An inside look at this month’s Mint Festival

Sven Väth, Duke Dumont and Hot Since 82 are all making an appearance

duke dumont edm electronic dance music elrow festival hot since 82 mint mint festival music sven vath

For the fourth year in a row, Mint will open the gates of their now-legendary Mint Festival later this month.

With bigger acts, more arenas and a plush new venue, it looks like Mint really are upping the ante in their question for dance music domination in Leeds.

With that in mind, we spoke to Events Manager Stuart Forsyth about what we can expect come September 19.

“After taking over the Mint Club 9 years ago with it’s amazing 17 year history, we had gone on to start Cocoon in the Park which had been a massive success from day one so we thought there was definitely some space for a full electronic dance music festival in Leeds and went for it.

“Four years ago we decided to give it ago and it was massively successful, and since then it’s grown every year until we’ve found ourselves doing a two day event at Wetherby Racecourse.

“The site at Wetherby is amazing and they offer camping too – we actually outgrew Lotherton Hall, our old venue. That had a 10,000 capacity and we decided we needed somewhere bigger.

“Wetherby holds 20,000 people per day – Mint Fest has always been one day before, but now you can come and camp from Friday until Monday if you really want to get stuck in.

“Sven Väth is coming for the first time, so we’re buzzing for that. Hot Since 82 is hosting his own arena with Green Velvet, Route 94 and more.

“Duke Dumont is hosting his own arena too, the Blasé Boys Club – there’s been a lot of excitement surrounding that.

“One thing which is going to be really blow people’s minds is the Elrow tent. Elrow is a night in Barcelona that they really go out of their way with decor, production and every event has a different theme with incredible performers and surprises throughout the day – it’s going to be Brazilian carnival-themed, I think people are going love this tent as soon as they walk in!

“We’re going to be holding afterparties at the Mint Club and Mint Warehouse, and also on the campsite. There’ll be a silent disco and acoustic sessions too so there will be plenty for everyone to do once the main festival finishes.

“It’s going to be a really nice well-organised weekend with one of the biggest festival lineups for electronic music this year. The production value is higher than and with nine stages per day there will definitely be something for everyone.

“Needless to say, it’s going to be big.”

We’re inclined to agree.

You can book your tickets for Mint Festival here.