Wireless festival attracted around 70,000 people this year, largely comprising of under 30s groups of boys and girls, the latter sporting Daisy Dukes and various items of Boy London.
One of London's largest urban festivals boasted headliners Drake, Rhianna and Deadmau5.
Saturday was Drake's day and he didn't disappoint. However, highlights also included The Weekend, Niki Minaj and Professor Green. Lowlights proved to lie somewhere in the atmosphere, albeit a very energetic one, seemed somewhat edgy, at times maybe a little unfriendly.
On arrival, we were greeted by an extensive and efficient bar area, predominantly selling beers and ciders but there was also a "Wandering Wine Bar" and a cocktail vendor too. An interesting range of food was available, but all standard festival fare. A mexican fajita was welcome after one of the many deluges but reflected London's festival prices.
Unfortunately the only suitable perch on which to eat our fajita turned out not to be the VIP viewing deck (where we were embarrassingly refused entry) but a bench near the Pepsi Max stage which was reached by an effective crowd surf to the other side of the festival. I draw on this experience to highlight the moment where we were subjected to being in earshot of Nero. Ultimately a question of personal taste and not quality of performance, I cannot comment on their set, apart from the headache sustained from such an overwhelmingly loud, despite boring noise (apologies to all Nero fans).
While the rain kept coming, people remained energetic, running between the four different stages to catch their favourite acts. Needless to say, the site quickly turned into an unappealing amalgamation of mud and rubbish, making it hard to navigate easily between stages.
Example played the main stage, also attracting a large fan base, all singing along to his catchy chart toppers, the most memorable being a successful ska style breakdown of ‘Freedom Fighters’.
The Weekend played a mellow set showing off his vocal range to full effect. He proved to be one of the most in demand acts, attracting a huge crowd to the Pepsi Max stage. After taking the tempo right down with that distinctive melodic crooning, he picked things up again with a high energy rock number.
Coming into the evening and the rain did not cease. However, Niki Minaj's entrance onto the stage lifted moods, with a very energetic and enjoyable set. Her unsurprisingly eye catching outfit today comprised of a very frilly pair of nickers, a tutu style skirt and a pair of space age silver heeled boots. She was joined on stage by a troop of dancers and a selecta who kept tracks chopping and changing, including Beenie Man's "Zim Zimma" as a track over which Niki rapped. She went on to perform many of her, more well known tracks and finished with a rendition of ‘Superbass’.
Then, the final wait for the act for whom I expect most visitors to the festival came to see. As we were constantly reminded towards the end of the set, this "25 year old kid from Canada" has made quite a name for himself all over the world, needless to say in the UK too.
Half an hour of waiting in the rain and he came on stage. He started with his slow but quite dark melodies in between which he vocalised his appreciation of Londoners and the UK. The crowd exploded as Niki came on to join Drake as they performed ‘Proud of You’, a personal favourite of mine and the stage was filled with their famous chemistry. ‘Take Care’ was another anthem confidently performed , with Rihanna's chorus blaring through the speakers.
In conclusion, the festival proved to be a great success in terms of bringing big headliners to London. Wireless managed to bag arguably the most popular current artists and showcase them successfully in an urban setting.
The crowds were enthusiastic and involved, evidently armed with a passion for each certain act. And while big names such as Example and Professor Green caught most of the attention, it was encouraging to see more far afield artist such as The Weekend play and have such an existing fan base.
Obviously uncontrollable factors such as the rain put some off, but most enjoyed the experience as long as they were spectators to some of the great artists and shows.
However, it did mean that the site was at points impenetrable and the amount of rubbish did not make for the most enjoyable environment to be in. London fans can be hard ones to crack, and at points some unfriendliness was witnessed.
All of the acts that I saw contributed to a very fun and enjoyable day; the range, quality and energy off all of them helped towards this.
It seems that inner city festivals are becoming more successful and popular than ever. Coupled with the fact that Hip Hop and RnB are now the predominant popular music genres, it seems that festivals such as Wireless will enjoy success for a while longer yet, and "urban" music fans will have a festival in the heart of the capital in which to enjoy their favourite artists.
Published on 11 July 2012 by Wayne Feltham
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