Maribou State bow out with a string-laced, confetti-soaked farewell at LIDO

The never-ending heatwave left parched green spaces ready to be trampled into thick, airborne dust when thousands of revellers descended for August events like All Points East, while increasingly combative licensing restrictions from local councils caused events like Waterworks to reschedule away from the sprawling freedom of local parks and back into the secretive confines of club spaces. One marked casualty of this chaos was LIDO festival. Despite only holding its debut edition in 2025, with headliners including Charli XCX, Massive Attack and Jamie xx, two of its scheduled 2026 shows with CMAT and Bombay Bicycle Club were swiftly cancelled in April owing to concerns about the ground conditions in east London’s Victoria Park. The effects of the climate crisis and overcrowding notwithstanding, a last-minute show with melodic electro duo Maribou State managed to be rescheduled for the end of the August Bank Holiday weekend, allowing revellers one last gasp of music to see out a shambolic season.

On arrival, there are signs of cloud cover and rain for the first time in months and the crowd is subdued. Sales seem to have been slow as throughout the day there is ample space at each of the festival’s three stages and vibes are more akin to a steady slump into autumn rather than a final hurrah for summer. An early doors, easy-rolling drum and bass set from Irish producer Calibre does its best to try and coax some liveliness out of a sparse Second Stage audience, moving from dubby, mid-tempo bassweight to shades of liquid grooving, although the crescendo into full freedom never quite arrives.

Similarly, a top-billed back-to-back between Detroit house legends Theo Parrish and Moodymann on the same big top stage sees the pair taking turns to lay down vinyl oddities, although they can’t seem to kick out of a middling, 120bpm sense of consistency that meanders from disco basslines to shades of soulful melody and chugging house grooves. Each record, of course, is blended beautifully but the duo struggle to create a sense of narrative arc to their three-hour set. For two DJs typically known for throwing in playful edits of Kings of Leon’s "Sex On Fire", Prince deep cuts or a six-minute Elvin Jones jazz drum solo into a mix in order to elicit a visceral response from their crowd, this back-to-back feels like more of an afternoon of pleasantries than a masterclass in boundary-pushing selection. They even end aptly on the crowd-pleasing singalong presence of Bob Marley’s "Jammin’".

Instead, a much-needed shot of energy comes from Kelis. Armed with a two-decade deep catalogue of hits and a twitchy DJ who only seems capable of playing the same song for ninety seconds at most, the New York singer rattles through over almost 20 tunes at astonishing speed and without once stopping for a breath or time-killing patter with the crowd. The skittering percussion of André 3000 feature "Millionaire" gives way to R&B ballad "Get Along With You", which in turn soon morphs into the trap bass of Bossy and a raucous cover of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s "Got Your Money". Somehow, Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit" makes its way into the mix alongside a snippet of Crystal Waters' house banger "Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)" and Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love", before Kelis fully lets rip with her 2000s party-starting classics: "Trick Me", "Milkshake" and a euphoric rendition of "Acapella". It’s a frenetic and utterly riveting hour-long set that seems to work along the same lines as the TikTok algorithm, bombarding the crowd with so much of what we want that we are left drained and yet capable of watching at least an hour more.

Energy of greater ferocity but no less intensity is equally delivered by drum and bass pioneer LTJ Bukem as night falls on the outdoor Third Stage. Seamlessly blending between late ‘90s, time-stretching beats and the synthetic sub-bass of modern genre edits, the British producer showcases his confidence in all things breaks, whipping his modest but tightly-packed audience into raucous, hands-in-the-air abandon and capping off a LIDO dance music lineup that otherwise lacked the build into a similar sense of dynamism.

When headliners Maribou State finally take to the stage for their headline set, it’s accompanied by the news released earlier in the week that this will be their last live show before taking an unspecified hiatus. Ending a nearly 100-date world tour in celebration of their 2025 record Hallucinating Love, the duo put on a consummately professional and remarkably expansive show backed by a full string section, choir and featuring guest vocals from singers Talulah Ruby and Andreya Triana. The luscious strings backing is the perfect accompaniment for the slow-rolling, guitar-funk of fan favourite "Nervous Tics", from their breakthrough 2018 record Kingdoms In Colour, while other early highlight renditions include the post-dubstep moodiness of "Midas" and "Steal" from 2015’s Portraits.

The upbeat, tight tempo of Hallucinating Love number Otherside meanwhile switches up a gear and gets the crowd bopping gently, and "All I Need" brings Triana’s warm tone to bear against shards of sampled soul vocals. It’s an unobtrusive, inviting set that doesn’t ask much of its attendees other than to sway in the bask of the show’s well-rehearsed confidence. As confetti explodes over the east London skyline and the bouncing groove of "Blackoak" rings out, Maribou State take a triumphant bow to close this chapter of their musical careers, yet another question remains after a patchy day of uneven music and sparse crowds at LIDO: in 2027, will the London day festival be finished for good?