Bon Iver & Japanese Breakfast dazzle against a stunning Italian backdrop

While most of festival season sees revellers pitched up in tents, donning wellies or huddling inside dark venues, hoping for a glimpse of their favourite band, there aren’t many events that sit alongside the gorgeous sands of Italy’s coastline. Then again, not many events are like La Prima Estate.

Still very much a fledgling operation - their first edition took place just last year - La Prima Estate possesses the potential to become a real destination in years to come. Situated in Lido do Camaiore in Tuscany, the backdrop for the event is as gorgeous as you’d dare to imagine: white sand stretches for miles in front of the nearby mountains, while the Aperol Spritzes are almost as endless as the sunshine. The line-up for this year’s edition is an eclectic one - alt-J, Jamiroquai and Lana Del Rey are included in the festival’s headliners - with only a handful of sets a day taking place in Parco Bussoladomani over two weekends, so that visitors can take in their surroundings to the fullest before the music begins. The slight downside is that - despite the promise of “a range of experiences… from art to sport, to food and wine” each day, in reality, they’ve not struck the right balance just yet - and it’s this side of things that needs some amping up. While ticket-holders can head to the beach for yoga and surfing first thing, more activities need to be offered for this to reach the full experiential potential it’s promising.

Musically, though, the festival seems to be hitting the right notes. Kicking off on a balmy Friday evening, the reaction that headliner Nas receives when he hits the stage for his headline set is a rapturous one. Marking the final show of his recent European run, his appearance is an electrifying one in which he segues between cuts from across his massive career - he checks in over 30 tracks by the end - proving exactly why he’s still such an iconic name within rap.