Dot to Dot has been held in Nottingham for over ten years, a music festival that showcases some of the best up and coming talent in the industry, with Bastille and Jake Bugg performing there in the past.

This year however saw the largest ever lineup at 35 venues across Nottingham, hosting local talent as well as bringing new artists into the city.

Just under 200 artists and bands performed in some of Nottingham’s hidden gems, from Jam Cafe, Rough Trade to Rescue Rooms and Rock City there was truly something for everybody.

Perhaps it was too ambitious however, there was too much choice, in a too many venues. Great for the artists to have been given the chance to perform at such a brilliant music festival, but because of the scale of it, overall it just didn’t quite work.

One of the smaller artists I managed to catch was Benjamin Ziec in the Jam Cafe. His raspy voice could pull anyone into the small venue to catch his half an hour set. Vocally he was one of the best artists I saw throughout the night, full of passion and enjoying the reactions of the crowd. Ziec did a rendition of Bill Withers Ain’t No Sunshine and it couldn’t have suited his voice more, a brilliant cover and an undiscovered gem from Nottingham.

I was looking forward to catching Sonny’s set after hearing his song Two to Tango on Spotify. In the Rock City basement the eager crowd tuned in to hear his performance. He held the stage well for one man with his guitar, but didn’t really get the crowd moving until the end of his performance after covering Black N Gold by Sam Sparro and closing his set with Two to Tango. It seemed to take him a while to get into it, but the last few performances showed real potential and he is definitely someone to keep an eye out for in the future.

Due to high ticket sales the festival warned music lovers to make sure they got to the venue early to avoid missing performances due to overcrowding, this made it a lot harder to hop from venue to venue because of the worry that you might not be able to get in to see artists you wanted to see.

Because of this I stayed in Rock City’s main hall from 6pm until closing, the venue was jam packed but it added to the atmosphere. Tom Grennan and Louis Berry followed in quick concession, both artists had the audiences clapping and jumping along, two more artists that could makes waves in the music industry in the future.

Amber Run followed next, back after headlining the Rock City main room in February, and they did not disappoint. They performed a mix of songs from their old and most recent album including Noah, Fickle Game, No Answers and I Found, the latter of which has been listened to more than 33 million times alone on YouTube. The four-piece who formed whilst studying at the University of Nottingham owned the stage and kept the audience from the back to the front captivated with their vocals and instrumentals. A band which are already leaving their mark on the music industry and will continue to do as they move forward.

Finally, headliners Sundara Karma performed an epic hour long set much to the delight of the excited crowd. The indie band made up of Oscar Pollock, Dom Cordell, Ally Baty and Haydn Evans certainly looked the part, sporting flares and long hair – the bands trade mark style. They played some of their biggest hits including Flame, She Said and Loveblood, putting on a pretty much faultless performance. Considering how the band from Reading have only been together for two years they have already achieved big things, and if their headline performance over the weekend is anything to go by then it’s hard not to see them having an impact in the music charts.

In the wake of the Manchester attack it was great to see so many music fans and artists alike coming together to share the love for music. I was disappointed not to have discovered any female singers, but that may be just because I was in the wrong venue at the wrong time. However, the crowds for every artist/band I went to were passionate and it was great to see so many people in one place all passionate for music.