Every drum & bass festival
worth your weekend.

Drum and bass was born from UK rave and jungle in the early 1990s. Jungle itself emerged around 1992 in London, built on sped-up Amen breakbeats, reggae and dancehall basslines and the post-hardcore energy of the UK rave scene. Producers like Goldie, LTJ Bukem, Fabio, Grooverider and 4hero took the jungle template and pushed it toward something more sophisticated — smoother drums, deeper sub-bass, jazz and soul samples. By 1995 the term "drum and bass" had largely replaced "jungle" in the music press, though the two terms still coexist.

The mid-1990s produced the genre's defining records: Goldie's "Timeless," Roni Size and Reprazent's Mercury Prize-winning "New Forms," LTJ Bukem's Logical Progression mixes. Labels like Metalheadz, Hospital, Moving Shadow and V Recordings defined the sound. By the early 2000s the genre had split into clear subgenres — liquid, neurofunk, jump-up, techstep — each with its own clubs, DJs and labels.

Modern drum and bass sits at 170 to 175 BPM, built around the same Amen and Think breaks sampled and resampled for 30 years, with sub-bass that needs a proper rig to appreciate. The UK remains the global centre of the scene but the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands all have strong domestic scenes.

Drum and bass crowds are distinct. The UK scene skews younger and more lad-leaning, especially at jump-up shows, while liquid and neurofunk nights draw a more mixed crowd. Dress code is casual streetwear — trainers, tracksuits, bucket hats, the occasional Hospital Records T-shirt. The energy is relentless: drum and bass dancefloors do not have the extended build-and-release structure of house or trance. The drop is constant.

At a proper drum and bass festival or stage, set times matter less than the MC. Most DnB sets feature a live MC hyping the crowd, calling reloads and turning the set into a two-way conversation. Reloads — stopping the track mid-drop and rewinding it — are a defining feature. A Rampage Open Air or Let It Roll set can have ten reloads in an hour and the crowd goes harder every time.

Production leans toward lasers, strobes and sub-bass rigs. Stage names often reference UK rave heritage and the sound systems are usually the loudest at any festival. First-timers should know that the energy does not dip — if you need a rest, leave the stage, because the floor will not slow down. Earplugs are essential, especially near the subs.

The modern drum and bass scene is led by Andy C, whose sets at Rampage Open Air are genre-defining. Noisia — though officially retired as a trio — reshaped neurofunk for a generation. Chase and Status have crossed into the mainstream while keeping their dancefloor credibility. Hospital Records artists like High Contrast, Nu:Tone and Camo and Krooked define the liquid and uplifting end. Dimension, Sub Focus, Wilkinson and Pendulum represent the arena-scale crossover wing.

Jump-up has its own stars — DJ Hazard, Serum, Voltage, Hedex — and its own crowd. Neurofunk is led by Mefjus, Current Value and Black Sun Empire. Liquid DnB, the more soulful end, has Lenzman, Etherwood and LSB. Jungle revivalism through artists like Tim Reaper and Dwarde has pulled the genre back toward its 1993 roots.

Subgenre boundaries matter in drum and bass more than in most electronic genres. A Hospital Records fan and a Playaz Recordings fan rarely cross stages, though the best festivals now program both with equal weight. The unifying feature is the tempo and the breakbeat lineage.