Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Quick Review: Wireless Festival 2010 - Super Sunday




After Glastonbury, Wireless Festival is always next on our ‘Must Go To’ event list at the beginning of the year and 2010’s didn’t disappoint… long-arse review by Danny Walker. Pictures by Jessica Gilbert. Video by the RWD Office Cam


With Pink, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z headlining Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, Wireless organisers had once again been on-point with main acts. Last year Basement Jaxx and Kanye West got temperatures raised and last weekend, thanks to the ridiculous temperature, it didn’t take much for collars to be sweating. With Pink and Snoop headlining on days that we didn’t attend we’re going to focus on what we thought was the weekend’s best day… Sunday.



Despite Drake pulling out, the whole office wanted to go to what we renamed ‘Super Sunday’ and after dodging the sweaty ticket terrorists on the outskirts of Hyde Park, we sidestepped the MASSIVE queue and strolled in via the press entrance. Thank God for being press. On our arrival J.Cole was in the Pepsi tent, we instantly heard his arrival; “For those who don’t know who the f**k I am, I go by the name of J.Cole!!!” The response to his presence in the UK was overwhelming considering his output has been virtually non-existent over here. Reeling off tracks like Lights Please and his ruthless rendition of A Star Is Born he was easily one of the reasons this year’s fest was a classic. More J.Cole please.

Meanwhile it was time for the UK to do their thing and on the mainstage were the collective we like to call Roll Deep. Mainly because that is their name. Wiley was actually on stage and alongside, Flow Dan, Breeze and the team they spat out singles like nobody’s business, to a blisteringly hot reception might we add. Their forthcoming single, Green Light, went down well but Good Times (aided by a jovial Jodie Conner) was easily the deepest in which they rolled.

Whilst passing through backstage the RWD Office Cam caught up with Bluey Robinson, Fugative and our boy Devlin.



After the quick stint in the press area – sorry, but we weren’t there to do actual work – it was off again to the music. Time for Professor Green to reignite the Pepsi Stage. He did just that. Starting his set with Hard Night Out and Kids That Love To Dance (the latter is taken off his impending album Alive Till I’m Dead) he let loose a few anthems; Just Be Good To Green, rock-riddled Oh My God [produced by Labrinth] and of course I Need You Tonight. The highlight of the shortened set was when he was joined by Maverick Sabre to perform Jungle (another track from his debut LP). If you haven’t heard Jungle, it’s a massive bloody track and seems as though it was made for big speakers. Wireless’ were big. The True Tiger produced dubstep tones reverberated through the crowd and it went off!!! Green left the stage asking if he’d brought a “vibe”… [insert your own R.Kelly reference here].



Tinie ‘would you risk it for a chocolate biscuit’ Tempah (how many times did he reload Pass Out?!?! It was crazy), Chipmunk, Lily Allen (another nip slip, we thinks) and Friendly Fires were then perfect appetizers for the main event…

But not before a long-arse wait…

And then a countdown… and then…

Jay-Z!!!

Dressed in ‘All black everything’ Jay-Z took to the stage like a man possessed, we feel he was determined to put on a good show, from the off. Run This Town, On The The Next One were fired out in quick succession and he soon found himself shouting Death to Autotune. Which still hasn’t died by the way… they’re still T-Paining too much. Jay was soon joined by friend, protégé and Roc Nation signee Memphis Bleek and the party atmosphere raised about three notches. This coincided with personal favourite and one of the tracks of the day, 99 Problems. There was something about that track that had guys linking arms, girls shouting the lyrics as loud as they could and everyone throwing their diamonds ups. Anyhow, after an impromptu medley consisting of the Prodigy’s Breathe and the House of Pain’s Jump we soon found our ears on familiar ground; Can I Get ­– minus Ja Rule of course, on that note, where is Ja Rule? – I Just Wanna Love You and the amazing Interlude from The Black Album.




It was obvious that Jay-Z wanted this musical lesson to be as accessible as possible and soon drew for Empire State of Mind, Dirt Off Your Shoulders and brought out an appreciative J.Cole for A Star Is Born. Another big part of the set. For those who don’t know he performed Izzo and for the backback audience he unleashed Run-DMC sampling Jockin’ Jay-Z (Dopeboy Fresh). He then ended this section of his Wireless Festival set with Show Me What You Got and the appropriate Thank You from Blueprint 3. “Thank you thank you thank you… You’re far too kind. Hold your applause this is your song not mine.” Quality!!!

Between all of the above, Jay joked/ conversed with the crowd, saying that ‘he loved’ London and dropped the odd furious freestyle and old-verse. He seemed to revel in our appreciation of his flow and the fact that we know he can still (kinda) keep up with the fastest spitters in the game. Or maybe it was the fact that Beyoncé was apparently backstage so she’d obviously got him ‘relaxed’ for the show.

Anyway after the fake ending – like he was gonna leave Hyde Park alive without doing Encore – he asked the crowd to “shout out a song” and then he asked his band to “just play something real quick” when he couldn’t hear anything clearly. During this time he hastily worked his way through 03’ Bonnie and Clyde (was it us or did everyone think B’ was gonna come out?), Girls Girls Girls and another crowd-pleasing anthem, Big Pimpin’. The actual end of the weekend comprised of Jay-Z throwing out merchandise – via a comical confusion with the security guard “Hello, hellooooo… give that to them? Jesus Christ!!!” – him getting everyone to throw peace signs up for Notorious BIG, Big L, Pimp C, Aaliyah, Tupac and another fallen musicians before a sing-a-long to Hard Knock Life. The final moments involved a ‘we’ve come a long way’ Barack Obama big up and then a crutch-needy Mr Hudson limping out on stage, “now that is commitment, right there,” said Jigga as they performed Young Forever. As the lighters lit up the park it was the perfect setting to drop the last tune of the night. And what a tune… Encore. Did we want more? Yes. Brilliant day.

A good time was had by all!!!

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