Friday 6th July 2012: Day One @ Wireless Festival 2012, Hyde Park, London.
Back for an eighth triumphant year, Wireless Festival 2012 offered arguably its most pop-tastic line-up yet with megastars Drake, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj amongst its glittering attractions. On the Friday though it was all about the exciting array of big beats, bass lines and giant rodent helmets, where an animated audience was bubbling with eager anticipation for the day ahead. The weather was serotonin-sappingly dismal but it didn’t dampen the colourful crowd’s determination to kick it out to some of the biggest artists about.
An early highlight, Modestep rocked out in the early afternoon drizzle serving up their deliciously abrasive blend of crunching instruments and dubby beats. Seeing them perform onstage with their live guitars and drums whilst absorbing the impact of dirty dubstep was a lot more engaging than simply watching a solo DJ. A storming rendition of ‘The Sunshine Hurts My eyes’ was a notable zenith that worked up their hardcore fans packed in at the front into oblivion.
Duly pumped up, we meandered over to the Main Stage to imbibe the delectable, soulful tones of the unassuming-looking Maverick Sabre. Clearly grateful that we’d all braved the bad weather, the sun even poked its head out during ‘I Need’ uplifting everyone’s spirits. Maverick’s smooth and melancholic vocals suited the climate, and made his songs even more powerful.
Across from the main stage the Unwind tent hosted exciting DJ’s like Gemini, who had uncountable gunfingers waving in the air as muddy applause splattered about the dancefloor. It was a bit like playing hopscotch at times as I tried to save my socks from a soaking. Gemini mixed four-to-the-floor house underneath wobbling bass lines, which were as filthy as the bottom of my jeans.
Sticking around for Ms. Dynamite and unsure of what to expect, it was soon clear her throbbing bass sounds wasn’t going to disappoint the audience, with the ladies in particular going crazy. Garage beats with the occasional drum and bass number went down a treat. No one seemed to care about the mud as we all skanked the afternoon away to classics like ‘Wile Out’.
Later on Philadelphia’s hip-hop collective The Roots performed on the main stage, to a surprisingly small audience. Poignantly dedicating a tune to the recently deceased MCA of the Beastie Boys, their commanding MC Black Thought spat out old school rhymes over funky grooves that practically dragged you to your feet and forced you to dance. The Roots’ sousaphone player swaggered around the stage beating out his brass blasts and coming right up amongst the audience. The highlight was a guitar solo sung by the Brooklyn maestro as he plucked it from his strings. Covering Apache’s ‘Jump on it’ and even ‘Sweet Child of Mine’, The Roots were one unique act determined to put on a memorable show. And they succeeded emphatically.
As night fell it was over to the Main Stage where mouse-headed superstar DJ Deadmau5 entered to an almost heroic reception. Joel Zimmerman’s squelchy, trademark beats on tunes like ‘Get In The Cart, Pig’ and a pounding ‘Raise Your Weapon’ got his faithful excited but he never satisfyingly climaxed or took us into truly transcendental realms. His undeniable strength, however, was his awe-inspiring visuals: electronic Tetris blocks were fixed around the stage and lighting up with psychedelic and retro-game inspired displays. His helmet lit up to show a cats face, and the infamous ‘V for Vendetta’ mask at one point, before he removed it to swagger about the stage. A triumph of aesthetics over music, then but a beguiling experience nonetheless.
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