The Barclaycard sponsored Wireless Festival, taking place in London's Hyde Park last weekend (July 4-5), was a pop-tastic affair of dance and urban chart toppers. Saturday's shenanigans was aimed towards dance fans, with acts such as N.A.S.A, Fischerspooner and headliners Basement Jaxx getting those stages pumping. Whilst Sunday’s line-up drew a whole different crowd – those preferring to get down with their bad selves to ‘urban' music – who came to see several of London's chart topping acts, including N-Dubz, Chipmunk and the Noisettes, performing alongside the American super star Kanye West.
Rivmixx arrived on Saturday before kick off and took the time to have a little nosy around. And there was plenty to do, even when no acts were playing. A man-made beach got the ladies stripping! Giant board games attracted adults and kids alike. And the Global Cool bus saw all and sundry tagging their name to the cause. More energetic types got involved with the trampolining, gladiator fighting and a bungee wall, to name but a few.
The first act to draw in a large crowd was Frankmusik in the Tuborg Stage, who treated his fans to an energetic performance. Croydon’s finest electro-popper even included a ‘Golden Brown’ sample and a cover of Rihanna’s ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’, which both received suitably raucous reactions (in a good way!).
By mid-afternoon the party was in full swing but legendary dance-indie band Saint Etienne's 18-year-old body of work didn't really get the crowd going - despite their great performance. Jack Penate suffered the same reaction at the beginning of his set but the crowd soon grew and the dancing began. Penate got so carried away in the crowd spirit that he broke his guitar and proceeded to throw the pieces at the crowd in a bit of a Rock’n’Roll moment for the singer. He also finished his set with “Thank you Lovebox”?!
As the sun began to cool, The Streets drew a mammoth crowd in the Second Stage tent and fans began wilting and leaving before Skinner even took to the stage. Once they did they received probably the best crowd reaction of the day, although the heat and the crowded conditions meant it was impossible to stay for any length of time. Rivmixx lasted four tracks before we escaped, but stayed long enough to see classic like ‘Fit But You Know It’, ‘Pirate Material’ and ‘Dry Your Eyes Mate’, which proved to be real crowd pleasers. Someone must have been unimpressed, though, as Skinner offered an audience member a fight, in a proper “Do you want some?!” stylee (we think he was joking).
Dizzee Rascal was the first act to gather all the revellers to the main stage area. Backed by DJ Semtex, Dizzee showcased his string of hits but obviously the choon everyone was waiting for was ‘Bonkers’ and Dizzee didn’t disappoint, filling the park with the dirtiest number one, chart topping, baseline.
By the time Basement Jaxx hit the stage, the crowd were ready for a full on carnival, and that’s exactly what they got, with dancers, costumes and comedy galore - the Jaxx provided the revellers with hit after hit and the performance of the day. ‘Romeo’, ‘Oh My Gosh’, ‘Where’s Your Head At’ and new single ‘Raindrops’ received mighty reactions from the crowd and the performances given were by far the best vocal performances all day.
Click on the left hand drop down menu in the video below to see interviews with N-Dubz, Sneaky Sound System, Dj Ironik, Frankmusik, NASA and Chipmunk.
Waking up a bit groggy on Sunday morning Rivmixx rushed to get back to Hyde Park in time for Young Jeezy’s performance who didn’t disappoint, finishing up with a very tiny snippet of ‘My President Is Black’, which received a massive reception.
Relative newcomer MPHO (a songstress with humour and a message – we would very much recommend checking her out) impressed several. The Noisettes obviously put on a wonderful show, as they always do, and N-Dubz completely rocked the mainstage with material from their 'Uncle B' album. Whilst Chipmunk was hyping up a crowd in the Second Stage tent.
Diversity caused a storm, as they took to the stage to perform their winning routine from a little talent show they apparently won. And were followed by the lovely Alesha Dixon, who - it has to be said - got off to a slow start with her solo material. Even though it was a slick show, the crowd just seemed unimpressed with songs like ‘The Boy Does Nothing’, but she managed to bring it back pretty sharpish as she sang, or rather MC’d, a medley of Mis-Teeq hits.
Q-Tip brought to the stage an energy that only a veteran can bring. The former Tribe Called Quest member belted out a number of Tribe classics, his own classic material (‘Vivrant Thing’), plus material from his latest album ‘The Renaissance’'. And then Kanye took to the stage with a great set, great band, great backing singer, great costumes, great gold-painted naked girls. But the auto-tune overload created a downer on his set. Despite that, smash hits like ‘Stronger’, ‘Gold Digger’ and ‘Love Lockdown’ got the crowds chanting and swaying. Whilst ‘Through The Wire’, ‘Jesus Walks’, ‘Diamonds From Sierra Leone’ and ‘All Falls Down’ were performance highlights.
Another year, another Wireless; another weekend, another festival. Rivmixx is loving this sunny summer season. We hope you enjoy!
