Corona Sunsets Festival, Saturday July 30, 2016 - Greenwich Peninsula, London

It's impressive what 500 tons of sand, a tidy stack of DJs and 5,000 thirsty festival-goers can achieve in the middle of London.

Following a couple of scorching events in Mexico, Australia and Uruguay, the worldwide festival, Corona Sunsets, dumped its beachy load right outside London’s O2 in the hope that English summer rain wouldn’t dampen the festive spirit they’ve been building up.

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And, as good fortune would have it, against the iconic backdrop of Canary Wharf’s skyscrapers, we got some sun. And it set. And all was remarkably good.

Homegrown house talent, Riki Inocente opened Corona Sunsets’ bar tab on the sun-kissed and impressively embellished Griffin Stage while the Crazy P collective opened their alternative account, brimming with enthusiasm, on the second stage.

While the casually late arrivals including the likes of Laura Whitmore, Henry Holland and Zara Martin walked barefoot through Corona Sunset’s gateway of wishes, the free t-shirt/dress printing, face/body painting artists and team of masseuses were keeping the sell-out crowd suitably relaxed and well in the zone.

As the festival headed towards it’s trademarked SunSet Moment, Nightmares On Wax featuring the bongo-banging Shovell smashed an unmissable two-and-a-half hour set including some sweet tribal highs.

Indeed, backing up the fun he clearly had onstage, Shovell later gushed, “This has been one of my favourite festivals to play at this year.

“The beach vibe in the city created such a great atmosphere – we need more of this!”

The ‘Sunset Moment’ eventually came around and the main stage lit the sky with fireworks and flames while a team of hot dancers in flamboyant Mexican garb kept the crowds eyes fixed a little lower.

And then it was time for headliner Robin Shultz to deal his pulsing, deep house into the night as the city beach party reached up, chugged Corona cocktails and celebrated on the sand.

And if the more mainstream Shultz wasn’t your beer-based cocktail a rare appearance by the venerable Norman Jay MBE topped the line-up on the second stage with his unmistakable funk-infused party pieces and good time vibes.

“Big up to Corona for hosting an unforgettable festival”, Norman told us. “Until next time!”

Unfortunately, given this wasn’t on an actual beach in the middle of nowhere, the inevitable urban curfew brought its own take on a sunset just before midnight, calling time on what was a uniquely chilled and enthralling festival in the heart of London.

However, the best thing about sunsets is that there’s always another one.

And for the lucky Corona Crew that’s Italy, then Chile, then Japan, China, Dubai, India…

But if those sunsets are just a bit too far away and you can’t wait for next year, there’s a stash of more local follow-up sunsets to catch including:

Birmingham, Rainbow Venues – August 6

London, No 90 – August 7

London, Last Days Of Shoreditch – August 21

London, Dalston Roof Park – August 28