Inside Silverstone For The British Grand Prix – Stormzy Headlines Friday Night For Memorable Weekend In The British Calendar

Inevitably one of the biggest events of the year in not only the British music and sporting calendar but worldwide, Silverstone yet again took centre stage this weekend, welcoming more than 480,000 people to the 2024 British Grand Prix for an event that has been anticipated by millions all year round.

A weekend that historically has always promised to offer the utmost action, excitement and freedom, this year’s four-day festival lineup to run alongside Sunday’s main race broke down boundaries within the music, sport and arts world, cohesively fusing each aspect together to cement the British Grand Prix as a summer highlight and not just a groundbreaking racing event.

With the action starting on Thursday with a headline slot from Kings Of Leon and a large inside tent screening both quarter-final games of the EUROs, here at Mixtape Madness we took the short journey up north of London on Friday to experience exactly what the sport and music world cohesion on offer, and here’s what went down inside.

Despite being predominantly an International racing event, Silverstone has looked in recent years to bridge the gap within the cultural arts space, curating a weekend of music, comedy, entertainment and arts to further bolster the entertainment of Formula 1 itself. Through this, the circuit and its surrounding area become a complete UK hotspot for Brits and International tourists together to congregate and celebrate the sport which they love, with a dynamic offering of entertainment throughout each evening after the racing action has concluded for the day.

Once again pulling together an unprecedented music lineup for the weekend, Friday saw Silverstone explore the hip/hop and rnb soundscape, with the ‘queen of rnb edits’ Jordss, grime legend Ghetts and generational icon Stormzy all coming through to perform in the evening. An upgraded main stage from last year, now holding a capacity of 60,000 people and constructed by the same company that brought us the Pyramid and Other Stage at Glastonbury, there’s no secret that the live music aspect has been so well planned and executed this year.

Despite the rainy conditions, people came out in their numbers and were treated to an iconic performance by grime veteran Ghetts, whose passion and energy throughout his set were matched by the adoring crowd. Performing a selection of his latest hit tracks including “No Mercy” and “Skengman”, the London native also took it upon himself to perform a more politically charged track which shed light on some of the conflict and destruction in the world

The perfect warm-up for the headlining act for the evening, Glastonbury 2019 headliner and undeniable global icon Stormzy closed the show with an unforgettable and energy-infused performance. One of the greatest and most well-respected artists of our generation, the BRIT award-winning talent played a catalogue of hits across his three number-one albums such as ‘Vossi Bop’, ‘Shut Up’, ‘Crown’ and even ‘Blinded By Your Grace Pt. 2’.

“This is only the second time I’ve performed this in the rain” said Stormzy as he dazed at the crowd in appreciation whilst going on to play ‘Rainfall’ from his latest album. Reminiscent of his special BRIT Award performance back in 2018, there’s something so undeniably special about watching Stormzy perform in the rain, an added aura and boost to the incredible atmosphere as it is. Captivating and enthusiastic, he never fails to put on a great performance, and being the only show in his calendar this year it was always going to be a special evening that he channelled one hundred percent into.

Silverstone’s Commercial Director Nick Read said: “Our long-term ambition has always been to attract the biggest and best artists in the world to Silverstone to put on a spectacular show for the British fans. With Kings of Leon, Stormzy, Pete Tong and Rudimental on this year’s line-up, it’s fair to say the 2024 British Grand Prix is going to be bigger and better than ever before! We knew we had a massive job on our hands following the great success of last year’s music offering, so we are thrilled to be able to take things up another notch.”

And the weekend in terms of racing just went on to get better and better as well…

Saturday’s qualifying session at Silverstone saw a British one, two and three primed to start the race at the front of the grid, much to a warm and enthusiastic British reception. The race on Sunday was nothing short of action-packed and dramatic either.

With the British Grand Prix yesterday afternoon having four different leaders at different times, it was Britain’s Lewis Hamilton who came out on top to win his first race since 2021 in more than three years. An emotional win not only for himself but also all the fans who have been avidly cheering him on and supporting him over the years, what better place to get another win than your home track, Silverstone Circuit.

With other live music throughout the weekend including that of Rudimental, Arielle Free, Pete Tong all coming through to perform, as well as an iconic and memorable day screening England’s EURO win on penalties, Silverstone was undeniably THE place to be over the weekend – testament to the organisers for putting on such a great weekend across the board.