By Kayah Hazell
Wireless 2019 has taught me that festivals are really NOT for the faint hearted! I managed 2 days out of the 3 day weekend which took place in Finsbury Park, London. The urban music festival boasts the likes of Drake, Kanye West and DJ Khaled as previous headliners.
After a very long coach journey, I arrived at Finsbury Park tube station shortly after midday and was met by a sea of neon outfits navigating their way up Seven Sisters Road to the festival entrance. We made our way to the Pepsi Max stage. The smaller stage of the two, which focused mostly on the most sought after UK artists including Jay 1, Bugzy Malone and IAMDDB. Afroswing mega group NSG pulled in an impressive crowd and and us all OT bopping in perfect unison.
Migos and Cardi B ended the first day’s festivities with their energetic back to back sets. Quavo, Offset and Takeoff commanded the stage and had the whole crowd screaming their famous ad-libs for every track. Their set included impressive artwork, fireworks and a ridiculous amount of confetti. Most ladies in the crowd held their breath in hope of Cardi making an appearance to perform her verses on her collaboration with Migos, but it was clear Cardi wanted to let her husband and his bandmates have their own shine.
Cardi B closed the show in true Cardi fashion, twerking, story times and a whole lot of 18+ profanity. She brought out Lil Nas X of ‘Old Town Road’ fame to perform his Billboard number 1 hit, as well as their new track together ‘Rodeo’. It wasn’t long until Cardi was tired of her pristine outfit, she poured a whole bottle of water over herself to cool down, pulled her own wig off and threw it into the crowd like a frisbee, and in attempt to regain some comfort, she pulled one of her Neon orange boots off. Despite performing in less than half of the outfit she came on stage with, she kept up the same energy levels until the end. Even if it did affect her asthma.
On day 2 there was much speculation about who would be taking the place of Lil Uzi Vert and A$AP rocky, but nothing was confirmed. We gather at the main stage, the screens went dark, before none other than Skepta ran out. The crowd went mental in disbelief! He performed tracks from his latest album ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’ and invited fellow London Artist Lancey Foux on stage to perform ‘Animal Instinct’ for the first time.
The surprises just kept coming. Future’s highly anticipated set followed, where he cosigned his favourite UK artists by bringing them out perform their most famous tracks. The likes of D Block Europe, Nafe Smalls, Krept and Konan, Dig Dat, MoStack and NSG joined the Atlanta rapper on stage. Future even roped in a member of the security staff to come on stage with him and teach him some of the latest dance crazes.
The last performer of my weekend was Travis Scott. He brought Astroworld to Finsbury Park and had the crowd losing their minds for a whole hour! He performed hit after hit and the torrential downpour of rain didn’t stop anyone from having a good time. There were no special guests on stage, but that was expected as Travis has previously been known for being very vocal about having the entire stage to himself. He ended the show with Sicko Mode ft Drake, as the rain got heavier, the mosh pits got wilder. There was no way to escape being caught in one, but at this point in the night, I don’t think anyone cared! Even though my feet are still recovering, this was definitely the best festival I’ve been to so far! Roll on Wireless 2020!
Photos credited to Penny Nakan and Wireless Festival
