Wireless live in London: a muted return at the UK’s rap paradise
In London, no other festival is as essential to a UK rap fan’s diary as Wireless in Finsbury Park, a three-day affair showcasing an array of hip-hop and R&B-adjacent music that remains significant in its 18th year.
On Friday – dubbed Opium Day after Playboi Carti’s label – we find viral badasses that “set the world on fire”, to quote main stage performer Lancey Foux. But frustratingly, the strongest-curated day is plagued with set delays. Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely open up, ensuring no one was safe from a little mosh pit or two. But next is Ice Spice whose set begins 25 minutes later than scheduled; she performs for just ten minutes, half her allotted time. At least her Bath bestie PinkPantheress joins her for their chart-busting song ‘Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2’.
Lancey Foux picks up the slack, though, with his bolshy trap music that gets fans jumping like they were before. Whilst performing the infectious unreleased track ‘Back 2 Da Trap’, he’s joined by Sexyy Redd (known for the viral and vulgar tune ‘Pound Town’) who debuts her verse on the song. But her reception isn’t as monstrous as you’d hope, and it must be said that the women feel under-appreciated generally over the weekend. There are only two female acts on the main stage this year: Ice Spice and FLO. Elsewhere on the Amazon Music +44 Stage, chart-topping Grammy-nominated rapper Latto gives fans a five-star performance worthy of the headline slot.
It’s unfortunate that Friday’s headliner, Playboi Carti, repurposes his set from last festival season. He does debut an unreleased song that embraces his new hardcore image and repeatedly calling himself a “rockstar” (again). Hopefully, his upcoming album ‘Music’ follows suit.
After Joey Badass and Bryson Tiller’s jazzier sets, Lil Yachty’s Saturday slot is one of two halves. He sings tracks from his psych-rock-inspired album ‘Let’s Start Here’ but no one seems to vibe with him, however, until he does the cliché of rapping a few lines of his SoundCloud hits and letting a backing track do the work. He’s unforgiving of London’s lack of energy in the rain: whilst paying tribute to Juice WRLD by performing their collaboration ’Yacht Club’, he says, “Where’s y’all energy London? If you’re tired, I can go.”
The want to rage spills over into Saturday’s headliner Travis Scott‘s act, who says he wanted to go back to “those feral days… those days when we used to tear every shit down to the ground.” Playing every floorfiller he’s got, phone screens twinkle as the pyrotechnics illuminate the summer night. At the end of the month, he takes on the Pyramids of Giza for a set to reportedly celebrate the release of new album ‘Utopia’.
Sunday starts slow: Jamaican dancehall titans Dexta Daps and Popcaan are enjoyable and give all they’ve got to a crowd that simply doesn’t know or care for them. But considering how young the crowd is at Wireless, the magnetism 50 Cent has on the kids is unmatched. Smartly running through a mega mix of his biggest hits, he reminds a new generation that he’s still as much of a beloved rap star as he is a TV and business mogul.
Ending with some hometown greats, London duo D-Block Europe – comprised of Young Adz and Dirtbike LB – treat us to some wavey classics. There’s an awkwardness to their staging; a gold Scarface-inspired statue from their recent ‘DBE World’ album cover appears and they air their own Puma and JD advert on the screen whilst performing songs about their wealth, trapping and cunnilingus. But, pushing past the technical difficulties, DBE bring out their friends Chip, Clavish and Krept and Konan to inject some last-minute wonder into the weekend.
The disjointed scheduling luckily doesn’t halt all the fun as there’s almost always something new and exciting to discover. Guest appearances overshadow some sets and the crowd doesn’t cause as much havoc as we’ve seen before. There’s still love for the festival as it approaches its 20th anniversary, but it’s less prominent than it has been before.
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