Take the world’s leading rock and dance acts; layer upon a base of iconic parkland in central London, and top with picture perfect summer weather. The result is O2’s Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. And, with the option to buy tickets to any of the four days, punters can dip in and out of festival territory to their heart’s content.
The calibre of acts this year was exceptional. Queens of the Stone Age, Air and the White Stripes headlined Day 1, with a support line-up numbering in the dozens. Day 2 saw more of an electronic bent with Faithless at top billing; “it boy” Mark Ronson, Pharoahe Monch, Amp Fiddler, Badly Drawn Boy, Gotan Project and Aussie lads Cat Empire in support. Unfortunately I was still en route to the UK and landed at Heathrow on the cusp of Day 3. After dumping luggage and knocking back a quick reviving cuppa we headed straight to the nearest tube station just in the knick of time to catch CSS, LCD Soundsystem and the almighty Daft Punk, regrettably missing Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, New Young Pony Club, Klaxons, Shy Child, Soho Dolls and countless more talent!
After leaving Sydney in a state of torrential rain – bordering on Noah’s Ark standards – and having only seen the inside of an economy-class cabin and airport duty-free stores for longer than one should reasonably expect, it seemed that the good folks at City of London had arranged an artist’s rendition of the ideal blue sky to be installed overhead. Lazy but perfectly fluffy white clouds idling across the finest blue; the sun was radiating a most fantastic spell, confirming that London is indeed the centre of the universe. Rule Britannia!
Thankfully, the Red Bull cocktails were running freely – a necessary and rather tasty crutch after 24 hours in transit. CSS’s high energy set was met with equal measures of enthusiasm from a rapturous crowd. Resplendent in her trademark spangly jumpsuit (I want one! I want one!), Lovefoxxx took it up a notch with a cover of L7’s ‘Pretend We’re Dead’, a song I had forgotten I love so much. It was executed to perfection and prompted many spontaneous outbursts of singing for days after, much to the chagrin of anyone in earshot.
A quick tour of the site led me to a number of positive conclusions about the English and festivals…
English Festivals 101
Ample space per head + lush grassy base = pleasant summer lounging (and not too far from the various stages). In addition, having a clever beer sponsor means that a natty holder to nestle 4 cups whilst en route from the bar – it can be carried in one hand freeing up the other hand for phone calls, smoking (of which there was surprisingly little) or simply counter-balancing and manoeuvring. It really did minimise the risk of random sploshing of patrons. How civilised!
The average punter age was that of an Aussie festival punter + 5-7 years, which – overall – resulted in a more chilled vibe, more diversity in the fashions on show, and a greater degree of festival etiquette (sorry to the 18-22 year olds out there with a keen sense of decorum, I admit I’m generalising here… I’m just a bit over the argy bargy I’ve experienced recently at the bigger events I’ve attended!)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
LCD Soundsystem – led by the coolest uncool guy in the world; James Murphy (or was that the uncoolest cool guy? I can never remember) – took to the stage and the hits flowed. I hadn’t seen any of the new album performed live before, and ‘North American Scum’ is every bit as anthemic as you imagine. Literally thousands wailing ‘uh-oh-oh-oh-ooooh we are North Americaaaaaan’, limbs flailing in appreciative arrhythmic dance, smiles a-plenty. If there’d been a roof, ‘Losing My Edge’ would have torn it off and ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ had us bursting with anticipation at the night’s headliners yet to come. Some seemingly minor technical issues brought the set to an abrupt finish but not before the stage had been set for the world’s sexiest robots.
It’s time to Robot Rock
Considering the complexity of Daft Punk’s staging, there was an impressively brief lull between sets; barely enough time for a drink refill. Their reputation precedes them and anything I put into words doesn’t quite do justice to their extraordinary show. The pyramid, the neon, the visuals, the robot suits and shiny, shiny helmets… all the bells and whistles do nothing to distract from their incredible set-list. It’s easy to forget just how many enduring hits this duo has released. I was well overdue for a reminder! A seamless, perfectly produced set from the opening bar to the final strains, which was barely audible over screaming fans, wove its way through the melodic ‘Da Funk’ – the track that started it all – sandwiched with the deliciously abrasive ‘Rollin & Scratchin’ and ‘Superheroes’, in one almighty mega mix. There were so many massive tunes: ‘Around The World’, ‘One More Time’, ‘Face to Face’, ‘Digital Love’, ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’, all accompanied by an unrelenting visual feast that words can’t describe but pictures can (so check out the YouTubes!)
Returning to the Tube, we passed a slightly unnerving number of Bobbies who seemed to only be on hand for crowd control if that had been required, but civility reigned. They could have just as easily been sipping a Pimms and lemonade while playing lawn games.
Here’s some of the finest YouTube evidence from this year’s Wireless Festival in London, with headliners Daft Punk!
