From Rowana’s hardgroove to Khiah Lou’s amapiano, here are 7 essential emerging acts to catch at Love Saves The Day in Bristol this weekend
Love Saves The Day returns to Bristol on May 23 and 24, and while the festival’s main stage headline slots draw the crowds, it is the undercard where the city’s current sonic identity is most honestly on display. This year’s programme puts hardgroove, amapiano, garage, bass music, and rap in conversation across its stages, reflecting the breadth of sounds currently feeding into UK club culture from one of its most generative cities. Bristol has been exporting electronic music DNA for decades. The 2026 LSTD lineup makes a convincing case that the pipeline is fuller than ever.
Here are seven emerging and essential acts worth building your weekend around.
Saturday: Hardgroove, Garage, and a South Wales Shapeshifter
Rowana is one of the most exciting names in Bristol’s hardgroove and nu-trance scene right now. Scottish-raised and Bristol-based, her sets fuse techno textures, hypnotic melodies, and punching 4×4 kicks into something relentless and precise. She has built her profile through standout appearances at Motion and Lakota, sharing lineups with Marlon Hoffstadt, Malugi, Kettama, DJ Heartstring, and t e s t p r e s s. On Saturday she brings that momentum to the new Minus 196 Sounds stage at 2 PM. It is an early slot, but do not be fooled. She plays like the room is already at capacity.
Newport producer Douvelle19 occupies a lane that very few artists have successfully carved out. His EPs, When I Dream and Love Me Not, weave pop, R&B, garage, grime, and electronic textures into productions that are simultaneously club-ready and radio-adjacent. The support from Disclosure, Joy Orbison, Salute, Pete Tong, and Todd Edwards is not incidental. It is a signal that the industry understands what he is doing before the wider audience has fully caught up. Catch him on the Transmission x SWU FM stage at 3 PM on Saturday.
Step Twice are the collective on this list with the deepest roots in Bristol’s DIY underground. Their reputation is built on throwing events anchored in garage, jungle, breaks, and bass music, the rhythmic lineage that the city has been sustaining and mutating for thirty years. Their inclusion in the lineup is the festival’s acknowledgment that the promoters keeping local dance floors alive year-round deserve a platform in the main event. They play the Minus 196 Sounds stage at 4 PM on Saturday.
Badliana closes out Saturday’s emerging acts on the Love Saves main stage at 5:50 PM, and the positioning tells you everything about where her trajectory is heading. She operates at the intersection of rap cadence, internet culture, and alternative electronic production, representing the hybrid energy of a younger generation of British clubgoers for whom genre boundaries are largely irrelevant. Her ascent from underground curiosity to main stage booking has been fast. The set on Saturday will tell you how ready she is for the next level.
Sunday: Amapiano, UK Rap, and a Melodic Wild Card
Khiah Lou is a specialist. Her sets are focused almost entirely on amapiano, the South African genre built on log-drum basslines and soulful piano, and her curation reflects a deep literacy with the form rather than a surface-level enthusiasm. She has become a sought-after name across Bristol’s club circuit through packed appearances at The Love Inn, Lakota, Lost Horizon, and Death Disco. On Sunday she brings those warm, polyrhythmic grooves to the Ball Pool at 2 PM. It is one of the weekend’s most distinctive bookings.
Addi P plays the Love Saves main stage at 2:45 PM on Sunday with a style that lives at the intersection of UK rap and bass-driven club music. The overlap between MC culture and sub-bass has been one of Bristol’s defining contributions to the broader UK sound, and Addi P represents how that conversation continues to evolve through local vocalists redefining the rhythm of regional electronic music.
Jabani closes the emerging acts conversation on Sunday at 3 PM on the Love Saves stage. Where the rest of the undercard leans into the physical demands of the dancefloor, Jabani offers something more emotionally centred: soulful, vocal-led song writing that bridges live musicianship and electronic production. His set is a reminder that the underground can be as emotionally resonant as it is danceable.
Tickets are available now at lovesavestheday.org.
