Gig Review: Wireless Festival, 14th July - Jay-Z & Justin Timberlake, A Tribe Called Quest, Magnetic Man & more ✭✭✭✭✭
Wireless Festival
Saturday 14th July
What a weekend it has been. The organisers
have pulled out all the stops to make this one of the best years yet, even
though a few were worried about the change of location; as Hyde Park is more
central, but with the amount of tickets sold the bigger location was definitely
needed. This weekend couldn't have been better, perfect weather, great live
music and good company. Finishing off the weekend was a great line up, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Magnetic Man, Katy B and
headliners Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake.
Magnetic Man was performing on the Pepsi Max
Stage, due to technical difficulties and the weather being so hot they were
having trouble with sound. Once they hit the stage they didn't really have a
lot of time left. It took a while for them to get going. Once they dropped some
of the well known tracks the crowd were pumping. The crowd loved it when they
dropped “I Need Air” it also meant the end of their set. I got to see some of
the people walking out of the tent, covered in sweat and enjoying every bit of the day.
We had another hip hop royalty on the main
stage in the form of Nas, he bought the sound of New York to East London. With
a bass thumping performance the crowd were loving it, even in temperatures over
30 degrees there were no signs of the audience flagging, with the hardcore fans
following every word and everyone else bouncing, jigging and head nodding to
the bass-heavy beats and distinctive rap sound. With one classic tune after he
included to his set “Hate Me Now”, “Daughters” (personal favourite), “Street
Dreams”, “Life’s A Bitch”, “Made You Look”, and so many more. Nas didn't need
anyone else to come and help him on stage, however he did take the opportunity
to make a tribute to Amy Winehouse, with the song “Cherry Wine” which they
collaborated on – he reached out to fans saying “R.I.P. Amy, I see you baby”.
Hip Hop royalty and he proved it with his performance. 
Bringing a touch of old school hip hop were
A Tribe Called Quest, a reunion of Q-Tip,
Phife Dawg, Jarobi and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, they haven’t performed in the
UK for 20 years, and they also dedicated their performance to Trayvon Martin (a recent teenager who was shot down in America and the killer was cleared of murder).
Q-Tip spoke “I don’t want to be a downer but yesterday (Saturday) in America,
we a miscarriage of justice,” “it’s not the first time this has happened. Pray
for us… we need help” he added. They performed “Bonita Applebum”, “Scenario”, “Award
Tour” and finished the whole set off with “Can I Kick It”. They had the whole
audience loving the old school beats; the audience were in a great mood and
clearly loved being taken back to when hip hop was good. Great performance and
it was great to see them all on stage, never thought I’d get to see them live.
Timberlake and Jay-Z, who already headlined
on previous nights, took to the stage together, billed as Legends Of The
Summer, it gave festival goers a chance to see the north American stadium tour
of the same name. Looks like north America are in for some good times. They hit
the night off with their single Holy Grail, their set lasted for two-and-a-half
hours and it was a combination of their solo hits and a mash-up of their
popular tracks as well as their other collaboration “Suit and Tie”, which is
what ended the night.
During the performance of “Run This Town”
the crowd went crazy, we heard her voice first and then she took to the stage –
the only other guest that JT and Jay-Z had on stage, Rihanna.
We
got to listen to so many songs, unfortunately at some points it was lagging a
little, it might have been because it had been a long weekend and everyone had
been standing for so long. But you can’t help but love seeing Jay-Z and JT
live, regardless of how much your feet hurt.
Most
of the songs performed were the same from Friday and Saturday. JT performed “Señorita”,
“Cry Me A River”, “Like I Love You”, “Tunnel Vision”, the new single “Take Back
The Night” and “Futuresex/lovesounds”. Jay-Z performed his well-known tracks, “99
Problems, “03 Bonnie & Clyde”, “Jigga What”. Both artists in their own
right are music royalty and both clearly had enjoyed the night and the whole
weekend.
The whole weekend of Wireless was great, a
massive thank you to all the organisers. Can’t wait till next year.
