WIRELESS vs LOVEBOX! - Battle of the Festivals

Battle of the Festivals..

I know both of these festivals took place last month, however I didn't have a blog back then so there is no better time to review them than now!

WIRELESS BABY!

Suit & Tie? :Would have ben nice if they stuck to the dress code of their titled tour..

WIRELESS:

I had never been to a festival until this summer Wireless was the first (14/7/13) at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. I went to the Sunday show, the best line up if you ask me. Not only did I see my one of my favourite female vocals of the moment Jessie Ware ( her album 'Devotion' is my car album, one to listen to when your in traffic defiently! Calm's me down for sure) do her thing, I got to see the what they called 'The Legends of the summer' - Jay Z and Justin Timberlake. Now when the news first broke that these 2 were doing a collaborative 'Suit and Tie' tour together. I wasn't all for it,  I just didn't see the point. Jay Z had just finished WTT with Kanye West and Justin Timberlake was finally back on the scene after what felt like a very long time!.. Anyway I'm going off topic lets just say they proved me very wrong! The red dressed stage set really gave the festival feel especially in the heat! It was simple but it worked. Both Jay-Z and JT sang their classics and new material. I couldn't believe Jay-Z sang rapped 3 songs from most recent album Magna Carta Holy Grail. Justin sang most songs off of the '20/20 experience' as well my favourites from his very first album 'Justified' he performed Like I love You, Senorita and Cry Me A River, it took me back a little to think these tunes were released 11 years ago. I really enjoyed the collaborations amongst them. For Jay-Z's track 'New York' they 2 added a new twist, mixing the song with Justin singing the vocals of Frank Sinatra's New York for the intro and closing of the original which features Alicia Keys. Other collaborations of the night included Rihanna ( who was dancing away like 3 metres in front of me! - yes I was front row, I still don't know how we managed that one) as she perform Run This Town with Jay before the two gentleman closed Wireless Festival 2013 with JT's comeback debut track Suit and Tie. 90's hip hop duo A Tribe Called Quest also smashed it with their set coming back on to the stage after an encore. As for Nas I can't believe the man is 40! He's still got it and was a energetic crowd pleaser taking people back with old tracks like One Mic and If I Ruled The World. A$AP Rocky was another real entertainer, as he shared ASAP Rocky flags to the crowd and got the crowd hype for the rest of the day, as you can imagine the audience went crazy as he finished his set with 'Fxckin Problem'.

Nas

Long.Live.A$AP

LOVEBOX:

The following week was Lovebox Festival at Victoria Park, East London (19/7/13) unlike Wireless I went on the Friday, the first day of the 3 day weekend festival. Within the first 15 minutes inside the festival I felt lost, there were so many tents, stages, bars and a whole lot of variety to choose from when it came to food! Pretty much every very dish in the world had there own food van set up, from Indian to German hotdogs. The first act I saw was Lulu James, I had heard of her but hadn't listen to her music. Her set was soo much fun, really got the crowd going as she through a bottle of water over herself for her last song before Duke Dumont took over for his 4pm slot on the AMP (Annie Mac Present's stage) again another amazing set, its a shame i missed MNEK come on stage to sing his vocals for 'Hold On'. I can no longer remember the name of all the tents however i was happy to be in the tent I was in around 5ish as Julio Bashmore came on to the decks a hour earlier than he was scheduled. So early that when he started mixing Au Seve all I saw was people from all directions of the park, all of a sudden swamp the tent to cut shapes to one of the best house songs in a long time I must say! But it was funny to watch as people were clearly confused at the early appearance. Other acts I saw included Jurassic 5, Disclosure, Azealia Banks and the Headlining act Rudimental ( their album Home - another car album of mine) if I wasn't watching any artists or DJ's perform you were most likely to find me dancing away in the Mama presents bar/tent ( I don't know who was DJing in there but their set was so on point, tune after tune!) I always found it hard to leave in fact my friends had to drag me out every time lol.

Julio Bashmore

 I really admired the fact Lovebox had a fun fair element to it, as we went on the bumper cars and the wave swinger rides more than once before seeing Rudimental who without a doubt one of the best set i've seen. (after some squeezing past a lot of people, and there we were front row again!) the collective also had Sinead Harnett and Becky Hill (both featuring artists on the album - Home) Rudimental really gave it their everything performing nearly every track from the debut album. The atmosphere was euphoric as Becky covered Ella Eyre's vocals for 'Waiting all Night' the crowd enjoyed the festival vibe people were dancing all around me. When they performed 'Not Giving In' the group of guys next to me were soo excited to the point they were pushing each other all over the place.They performed my favourite songs from the album Baby and Spoons before closing with their debut 'Feel the Love' what this collective do is too genius, I can't even explain it apart from in being the best set EVER! 

If i didn't know that people loved Disclosure I learnt it that day! Rudimental finished their set on the main stage at 7:50 and Disclosure's set began at 20:00 on Annie Mac Present's stage which was located after trekking all over Lovebox from 1pm what felt like the other side of Victoria Park as everyone rushed from the main stage to AMP hoping to not  to miss the start of the boy's set. It would have been so convenient for Disclosure to have been on the main stage and i remember questioning it at the time 'why are they not on the main stage?' It's been as big of a year for them as it has been for Rudimental surely? With both acts debuting albums reaching No 1 in the charts. I'm rambling again...what I am trying to say is although it would have made life easier if Disclosure came on after Rudimental on the main stage I'm glad they were on different stages it gave me the chance to move around the festival or have like an interval break of some sort (something I didn't do much at Wireless, as all the acts I went and wanted to see were all on the same/main stage). On the journey to AMP stage to see Disclosure I also bumped into some old friends who were good to see after a long time. Proving my point that if Disclosure weren't on that specific stage I probably wouldn't have bumped into my old pals. Azealia Banks was the closing act of the night as the fierce young lady performed her classics from her EP '1991' and her mixtape 'Fantasea' in a cream/neon lime green cat suit only she could pull off to be honest. Banks' stamina was 10/10 the whole of her set we didn't see her slack once, which was surprising baring in mind how  how many energetic dance routines she had throughout show and whilst performing her hit 212 and her own edit of Harlem shake, yeah that was a view.. a field of over 40,000 people shaking uncontrollably.

Disclosure on Annie Mac Present's Stage

Rudimental

Ultimately your experience at a festival depends to what kind of music you like/listen to. Although I saw more acts at Wireless, Lovebox was more my vibe plus it was the hottest day of the year! In general Lovebox was more interactive I felt, there was soo much choice for music, if you didn't like the music in one tent there were plenty more to choose from. Also Rudimental tweeted me pre-Lovebox so...The winner of the 'Battle of the Festivals - Wireless VS Lovebox is....

 LOVEBOX FESTIVAL 2013!!  Maybe if Jay Z or Justin tweeted me things might have turned out differently, who knows...

Extra points for Rudimental! : Can't go wrong acknowledging fans

A day I won't be forgetting anytime soon.. Lovebox 2013