Wireless Festival 2016 Sunday Review/Diary/Thoughts
Although I’ve been heavily invested in music for almost my entire life, it has taken me 19 years and two months to go to a festival, and I chose Wireless. For those who don’t know, it is a three-day festival in early July every year in Finsbury Park, and plays host to mostly urban and pop artists. I always saw it as the ‘teenage decadence festival’, full of 16-20 year olds listening to overall pretty bad music in a very basic and inoffensive setting, and in a sense this is true - the demographic is overwhelmingly young, and a lot of the people there just seemed to be disinterested a lot of the time, with a lot of people not really watching any of the acts. Looking at previous years, there was very rarely a lineup I could say I’d dig, until I missed out on an amazing day last year (the extra day for the 10th anniversary of the festival), which then got me excited to go this year. The lineup took ages to be released, and initially I was very underwhelmed. But the more I looked into it, the more appealing the Sunday got, so I took the plunge and it was totally worth it. Of course, comparing it to Reading/Leeds, Bestival or Parklife is futile - no camping, no real ‘edginess’ and a very one-dimensional crowd make it a very different sort of event, but nevertheless I enjoyed myself thoroughly.
The day began when I met my friend I attended with, arriving at the festival at around 12. It was surprising how many people were hanging out outside the entrance rather than going in, so getting in was a walk in the park (literally). Once we were in, I found it a little disorientating, as there wasn’t much signage and I just wanted to know where all the stages were, as I attended pretty much exclusively for the music. After having some overpriced lunch (although of course this is to be expected from any festival) we headed to the Main Stage - a massive piece in the middle of the park. Onto the music that we saw:
1:15 - 1:45 / Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals / Main Stage The first artist we saw was one of the three I was most looking forward to seeing throughout the day, and my word was I not disappointed. The energy this guy put into his performance alongside his band was astounding - constant movement, flawless singing/rapping, and the best of all was his live drumming whilst singing, which is a sight that needs to be seen by any music fan. For the first guy on, he set the bar high for the day.
2:00 - 2:30 / Fekky / Stage 2 So going into the second stage (also known as the Pepsi Max Arena despite it being a tent), where I intended to be for a good 2 hours to watch a few artists, it became apparent that the views in the tent were pretty poor. We were initially about two thirds back, and the DJ was hyping everyone up so much that people were just getting out of hand even before Fekky came on, jumping around and just pushing to the max. When he came on, the crowd got even rowdier, meaning that we ended up standing at the side as it just got a little too much (especially since we didn’t really know much about his music). He seemed to have a lot of energy, but in half an hour he only really did like 5 songs, and kept saying ‘Big Fekky’ over and over. Also, as a grime artist, and therefore accompanied by a grime DJ, what I like to call the Grime DJ Effect came into play, and is the worst thing ever. Basically, whenever a song has a drop, everyone obviously goes nuts, the moshing happens (even though I really don’t feel it fits the hip-hop vibe), but at grime concerts, the DJ always rips the beat mid-drop, even when everyone is already going mad, just so the artist can say ‘no no no we need to get hyper ye’ - it is the single most annoying thing about grime concerts and I will never understand it.
2:45 - 3:15 / Ty Dolla $ign / Stage 2 We got closer to the stage for Ty but still on the side, and he put a good performance in - plenty of energy and really got the crowd moving. I don’t really know much about him and his songs aside from his features will some of my favourite artists but yeah, good show. However, personally I was at the second stage for the next act:
3:35 - 4:05 / Vince Staples / Stage 2 Right near the front for the second of my most anticipated artists, and oh my did he deliver. I’ve really admired Vince for a while now, and he played all the songs I could ask for, including Smoke and Retribution which I wasn’t sure if he would. The crowd was smaller for him than the other two, the whole tent wasn’t full but people were really getting into him, although much less pushy than the last two so more comfortable viewing. He ended it by diving into the crowd and standing on what I could presume was someones shoulders to finish up the last song - what a guy.
4:15 - 4:55 / Big Sean / Main Stage After Vince, it was a brisk walk back to the Main Stage for Big Sean. We were quite far back there were massive screens and I could still see the stage clearly from a distance, and yeah he was pretty good. He covered pretty much everything I expected and wanted - rapping along to Mercy, I Don’t Fuck With You, Blessings and Clique was such a good feeling, although it seemed he was having microphone issues as he just wasn’t loud enough. He also got a bit Kanye-esque preachy at one point, but it segued nicely into Blessings so I forgive him.
After that we had a break for about an hour, grabbed some food and a sit down whilst sort of watching Jess Glyne on the Main Stage - I did miss Thugger but to be honest I don’t know much of his music and what I do know I’m not the biggest fan of so whatever.
6:10 - 6:40 / Jeremih / Stage 2 Although he was a big late meaning I missed some of the next act, he had a fantastic set. He performed all the songs I knew, and the ones I didn’t I could still vibe to as he really got the crowd going. He brought out J. Cole and some other guy I didn’t catch which was neat, but the best bit of it was probably one of the best moments of the day. He finished off with Freak of the Week, which got me excited as it’s a great song to sing along with, but one he did his verse at the beginning of the song, all the lights on the stage went out, and the entire crowd rapped a cappella the first rap verse of the song - it was unbelievable hearing it.
6:55 - 7:25 / Newham Generals / Stage 3 As mentioned I missed half of the legends of grime’s set, but what I did see was really good. As we were so late we couldn’t really get that close to the action but their energy was all there, although of course the Grime DJ Effect was in play yet again.
7:30 - 8:30 / Kygo / Main Stage I’m not a massive fan of this sort of music - it’s ok and pretty chill but I can’t really get into it, but he put a good show on. Plenty of pretty graphics on the mastic displays behind him, lots of smoke and fire from the stage, and at one point loads of large balloons were released - all very fun and colourful. Fergie came out to sing Sexual Healing which was cool, but overall I was kinda just there to get a better view for BBK. It ended with a bang, with streamers, confetti and all, so props to Kygo for a putting on a decent show.
8:55 - 9:55 / Boy Better Know / Main Stage However, this was what I was most excited about. DJ Charlesy was playing some tunes hyping people up, and then everything went quiet, and who steps out? Tim bloody Westwood! I was so shocked and baffled but who cares, he quickly introduced BBK and got out of there, and one of the most amazing things I’ve seen unfolded. Jme came out first (with Lethal Bizzle of all people?!), then Frisco with Shakka, then Skepta, Shorty, Jammer and finally Solo 45 (who had a backpack on which may have meant he was late or something). I had no idea how they were going to do it, but they gave each member their own, completely solo time on stage which was a really nice touch, especially for the lesser known or under-appreciated members. Every song had it’s own graphics to accompany it, linking to what the song was about, and flashing the name of the member intermittently - so for example the song Detox had multi-coloured smoke on the screen moving around with the name of whoever was rapping their verse flashing. It seriously added to the show in a big way, and really showed the effort they’d put in to make it a spectacular event. Probably the best bit was when Numbers came on - I turned to my friend and said ‘imagine if they bring out Pharrell Williams’ and then bam, he comes out for his verse and the hook! Then the finale happened, with Skepta doing Man and the whole stage filled with friends and affiliates of BBK, including others who performed earlier in the day like Newham Generals (with D Double E getting on the mic at one point). Fireworks were being shot constantly into the sky, flames and smoke going off, it was wonderful. The only things that I felt were missing were Drake, who I really thought would come out as they were really hyping up the show, and the fact that a couple of my personal favourites like Ladies Hit Squad and Grime Lord weren’t played (although I guess I only really wanted them because I have a certain love for D Double E). Overall, a performance I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Oh, and the best bit of the whole thing? No Grime DJ Effect!!!! They just let the tracks play out, beautiful.
By the end, I was knackered, my legs ached, but it didn’t matter - I’d seen some of my favourite artists in one day. However, I just want to address a couple of problems I have with the festival. The main thing that annoyed me was Stage 2. Firstly, seeing the stage was really difficult unless you were near the front, dead centre or on the sidelines - the way that the ground is shaped under the tent was curved, so if you were slightly on the sides you were lower down, and less likely to be able to see the stage. Why is it a tent also? I know it serves as the place where the noise gets trapped, as it sounds way louder than the other two stages, but I feel as though you’d be able to fit a lot more people outside, and it wouldn’t get so cramped and hot in there. The main improvement that needs to be made to it is SCREENS. Not just because of the view thing, but also just because there’s so many people in the tent that if you’re further than half-way back it’s real hard to see anything, and it would just make the experience a lot better. Obviously the food was expensive, but I can’t really criticise as that’s festivals or music events in general, and the crowds weren’t the best - lots of very young people and people not really interested in the music but again, to be expected.
Overall, I can’t deny I had a fantastic day. No matter how much this festival gets bashed for being really commercial, basic and mainstream, it is still a thoroughly enjoyable day and, as a hip-hop head from the UK, one of, if not the best festival for hip-hop year on year. This year, obviously grime took centre stage, but lots of US artists were covered too, even ones not particularly popular over here. So props to Wireless, thank you for a very enjoyable day!
