated, it's gutsy, there's some really brave people who every day are you know [bringing] free education, and got some amazing campaigns," she added.

While the skies over Bristol have largely stayed grey, a little drizzle did not put off festival-goers with a large crowd staying to watch headliner Jamie XX perform until 11pm on stage 1 on Saturday night.