In partnership with Wide Awake Festival
The sun is tentatively putting its hat on at long last. With festival season now in full swing, the May Bank Holiday weekend saw Wide Awake take over south London’s Brockwell park for a day jam-packed with alternative music.
As well as welcoming left-field pop figurehead Caroline Polachek to her first-ever festival headline slot, Wide Awake hosted rising acts such as Jockstrap, Shygirl, Blondshell, and Los Bitchos alongside big names on the dance scene like Joy Orbison, Oneohtrix Point Never and Daniel Avery, and a few experimental new discoveries along the way.
NME headed down to bask in the bliss of the hottest day of the year so far – here’s how it all unfolded.
With Wide Awake rapidly heating up, punters began pouring into Brockwell Park for the hottest day of 2023 (so far)
Blondshell brought her whip-smart take on grunge to an early afternoon slot
While Jockstrap’s heavily skewed interpretation of pop packed out the Moth Club stage
Los Bitchos’ psych-laden take on surf-rock also went down a treat
By the time Viagra Boys came around, the mood began to reach fever pitch
Things quickly took a rowdy turn, with the crowd transforming into a swirling moshpit for ‘Sports’
And as the intense set continued, the energy didn’t relent
Shygirl’s triumphant twilight set then paved the way for headliner Caroline Polachek, ending with a burst of confetti
No really, there was enough confetti to fill up the entirety of Brockwell Park
Bringing this year’s ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’ to south London, Polachek was spellbinding
Her first-ever headline set was mesmerising from start to finish, and a flawless end to the day