Pioneering hip-hop star Kanye West touched down in London’s Hyde Park to cap off day two of what turned out to be a very, very sunny Wireless Festival.
Sunday’s line up boasted a wide array of urban acts and the likes of Kid Cudi, Mr Hudson, Alesha Dixon failed to disappoint as opening acts with N-Dubz earning plaudits for their live performance. Proving that you don’t necessarily need to have a line-up of indie bands in order to draw the masses.
The day started off Young Jeezy taking the reigns on the main stage. The Atlanta based rapper really worked the crowd even though the majority clearly only knew him from his feature on Usher’s ‘Love in this Club’ track. Which he duly performed along with other tracks but the biggest crowd pleaser was ‘Put On’ substituting ‘London’ for ‘Atlanta’ at different points in the song. Jeezy also was one of the many artists on the day that paid tribute to Michael Jackson, dropping the likes of ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘I want you back’ midway through his set.
Whilst having a wander backstage I noticed siblings Mark & Samantha Ronson were taking full advantage of the free bar at Kiss FM’s tent and the day’s other artists were sunning themselves in the lounge areas cocktails in hand.
Tinchy Stryder was the pick of the acts from the second stage aka ‘the oven’ and with such an unexpectedly high following of eager and responsive supporters; could easily have performed to on the main stage. The second stage became renowned for its nickname due to constantly being over-capacity and its tent surrounding caused temperatures to soar with the sun baking those inside throughout the day.
Q-Tip successfully worked the crowd into a frenzy as the final act before Kanye, dropping bangers from his ‘A Tribe Called Quest’ days mixing in his current offering ‘The Renaissance’. With many festival punters arguing that he and not Kanye; was in fact the highlight of the day.
As Q-Tip left the stage it became more and more intriguing what would emerge as the crowds gathered from other areas viewed the construction of a set bordered by jagged gold plates that looked more like the cavity of a canary diamond. The appearance of Kanye West against a kaleidoscopic LED screen behind made for a spectacle to behold. Tribal drums and the auto-tuned tracks of ‘808s & Heartbreak’ added to the other-worldly feel of the performance.
Although the newer songs had a quiet intensity to them, they were never really suited to the festival environment. ‘Say You Will’ and ‘See You In My Nightmares’ seemed to drag and the crowd evidently feigned interest, it was the songs built around samples such as ‘Gold Digger’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, and ‘Through The Wire’ are what really got everyone going. Offerings from his debut album ‘The College Dropout’ definitely accelerated the evening and it became clear that it was what everyone came to see Kanye perform. At one point, gold fragments were released casting an eerie glow in the air, and the bizarre appearance of 5 gold painted naked female dancers just added to the spectacle.
In closing I have to say that Kanye’s show was a sight to behold and left fans hanging on for an encore which never came. Oddly enough there was no tribute to the King of Pop from Kanye, perhaps he thought his king-sized ego was enough for the evening already.
By Aymen Omar Ahmed
