Every so often, this tangled life throws up an interesting juncture. A crossing of paths. Energies on their own trajectory that somehow meet at exactly the right time to create a moment of magic. Sancho Panza is one of those things, where star alignment seems to be a common stitch in the fabric. Since New Year’s Eve 1992, musical partners Jim Angell and Matt Brown have been putting on their own parties. What started as a response to the state of London’s clubbing landscape back then has become its own little subculture; parties led by the music and the joy of dancing together.

“During that period in London, it was really expensive clubs and the actual New Year's Eve evening wasn’t a particularly nice experience,” recalls Brown. “So, we decided we wanted to do our own New Year's Eve party. We found a small warehouse space in Primrose Hill and absolutely rammed it with all our mates and it was brilliant. We thought ‘okay, we'll do that again’ and it just sort of snowballed on from that really.”

The duo quickly gained a reputation for throwing very good parties, earning them a stage at Notting Hill Carnival in 1994 to begin a 20-year relationship with the event.

“That was a really steep learning curve in terms of trying to organise a large sound system,” says Brown. “Up until that point, we'd been working with quite small stuff that we would hire and set it up ourselves. All of a sudden, we had the biggest house system there.”

A Turbosound rig designed by Funktion-One founder Tony Andrews powered the Sancho Panza stage for several years, then in the early 2000s, around the time the first Funktion-One speakers were being released, a mutual friend connected them with the loudspeaker manufacturer’s founders.

“I had a really long phone call with Tony and he was amazing,” says Brown. “By the end of that conversation, he decided he was going to lend us a sound system for Carnival.”

Impressed with the whole experience, they soon linked up with people like Jason Bacon, Dave Millard and Chris Hawkes, who would subsequently supply and run the sound systems and go on to build their own businesses in the Funktion-One orbit. “They were testing out some new stuff from Tony,” explains Brown. “So, the sound systems that were going in were extraordinary.”

“It felt a bit like Carnival became Funktion-One's R&D testbed for a little while,” says Angell. “We were getting speakers that weren't out yet.”

This symbiotic relationship has stood fast over the years. In 2016, Campo Sancho Festival was born with Funktion-One sound on its stages. In recent years, Andrews has been in attendance to tune its systems and continue the exploration for even better audio.

“Tony came when we last did it in 2022 and we road tested some speakers (Evolution X) that he'd never heard in an outdoor environment,” says Angell. “So, it was good for him, but it's amazing for us. It's a privilege to have that sort of connection.”

Andrews was back for the next edition in July this year, tuning the Funktion-One systems supplied by Full Fat Audio (FFA) across the festival’s two stages

“One is open in the daytime and the other at night, they don't clash with one another,” explains Angell. “That's something that we felt quite strongly about at the beginning and still now; if you want to dance, you know where to go. With big festivals, everyone's on the phone all the time: ‘Where are you? Are you going to this? For us, it’s a party and we want everyone to be there.”

This year, FFA deployed a stereo Vero VX system on the Outdoor Stage, with three VX90 on each side, together with six F124 in a two-wide, three-high block. The Indoor Stage system was a four-point with two Evo 7EH and two F115 in each corner, with four F124 for some dynamic low end.

“I had moments of just standing right in front of that bass; it was like a sonic massage,” says Angell. “Then you’d go over to the other side of the dance floor and it's the same kind of volume level. It was amazing.”

[Laurent Garnier. Photo by James Willment]

The whole festival experienced some very special moments with those systems, including sets by Tigerbalm, Andy Wilson (Ibiza Sonica), Anouck and, of course, Laurent Garnier.  Discussing his four-hour Saturday night set, Brown says: “He really took us on a journey. If you're going to play for four hours, you have to play like that, you can't just bludgeon people. He really moved it around. It was an absolute masterclass.”

“It was brilliant,” adds Angell. “He started playing Garage. We had this amazing French DJ playing UK Garage in the UK and the dance floor responded, it was such an energy lift. Then he seamlessly went somewhere else and we’re thinking ‘how's he done that?’ It was a real big deal for us to have him."

The producer and DJ had such a good time playing his Saturday night set that he asked if he could play a second set on Sunday afternoon.

“It was his suggestion to play a second set of disco,” says Brown. “We had sunshine, it was really busy and the vibe was incredible. Both of his sets for me are real standout moments. It was such an honour to have him and he was an absolute gentleman. The response he got at the end of that disco set literally gave me goosebumps. It was just a massive outpouring of love and respect for the man. It was quite moving.”

In a world abundant in camera phone waving audiences, Campo Sancho stands as a bastion of unified dancefloor experiences. The crowd, or perhaps more accurately, the community is musically knowledgeable, socially respectful and full of fun. It’s the sort of audience that attracts similar people with the positive energy it puts out.

“It's a unique atmosphere,” says Angell. “You look around that dance floor and pretty much everybody's smiling and you can feel that energy. That's where we've all come from and to still be doing that and still feeling that energy is really wonderful. A lot of people left that weekend deliriously happy. We’ve seen comments from people saying it's the best weekend in the last 10 years, you've changed my life, and things like that. Lisa Loud described it as having a really acid house feel. We haven't set out for that, but it's got that kind of vibe and energy.”

This year’s festival and all of its special moments were a fitting tribute to great friend, collaborator and turn table maestro, Eren Abdullah. Eren’s love and light shine on.

One of those moments came from the wonderful Danielle Moore (Crazy P) and her Friday evening set. With Dani’s sad passing earlier this month, the world has lost a true superstar. 

Campo Sancho returns on 24th-28th July 2025. Stay up to date here.

[Danielle Moore (Crazy P). Photo by James Willment]