All the people. So many people.
Parklife – the UK’s largest metropolitan music festival – saw 80,000 frenzied festival-goers descend upon Manchester’s Heaton Park for a bumper two-day line up of music across nine stages.
Annie Mac
DJ Annie Mac had soggy hedonists at the Blade Runner-inspired Valley stage bouncing like bad cheques to a banging set on Saturday afternoon.
Little Simz
The London rapper rabble-roused with a megaphone during her outstanding early-doors Saturday Parklife stage turn, which showcased tracks from this year’s acclaimed ‘GREY Area’ album.
Slowthai
Slowthai made great use of the catwalk erected for Christine and the Queens, prowling up and down it with rabid intent. Transforming the Sounds of the Near Future tent into a jacuzzi of flailing limbs, the Brexit bard played tracks from his debut ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, stripped down to his boxers, incitesd chants of ‘Fuck Theresa May!’ and hauled one fan onstage to fill in for Skepta on ‘Inglorious’. “I want fucking carnage!” he demanded. He gets it.
Nas
Celebrating his seminal album ‘Illmatic’ turning 25 this year, Nas demonstrated its enduring influence by dropping cuts such as ‘NY State of Mind’, ‘Life’s a Bitch’ and ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’. Rocking double denim, the rap royal effortlessly stoked a party atmosphere, with an hour-long set that peaked with ‘One Mic’.
Dave
Performing against a backdrop looked like he was Airbnb-ing in Castle Grayskull, Streatham rapper Dave ignited the moshpits with a high-energy set that included ‘100Ms’ and ‘Location’.
Dave seemingly threw subtle shade at Cardi B
Showing the crowd his bandaged ankle, he says: ‘I’m sorry if you see me limping. There’s now way I’d cancel I’d cancel on you guys. I’d do this show on crutches if I had to.” A pointed dig at the missing megastar?
Christine and the Queens
Headlining the Sounds of the Near Future stage, Chris(tine) and the Queens offer a full dazzling arena pop production to an intimate crowd that made her performance feel even more life-affirming. “This show is extra special because I can actually see your faces,” she said as she led her dancers through inventive choreography to the funky likes of ‘Comme si’ and ‘Tilted’. “You can call me Chris now,” she added, referring to the alter-ego she’s adopted for the 2018 album of the same name. “We don’t have time for ‘-tine and the Queens. These are urgent times!”
We Can Be Heroes!
“You guys just make me want to be naked and vulnerable,” she exclaimed, before marshalling a spine-tingling acoustic sing-a-long of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’.
Mark Ronson
“Manchester, if you feel good tonight, make some noise! We’re going to get into some Late Night Feelings,” battle-cried Mark Ronson, before dropping his Lykke Li collab of the same name. Newly promoted to Saturday night headliner status following Cardi B’s last-minute cancellation, he paid tribute to her by dropping ‘Bodak Yellow’ into his DJ set of his armour-clad pop hits including sad-banger ‘Nothing Breaks But A Heart’.
Mabel
Pop powerhouse Mabel unleashed her velvet lungs and chart-seeking missiles like ‘Fine Line’ and ‘Ring Ring’ onto the main stage on Sunday afternoon – and enlisted
Not3s for a run-through of their slinky collab ‘My Lover’. Culminating with the Kojo Funds-assisted ‘Finders Keepers’, she turns a boggy field into a sweaty dance party.
Blossoms
Stockport’s mighty Blossoms were welcomed by billowing purple smoke as flares were let off in the crowd. As a guitar band incongruity on a line-up dominated by beats, Tom Ogden and co inspired cacophonous sing-a-longs to the bulletproof likes of ‘There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)’ and ‘Charlemegne’. C’mon – Blossoms at a festival in Manchester is an easier sell than picnic baskets to Yogi Bear.
Jacob Banks
The soul smoothster took to the Parklife stage early Sunday afternoon to air songs from last year’s ‘Village’ album.
Stefflon Don
“Manchester make some fucking noise!” demanded Stefflon Don as she brought brash, technicolour bravado to a heaving, appreciate Valley stage. Who are they to argue?
Stefflon Don
The Don marshalled her silver-clad dancers through a set that began with ‘Lil Bitch, and culminates in the US Top 10-gatecrashing ‘Hurtin’ Me’.
Cheers, then! Mike Skinner takes to Parklife’s main stage
The Streets
After the cathartic anthem ‘Dry Your Eyes’, he ramped up the energy by scaling the barrier and crowd surfing to the aural-stag-weekend of ‘Fit But You Know It’.
Mura Masa
Going up against The Streets, Mura Masa brought out a retinue of guests, including Slowthai, as the pair embarked on an incendiary run-through of their punk-rap collab ‘Doorman’.
George Ezra
With a face that’s 98 per cent enamel, the ever-smiling George Ezra brought infectious joy to Parklife as he headlined the main stage on Sunday. His set began with an alarm clock and the sampled sound of Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ Greg James introducing him as “the songs of a beautiful man”, before he launched into opener ‘Don’t Matter Now’.
Ezra has a pant-changing moment
He likeable set included ‘Barcelona’, ‘Budapest’ and others that don’t begin with the letter B. A fiesta atmosphere reigned during standout moment ‘Hold My Girl’, as the brass section jammed and pyro exploded. “Full disclosure – I completely forgot those fireworks were going to go off, he laughs. “I nearly shat myself!”
George Ezra
A barnstorming ‘Shotgun’ was met by a field of dancing, his performance drawing to a celebratory close.
Major Lazer
Over in The Valley, Diplo’s Major Lazer dropped a crowd-pleasing set of remixes, which included tracks from Drake and Travis Scott, creating sensory overload with pyro and ticker tape canons. George Ezra must have crapped his vital bodily organs out.
Until next year, Parklife…
It’s been a blast.
