PARKLIFE FESTIVAL 2017

Festival season is finally here! And we managed to bag a press pass (shouts out to Leanne and Liberty) for the entire Parklife weekend that took place last Saturday and Sunday. We were right next to the action this whole weekend and witnessed the greatness that is the UK music scene.

The Temple stage was the place to be all day Saturday and it started off with a bang when during Ghetts’ performance, he decided to bring out Fekky as a special guest to perform their new song ‘Call Me Again’. We then managed to kill some time by getting lost in the incredible Heaton Park and by the time we go back to the press area, it was off back to the Temple stage again. I’m very sure I burned a sufficiently large amount of calories this weekend.

The DJ decks were now passed onto Preditah where he played chart topping tunes in order to get the crowd extremely lit for the and only fisherman J Hus. The crowd was living for his smash hits including ‘Lean And Bop’, ‘Did You See’ and ‘Clartin’. You would think I would have a break to retain some energy but of course not because up next was AJ Tracey. Shelling down with songs such as ‘Pasta’ and ‘Buster Cannon’, there was literally no end to the greatness taking place in Manchester.

And of course, there was more greatness to come. Our Prime Minister, Giggs took to the stage to perform our national anthem ‘Talkin The Hardest’ as well as ‘Whippin’ Excursion’, ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In’ and his verse from ‘KMT’. Then it was time for the set that literally brought me to tears. Boy Better Know. Life really didn’t seem real at this time. I was witnessing my dad Jammer, live in the flesh and it was mesmerizing. Well, he’s not really my dad but when you’ve been infatuated with BBK since you were 8 years old, you’re basically family. And let’s not forgot that I saw JME perform 96 Fuckries featuring me, because I knew every lyric word for word. I really could ramble forever about how great they all were including Skepta and Frisco but I just remembered, I do have to talk about Sunday aswell.

Day 2 of Parklife and I’m literally exhausted but I push through solely for my love for spectacular performances. First act on our list of the day was the fabulous Nadia Rose who also happened to be celebrating her birthday. All songs including ‘Skwod’ and ‘Tight Up’ were accompanied with full on choreography, which made the performance even more memorable. On Sunday, I actually had some time to have a breather before my ears were blessed by the soothing sound of Sampha at the Sounds of The Near Future stage. And you know you can’t really experience a festival without witnessing the Wickedskengman Stormzy. I don’t even need to mention the songs he performed because you know they’re all bangers able to cause a moshpit. Now you’re probably wondering I’m about to mention Frank Ocean’s performance and to be honest, I’m still not in a fit state to discuss that. Remind me in about a month.

Parklife was the perfect start to festival season and other festivals do have a lot to live up to because this was one of their best yet. It’s literally crunch time and only the fittest will survive.