dismal weather hits the second day of Wireless

Wireless Festival 2014

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July 2014
Finsbury Park, Endymion Rd, Haringey, Greater London, N4 2JF, England MAP
£65 - Sunday only

Daily capacity: 49,000

The second day of the festival definitely had a different vibe to the first. Firstly the weather was dismal – grey skies and threatening clouds with showers started the day. Secondly there were a lot of new generation hip hop artists playing which meant that the crowd was really quite different to the day before.

I think it’s fair to say it was more urban and there were more hip young things with snapbacks, short shorts and revealing little outfits with swag in their step.

Simon Cowell’s attempt at urbanising his roster, Labrinth, took to the main stage with his live band including his drummer brother MckNasty who I have to give a special mention to as his skill and energy throughout the performance was such a highlight.

Labrinth jumped about the stage with high energy dressed in a stripy matching two piece outfit akin to that of a convict but we won’t judge him on that. Unfortunately at this time of the day the weather was still dampening people’s spirits with the field filled with ponchos and umbrellas and people huddled together. His vocals were incredibly strong though and by the time he belted out ‘Express Yourself’ he managed to get people jiving about.

Heading over to the smallest tent – there were two music tents on site for acts to perform in as well as the main stage– to see American rapper Sage the Gemini it was evident that the festival’s decision to stagger all the heavier hip hop acts in one tent throughout the day was not a clever one as a lot of people had specifically come to Wireless to get a chance to see the acts that they normally don’t get to see playing in one location.

The more eager people arrived early enough to see Sage but nonetheless as his stage time came closer they were cramming in. He came onstage to a roaring reception and got the crowd going straight away getting them to chant along with him backed by an impressive light show and visuals for such a small stage. When he played out his well-known hits the crowd was singing along and excitedly dancing about in and outside the tent.

I’m not really a fan of the whole barged about in a crowd experience in my old age so I departed the area after his set even though there were other rappers I wouldn’t have minded seeing after. This however did lead me to discover the delights of the final stage which was in the Pepsi Max tent where Tim Westwood was playing out hip hop classics and getting the crowd going in between acts there.

Wiz Khalifa took to the main stage just as the sun began to shine and played a really professional set with a great relaxed vibe. I have to say I’ve seen Khalifa perform on a couple of occasions before and find that he is under rated as a live performer. He jams as many hits into his set as possible with the right mix and only ever encourages the crowd when he does talk.

The crowd immediately took to him and one of the highlights that had people swaying along was one of his more pop infused hits with Bruno Mars ‘Young, Wild, and Free.’ He ended his set with an uplifting positive speech saying ‘I love seeing you guys’s smiling faces… The younger generation out here supporting each other and lifting each other up.’

The festival site in general had a really varied and ample selection of food to choose from, which made it easy for people to grab something to eat in between acts.

With the grey skies and clouds returning the rain just about held off as Rudimental took to the main stage in a powerful explosion of instruments, energy, happiness and big personalities.

As always they delivered a set that had the festival dancing and jumping about along with them with John Newman, and Ella Eyre looking stunning in a colourful catsuit, appearing to perform their tracks with the band.

Kanye West was headlining for the second night in a row due to Drake being ill and after what I had been through the night before with his self-obsessed rant I decided to miss out on seeing his performance again.

Half an hour after his set had started and I had left the site I logged on to social media to see a Facebook picture of people walking from the site with the caption ‘People leaving early through Kanye West’s rant’ and a tweet ‘Kanye West is a c**t’, which I think quite simply sums up what we were all thinking to be honest.

review by: Fiona Madden

photos by: Fiona Madden