What went down at Skepta’s first Big Smoke Festival

If anyone can draw the crowds out to south London in spite of unseasonably wet British summer weather, it’s Skepta. Taking over Crystal Palace Park this past Saturday, his inaugural Big Smoke Festival had fans flocking from all corners of the eponymous city and beyond to see the grime legend DJ and perform live alongside a line-up including the likes of The Streets, Jme, YG Marley, Mahalia, Lancey and more.

Instrumental in the genre going global and pushing the parameters of his own creative output over the last decade to include painting and even, most recently, filmmaking, Big Smoke Festival felt like a culmination of these efforts to offer more than just music to the audience that’s been with him since the inception of Boy Better Know. Between DJ sets from the Más Tiempo stage, time carved out for the football, Black eats food vendors, Puma merch collaborations and more, it’s clear Big Smoke knows how to put on a motive – here’s what went down.

IT WAS A FRIENDS & FAMILY SHUT DOWN

Community has always been at the core of Skepta’s scene, and the Big Smoke line-up was a who’s who of old friends and fresh new talent co-signed by the star. Brother and fellow BBK founder Jme delivered his own material earlier in the day (wearing a “grime is dead” top) before joining Skepta to headline, proving “That’s Not Me” can still shut down the crowd ten years after its release. Preceded by a run of classics from Mike Skinner’s The Streets, this was a history lesson in how each of these acts have helped to shape “the sound of British urban music, cementing its identity, embracing rather than disguising its nationality”, and how this has evolved from pirate radio to infiltrating the mainstream over the years. So much so that even mums enjoyed Skepta and Nafe Smallz’ heist hit “Greaze Mode” in a crowd that also included former Dazed cover star Corteiz’s Clint and Iris Law.

YG MARLEY BROUGHT OUT THE SUN 

While the UK definitely knows how to rave through the rain, the weather didn’t put a dampener on the whole day. Notably, the clouds parted for the timely voice of Bob Marley singing “They say the sun shines for all,” on the sample that opens grandson YG Marley’s viral track, “Praise Jah In The Moonlight”. The climax of a rousing reggae set – Marley’s first in the UK – that paid tribute to his grandfather’s legacy and included the as-yet-unreleased “Marching To Freedom” track he performed at one of his mum Lauryn Hill’s shows, the young Marley tapped into an undercurrent of summertime optimism that came into full flow by the time Skepta hit us with the summer 2018 anthem, “Energy (Stay Far Away)”.

THERE WAS EVEN TIME FOR THE FOOTBALL 

Where were you when England won on penalties this weekend? Whether in the air, at Wimbledon, or watching in a field as the game was screened on the Big Smoke Festival main stage it seemed like everyone was watching with baited breath as we wondered if the trauma of last Euros penalties would repeat itself. Something about the building realisation that it might actually come home when we managed to break the cycle was hard not to get swept away by in the celebratory crowd – even as someone whose main interest in the tournament had been the return of the WAGs. Sure the extra time might have eaten into some set times, but the rush of winning and rare patriotic feeling definitely heightened the acts that followed.

MÁS TIEMPO KEPT THE PARTY GOING

Named for the 2023 project that returned Skepta to his DJing roots (he actually started out as a DJ for Jme), the Más Tiempo stage made its debut with a roster including Uncle Waffles, Syreeta, BBK alum Jammer and more. Though the collective have performed at stages in Ibiza and at Glastonbury before, there’s nothing like a home crowd. Blending amapiano and house influences and even featuring Skepta himself paying tribute to fellow north Londoner Amy Winehouse with his remix of “Tears Dry On Their Own” – the Más Tiempo stage kept the vibes going throughout the day.

THIS WAS JUST THE BEGINNING 

“You lot still support, you still follow the wave,” he acknowledged while thanking the audience near the end of his performance for their loyalty – some of them “the same faces that’s been supporting us [since] we were MCing in clubs with 200 people in there.” Be it painting, films based around his own original Black James Bond type character, or DJing – Skepta’s fans are willing to follow him through it all in his pursuit of post-rap ambitions to give back in different ways to the community they built. “Our first festival of many,” the rapper promised in an Instagram post recapping the day, “we will have our debrief this week to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly but you can be sure we will be back next year.”