WIDE AWAKE 2024 FESTIVAL REVIEW
Brockwell Park, London
May 25th 2024
Alt-music haven, Wide Awake, returned to its usual stomping ground of Brockwell Park last Saturday, for its fourth instalment. Headlining this year’s festival were: Australian rock outfit - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Mercury prize winners - Young Fathers, 90s Shoegaze Band - Slowdive. And whilst on the electronic side of things, legendary DJs Ben UFO, Helena Hauff and Berlin duo Modeselektor as well as electro-pop pioneer Alice Glass made appearances.
ARCHIE ROWLINS
Already caked in sweat from a particularly uncomfortable, traffic-laden bus ride to the park, the Brockwell sun presented no reprise. Luckily upon arrival, we were greeted with the offering of a crate of “Liquid Death”, the deceptively named canned water that gives the impression you’re about to take a gulp of a liquified form of those ‘toxic waste’ sweets but actually delivers a refreshing dose of H2O.
Canned water aside, we took our first steps into the festival and were instantly greeted with the sweet sounds of Dry Cleaning emanating from the mainstage, although the overall sound levels were somewhat lacking the band gave a mesmerising performance. Their spoken word format had the crowd entirely captivated and the grass in front of the main stage was laden with sprawled-out punters, gracefully bobbing and swaying their heads to the band’s tender melodies.
Then we ventured over to the Moth Club x Wonderland stage where The Dare, A.K.A. Patrick Harrison Smith, was performing. Before this I hadn’t seen him live or even heard his tracks, but my god was I pleasantly, in fact, incredibly surprised.
His unique sound, which I’d describe as brazenly horny acid-laced indie-pop, blew me away and stood out as probably my favourite performance of the day. Equipped with a Korg MS20 Mini and backed by simple, but aesthetically gratifying, visuals which plastered slogans across a white and pink backdrop. The Dare brought an unrivalled energy as he flung himself about the stage, gyrating, doubling over and bouncing around like a spaniel dosed up on a potent concoction of speed and pheromones.
We then popped over to the Desert Daze x Bad Vibes x Manchester Psych Fest Stage, to see South London’s punk pioneers, Fat Dog. Despite only forming in 2020, the band have quickly made a splash. Fresh off the back of the release of their album ‘WOOF.’, they drew a huge crowd with frenetic and rowdy energy, matching the band’s own vicious vim. Backed with frenzied and feverish visuals which reminded me of those used at Aphex Twin’s performance at Forwards Festival last summer.
Riding high off the energy of Fat Dog, we scurried over to the Corsica x DMY tent, at the top of the park’s hill. Despite the festival being primarily geared toward alt-rock and indie tastes, it also boasted a stacked line-up of DJs. Stepping into the tent we were greeted with the sweet sounds of Helena Hauff, who was playing a pumping vinyl set which blended various techno and electro flavours. This really set the pace for the sets to follow and captured the mood perfectly, with a stompy yet euphoric selection that cultivated an endearing crowd. Now entranced by the thump of 4x4 Kicks, we remained in the tent to see Hessle Audio co-founder, Rinse Fm regular and all-round audio alchemist, Ben UFO, who served up an expertly curated hour of garage, techno and electro.
Ben’s nonchalant demeanour was at odds with his selection and as he stood there lightly bopping his head, the crowd erupted into a frenzy, propelled by the chunky basslines and intricate rhythms which blasted from the speakers. In this frenzy, I had a sudden epiphany that Ben was billed at the same time as avant-garde Scottish hip-hop collective, Young Fathers, and so we quickly dashed over to the main stage to catch the tail end of their set. We arrived to find the sizeable crowd in a similarly frenzied state as the group’s frontman, Kayus Bankole, dived headfirst into the eagerly awaiting front row. Following an exhilarating half an hour the group finished the set in characteristically rock n’ roll fashion as Bankole lobbed the mic across the front of the stage with fellow member, ‘G’ Hastings, swiftly following suit.
The general sound levels got louder throughout the day so the final sets of Modeselektor and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard were absolutely booming and thundering respectively. Shoegaze outfit Slowdive’s set therefore served as the calm before the storm, as their signature laidback, hazy sound transitioned into the all-out madness of the Aussie rock collective who followed on the main stage. Caught between King Gizz and Modeselektor, we darted between the two, not wanting to miss a minute of either. The Corsica stage, however, was the latest to close and so by the end of the set the tent was absolutely chocka block. The German duo, who served up a variety of bass-driven tracks, ended the festival and were treated to a resounding round of applause and complimentary whoops.
Reflecting back on an unforgetable day of quality music and a festival which is bringing a wide range of musical influence to the stage, this bank holiday weekend felt like a first glimpse of coming UK summers' festival adventues. Looking forward to the next and fifth addition of Wide Awake Festival and what it has to offer.
