The 10th Wireless Festival just passed this weekend, a one-off show to mark its 10th year anniversary, with the main show coming next week, and if you’re going to take anything valuable from it, make a note that Grime is here to stay, if that wasn’t clear already.Yes, Drake tore things up, making amends for cancelling his 2014 London show and destroying the main stage, dropping banger after banger after banger (It would be hard for him not to drop a fire track considering he’s had 12 #1’s on the Billboard Hip Hop & R&B Charts). Drake opened and closed with ‘Legend’, his banger from If You’re Reading This Its Too Late, making for a legendary moment when he walked off to 50,000 fans screaming ”Oh my God, if I die I’m a motherfucking legend”. So yeah you could say for Drake alone, Wireless 10 was a success, because his set was powerful.
But we expected that. Powerful is when artists who receive little radio or television plays come to a known festival and continue to kick off any mainstream doors in their way, as the grime scene did this past weekend. Even if you don’t like grime/UK rap/whatever name you wish to give to UK rappers, it’s only due to get bigger and bigger, and Wireless 10 was testament to that.
Boy Better Know locked off the Pepsi Max stage, sending fans into a frenzy throughout and also bringing out Giggs (Man Don’t Care) and Meridian Dan (German Whip). Skepta was also there, packing out 2 tents worth of people into one, and he also tore stuff up. Mosh pits were in full swing and the energy these artists bring to their performances can’t really be matched. I take the view that a lot of grime artists face more obstacles than your traditional popstar or rockstar, so when they get a chance to tear up a stage like Wireless, you better believe they’re gonna take it, and then some.
On the main stage, Rita Ora brought out Krept & Konan for ‘Freak of the Week’, while Lethal B came on through Katy B’s set to perform ‘Fester Skank. Section Boyz, J Hus, Yungen, Sneakbo & Bugzy Malone were there too, putting in strong performances, and generally speaking, the grime artists tore up Wireless 10, so much so, it’s surely only a matter of time before a grime act headlines a festival… #Shutdown.
Excited for the real thing next week? Look out for the following artists next week:
Krept & Konan, Lethal Bizzle, Little Simz, Stormzy, Wretch 32, George the Poet
Words: Ajay Rose – @Ajay_Rose
