Wireless Festival 2012 (Review)

Review of Wireless Festival 2012

So you may remember we told you how Cher Lloyd delivered a some what under-par and nervous performance.  We also questioned whether she was ready for festivals.  Well we had another one of our team at Wireless, so how did she do?

Well according to the official Wireless Festival Website she did better “all the attitude she had back then has grown more than ever”, they also said she rocked the stage performing her hits.  Well lets not just listen to them, our writer confirmed she wasn’t as big a wreck, maybe she had a pep talk after her lacklustre T in the Park performance.  He also said she looked pretty good in leather shorts and long cardigan, but the singing was still a little off.  Here we go.

Cher Lloyd did a Wireless Show in London’s Hyde Park, just a little bit after her T in the Park fiasco.  This wasn’t as bad, and she did well with her hits particularly ‘Swagger Jagger’ and gave a great version of ‘Dub on the Track’ In a way I felt a bit sorry for her.  The crowd responded in an up and down manner, but she did have a bit of a carefree spirit to her performance.  She did OK, but not one I would rush to see again.

Wireless 2012 Cher Lloyd

Stooshe, one of our Tips for 2012, performed to a packed house.  We could be really cynical and say it was due to the skies emptying on them, but to be honest either they turned the crowd or the majority were there for them.  Stooshe did some great moves on stage, performed tracks such as ‘Betty Woz Gone’ and ‘Black Heart’.  They absolutely nailed their debut single ‘Love Me’ but the highlight was a note perfect and quite emotional rendition of TLC‘s ‘Waterfalls’.

Tulisa Contostavlos aka Tulisa, seemed to forget she was performing at a show that was likely to contain a lot of kids and families in the crowd.  Her set was full of swearing and foul abuse aimed at the ex who filmed her in the ‘home video’.  There were a big number of the crowd who made the hand gestures that were directed by the X Factor judge.  Surely not the behaviour of the host of a mainstream show.

Wireless 2012 Tulisa Hand Gesture

Despite the controversy Tulisa‘s performance was pretty good.  She also performed two new tracks and promised something different for her album.  Hinting the album will have an urban flavour.  Her performance looked calm and assured and worthy of a spot at a major festival.

The highlight of the festival though was another precocious female singer in the shape of Rihanna.  Showing a great deal of humility by thanking the crowd for seeing it through to the end, despite the heavy rain, demonstrating none of her alleged diva ways.  Her performance was worthy of the headline spot as well, showing really powerful vocals and captivating the crowd with he monster hits.

Wireless 2012 headliner Rihanna

As Rihanna burst in to ‘Umbrella’ it sadly reminded me of the really bad summer we had when the hit was number one for what seemed like a year.  However that performance was one of the highlights along with ‘We Found Love’.  Put simply Rihanna backed up her billing as a star of pop music.

Other highlights of the festival was another of our Tips for 2012, Maverick Sabre.  His appearance is not one that would make you immediately connect to a massive performer, one that could command a stage.  But his performance was a welcome respite to the highly charged roster of dance and urban acts.  His style could be seen as something from the Commitments, linking that soulful voice with reggae undertones.  First class performance.

Weirdly Deadmau5 struggled to fill the venue for his set, playing to a half filled crowd.  This seems in stark contrast to his billing as a superstar DJ and heir apparent to Chemical Brothers.  It also made him appear a little odd, sat in his multi illuminating mouse head :-s

Wireless 2012 Deadmau5 Headlines main stage on Friday

Drake gave a solid performance, but it felt a little forced.  To be honest, I’m not really a fan anyway, but he just seemed to shout his way through the set and did little to win me over.

Day One of the festival was however dedicated to somebody that unfortunately couldn’t make it.  The late Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch of the Beastie Boys had a series of dedications made to him from the likes of Childish Gambino, Santigold and Afrojack.

Jaguar Skills delivered an absolutely amazing set. He also delivered a dedication to the Beastie Boys, which the crowd lapped up.  As you would expect from a Jag Skills set, he produced a massively eclectic selection including the use of The Verve and the sure fire party winner House of Pain‘s ‘Jump Around’

This years Wireless Festival somehow seemed to come of age.  Maybe it was the addition of rain and mud, but this felt like a real festival.  Previous years have fallen flat, but this was good.  Rihanna was great and in my opinion Jaguar Skills delivered the best DJ set of the weekend.