Down at Wireless

Last weekend, Dazed descended on London’s Hyde Park for the Wireless Festival, which brought together an eclectic range of artists from the worlds of hip-hop, pop and dance - a musical offering that balanced huge household names with a decent-sized splattering of the most exciting upcomers today.

The opening day of the festival saw both Childish Gambino and Santigold deliver stunning sets; the latter encouraging the audience to invade the stage and dance alongside her whilst 'Creator' rang out of the speakers. On Saturday, many from the Lil Wayne’s Young Money stable made an appearance at the festival; the soulful grooves of 'The Weeknd' were marked out by many of those who hung out backstage on the G-Shock bus as being a particular highlight. G-Shock went to Wireless as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations, and it was no surprise that their bus became a calling point over the course of the three days; artists such as Modestep, Ms Dynamite, and Theophilus London found time to jump onboard, chill out and familiarise themselves with the latest pieces. Also Nicola Roberts, Frankie Sandford and David Hay dropped by to check out the watches.

Nicki Minaj later brought alive her colourful pop tunes and entertained us all in such a way that the spouts of heavy rain weren't going to put a dampener on anybody's celebrations; only for the singer to again later reappear to duet with headliner Drake on the collaborative number 'Make Me Proud'.

The closing day resulted in much of the crowd’s anticipation centred around Rihanna’s headline performance, but across the four stages there was enough on to guarantee that even the most casual of music fans would have a day to remember. Mid-way through the afternoon, recent Dazed coverstar A$AP Rocky served up a hard hitting performance of off-kilter hip-hop to an engrossed audience while soon after across site, Kreayshawn delivered a high energy set of upbeat gnarly pop that included YouTube hit ‘Gucci Gucci’ on the intimate Unwind stage. Finally it was Jessie J who rolled out the hits over on main stage, before Rihanna closed the festival to the gathered masses of adoring fans.

Check out Casio and Dazed's G-Shock 30th Anniversary Awards, rewarding the best emerging talent in music, fashion, art and sport. You can also submit yourself or a friend for the a special £5,000 "Spirit of Toughness" prize, which will be awarded by the public to the emerging talent who they feel best exemplifies Casio G-Shock’s Spirit of Toughness in displaying extraordinary determination in overcoming career obstacles. Submissions close on 31 August, 2012, and a shortlist will then be voted on by the public.

Text by Nathan Westley
Photos by Joe Nigel Coleman