Kicking Off Festival Season With A Bang

Parklife Festival brought out the best of the best for an electrifying weekend of music across all genres

HIGHLIGHT: Stormzy

PARKLIFE FESTIVAL went off with a bang as over 80,000 people descended to Heaton Park for a weekend filled with fun vibes and good music.

Saturday began with an exciting line-up, as J Hus, Giggs and Boy Better Know took to the stage.

J Hus was one of the earlier acts to perform on Saturday, and he definitely set the mood as he performed a series of hits including ‘Lean n Bop’, ‘Friendly’ and more from his debut album Common Sense.

Boy Better Know

Boy Better Know welcomed key crew member Skepta on stage for stand-out tracks from his Konnichiwa LP including “Man” and “That’s Not Me”, while also dedicating a one minute silence to the victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack. Their rousing performance definitely kept the crowd entertained, as Maximum spun on the decks while Jammer, JME, Skepta and more performed their classics.

Other huge performances on Saturday came from Giggs, Drum and bass legend Goldie, who led a masterclass in the genre with an ‘influences’ set on David Rodigan MBE’s hugely popular ‘Super Ram Jam’ stage – which also saw Wiley and Andy C perform. Chart toppers Anderson Paak and London Grammar also lit up the stages across the weekend, with superstar DJs Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Pete Tong and Eric Prydz continuing the party.

Parklife also brought out Sampha, Damian Marley and Danny Brown on Sunday, with the trio each putting on diverse performances that seemed to appeal to all that wondered around Heaton Park.


Damien Marley

Danny Brown

Sampha

Meanwhile, two of the most anticipated performances concluded the weekend as Stormzy and Frank Ocean took to the stage on Sunday night.


Frank Ocean

This appearance was Ocean’s first festival performance since 2014, bringing the weekender to an impressive end as the acclaimed singer/songwriter opened his Main Stage set with ‘Solo’, while his set also included hits ‘Chanel’ and ‘Thinkin Bout You’.

While the mellow sounds of Frank Ocean took place at the Main Stage, the Sounds of the Future stage was on fire as Stormzy put on one of the most energising performances throughout the weekend.


Stormzy

The south-London MC went through the archives and performed some of his most popular tracks, from the chilled “Cigarettes and Cush” to the always hype “Big For Your Boots”.

Despite the wet weather, Parklife provided the perfect initiation to the festival season. Hopefully we’ll be able to leave our wellies at home next time, though.

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