More about: Wireless Festival

There’s no festival quite like Wireless. Attracting some 50,000 fans to North London over a scorching July weekend to witness some of the world’s biggest names in music, it’s so popular that it necessitates a total rewiring of local transport links in order to safely proceed.

Ask anyone who’s attended, though, and they’ll tell you it’s well worth the council moving mountains to make it happen; organised by events giant Live Nation, whose contact book and industry savvy are unparalleled, the festival has been known to facilitate some real pinch-me moments over the years, and this one was characteristically chock-full of unforgettable performances.

Simultaneously boosting the local economy and disrupting residents, Wireless has received considerable scrutiny in recent years. The festival has become increasingly inhabited by an overbearing police presence, an arguably disproportionate response to an uptick in fans scaling the giant walls to enter. In an effort to make peace with their detractors, the organisers have offered subsidised tickets to locals through a residents’ scheme since the festival’s early days as a rock and pop festival; in 2022, they also commissioned an enquiry into reports that nearby buildings were vibrating as a result of the sound, concluding that this phenomenon only occurred in top-floor flats and for mere seconds at a time. Today, the festival is still deemed a net positive by local politicians, and this year marked the start of a new five-year deal between Festival Republic and Haringey Council, allowing them to continue to operate out of their spiritual home of Finsbury Park until 2027.

This summer, each day of programming had its own distinct identity. Friday, headlined by divisive rapper and Opium Records founder Playboi Carti, was one for the ragers, as he and his label mates spread their rock-infused hyper-rap far and wide on the same day that Ice Spice and Yeat both made historic UK debuts. Saturday had more of an assorted offering: frequent headliner Travis Scott brought along a firework-fuelled revision of the show seen at the O2 Arena last summer, Lil Yachty road-tested highlights from his psychedelic album Let’s Start Here alongside his more familiar trap catalogue, and Headie One wheeled out Martin’s sofa as he recited bars old and new. Sunday, meanwhile, felt tailored towards the ladies, with Jamaican gyalists Dexta Daps and Popcaan’s unfiltered expressions of love and lust teeing up the singalong moments to come from co-headliners 50 Cent and D-Block Europe.

With artists flying in amidst international tours for a festival of such proportions, sometimes they can make the impossible possible, and at other times the logistics can go haywire. When it was announced that stateside favourites Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Durk, two of the biggest names on the lineup, would no longer be performing, the rumour mill went into overdrive as beady-eyed fans excitedly floated theories about who might get the call-up instead: Dr. Dre had been spotted on social media spending time in London with 50, while former headliner Tyler, the Creator even stepped foot in the park, chilling with Lil Yachty backstage. The billboards for J Hus’s upcoming tour looked suspiciously prominent. And Drake has made a habit of appearing unannounced at Wireless during other artists’ sets; would he do it again?

Those particular theories didn’t hold, but Live Nation ensured there was no shortage of jaw-dropping moments. Unannounced guests across the three days included Bath-born singer PinkPantheress, who joined Ice Spice for a euphoric rendition of their platinum-certified collaboration ‘Boy’s a liar, pt. 2’; St. Kitts’ Byron Messia, who took the reins from Popcaan with a stellar performance of today’s biggest dancehall anthem ‘Talibans’; and global superstar Future, who emerged from the wings at the end of Metro Boomin’s whistle-stop tour through self-produced hits, treating awe-struck festival-goers to live renditions of ‘Thought It Was a Drought’, ‘Superhero’ and ‘Mask Off’. In true Wireless fashion, the total number of guest appearances was countless; to name a few others, viral ‘Pound Town’ rapper Sexyy Red was spotlighted by both Lancey Foux and Travis Scott on different days, New York drill innovator Fivio Foreign joined Lil Tjay for multiple songs in homage to the late, great Pop Smoke, and Beyoncé-approved UK R&B trio FLO brought out Bellah to perform their sublime new collaboration ‘Suite Life (Familiar)’.

UK rap celebrated small victories over the course of the weekend, too. It often proved rewarding to venture out to the Amazon Music +44 stage, tucked around the corner from the main event, as they championed homegrown talent. Stamford Hill rapper Clavish’s set went down a treat; opening with the richly descriptive title track from his debut mixtape Rap Game Awful, the Polydor poster boy proceeded to up the ante with several UK drill songs, earning three wheel-ups for ‘Public Figure’ as his followers moshed with reckless abandon. The following day, multi-talented rapper and singer Dréya Mac – who got her big break with the viral TikTok hit ‘Own Brand Freestyle’ but seems destined for a long and fulfilling career – impressed on the same stage, pulling a commendable crowd despite performing at the same time as Dexta Daps. Oozing with charisma as she introduced each track, the audience was more than happy to oblige with her repeated appeals for their participation, which she at one point jokingly likened to “music GCSE”. Hearing her perform the intro to her new single ‘Better Off’ virtually a cappella, soundtracked only by hundreds of unified clicking fingers, was one of the most moving moments of the whole festival.

"If there’s one thing that Wireless needs to work on, it’s their continued sidelining of talented female performers"

If there’s one thing that Wireless needs to work on, it’s their continued sidelining of talented female performers while they shamelessly platform artists with histories of gender-based violence. It takes a certain level of cognitive dissonance to host a Safe Gigs for Women information point at the same event where you’ve booked an artist charged with strangling his pregnant girlfriend as a headliner. But the curators, like their audience, seem to have no trouble separating the art from the artist, and Carti does have some bangers, doesn’t he? Tens of thousands of people were loving it, unbothered and/or unaware of any controversy attached to his name. He spelled it out as plain as day – proudly, even – on songs like ‘R.I.P’, as fans excitedly chanted back every word. Meanwhile, globally successful women were consigned to the comparatively miniscule +44 stage: Latto, clashing with Lancey Foux. Lola Brooke, clashing with Ice Spice, the only female rapper on the main stage. GloRilla, clashing with Lil Tjay. It’s an uncomfortable dynamic; a vibe killer that many conveniently overlook. But in the cold light of day, this imbalance needs addressing.

Wireless has still got the magic aura that it always did. Watching Future appear out of nowhere to perform some modern classics alongside the man who produced them will go down in history as one of the festival’s finest hours. Their commitment to bringing together international acts who you’d otherwise have to see individually on arena tours makes it an exceptional use of time and money, and Finsbury Park continues to be a dream location in the eyes of everyone who doesn’t live within a stone’s throw of the site. There’s just one elephant in the room, a point which we ironically hear Dave make repeatedly over the course of the weekend as ‘Sprinter’ gets played in every interval: “Fire for a wife beater / Can’t rock with that”. Tickets for Wireless Festival 2024 are now on sale. With the lineup yet to be announced, let’s hope they get it right next time.

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More about: Wireless Festival