Finsbury Park never sleeps when Wireless comes to town, and Day One of Wireless 2023 was a deafening reminder of why this festival has a stranglehold on its part of the summer calendar like few others. A wave of heat, both sonic and stylistic, swept across the festival grounds, where rap, hip-hop, Afrobeats, and R&B dominated the day, and the audience showed up in their Sunday best, prepared to worship.
Ice Spice established the aesthetic early, walking onto the stage with a level of self-assuredness that telegraphed “I know I have arrived.” Her set was a master class in swagger, featuring a rapper with a razor-sharp delivery, a Bronx accent like no other, and just when the crowd thought they couldn't whoop any louder, she brought out the producer PinkPantheress. Cue pandemonium. It was a crossover for the ages, one that was so neat it felt custom-made for this crowd, unexpected, seamless, dripping with internet-breaking charisma.
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Homegrown talents, however, were not to be outdone. Meekz brought that raw, uncompromising, real Manchester fire to the stage, and it was ablaze. His bars landed heavier, and the crowd dished it right back. Lilo added a more even keel, her sweet warble clear over the unavoidable breeze, and, meanwhile, Latto, again proving that she’s not here to play, she’s here to run this ish.
Lancey Foux, on the other hand, phoned it right into the future. As much a fashion icon as a lyrical maverick, his set erased genre boundaries and felt like a transmission from another plane, in the best possible way.
But the night’s diamond in the rough? Playboi Carti. If you’ve seen him live, you know that it’s not just a concert but a release. Carti arrived like a maelstrom in man form, born in a haze of light and rage. The crowd? All in. A sea of limbs and voices accompanied every scream, each beat, and each sudden floor drop. It was loud. It was chaotic. It was Wireless.
Wireless is about cultural firecrackers, and Day One also brought them, in a steady stream, from high-fashion fits to sweat-dripping mosh pits. It’s that kind of festival, not simply reflecting the culture but pushing it forward.
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