Review: Parklife Festival 2013 - Sunday

Sunday 9th June 2013 – Day Two @ Parklife Festival, Heaton Park, Manchester

Words: Tom Sanders

The weather was even hotter on Sunday and the crowd seemed a bit more lairy as a result; shambling round during the early afternoon trying to power through their hangovers. Thankfully the line-up is accommodating to this change in attitude, eschewing most of the previous day’s bass music (or rather, keeping it confined to its own tents) in favour of a more laid-back, band-focused approach that leant more towards performers than DJ’s.

First up was chillwave maestro Toro y Moi, who eased the crowd slowly back into things with his brand of airy electronica; followed by teenage songwriter King Krule, whose deep-voiced crooning over a selection of downtempo, dub-influenced beats suggests a raw talent way beyond his years, and should be an interesting character to watch develop.

Despite the perpetually large crowd gathered round it (and the seemingly never-ending amount of beach balls being tossed around- did nobody think to bring a sex doll or inflatable banana?), there wasn’t as much going on at the main stage today, as all the must-see acts had been siphoned off into the tents and mainly stuck to their niche’s.

This left the main stage feeling a little aimless - Example put on a good show but felt like a fairly safe choice of headliner, and Rita Ora’s set needed a little work and felt a tad overlong in places. It didn’t matter too much though- both acts are predominantly singles artists, and there was no denying that the singles went down in a big way, with ‘R.I.P’ and ‘How We Do’ tapping into the audience’s inner teenage girl to deliver the sunny day sing-along anthem that the day had been waiting for.

Still, the branching out of tastes just meant that fans of each genre got more of what they wanted, as was the case with the brilliantly curated Hudson Mohawke tent which offered up a solid 3 hours of cutting-edge hip-hop courtesy of Action Bronson, Danny Brown and Joey Bada$$.

The gigantic Bronson, hands-down one of the most talented and entertaining rappers to emerge in years, managed to work the crowd better than anyone else all weekend, hopping the barrier and performing most of his set amongst the crowd, even exiting the tent for a while to perform in the sunshine. Upon his return to the stage he even offered £500 to whoever found his lost phone, and promptly carried the lucky ‘winner’ offstage over his shoulder upon its swift return.

Next up was Danny Brown, who rode off the momentum created by Bronson (and briefly joined him onstage during the former’s set for a quick rendition of A$AP Rocky’s ‘1 Train’, which they both feature on) to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and soon had them screaming chorus’ back at him and enthusiastically forming circle-pits. The atmosphere continued to rise and get more rowdy until the bubble finally burst during Badass’ set, who after finishing with a particularly killer rendition of his signature tune ‘Survival Tactics’ had the plug pulled on him whilst attempting an encore; an action that prompted a stage invasion that almost turned ugly after bouncers started violently pushing people offstage, casting a dark spot over an otherwise pleasant and peaceful weekend.

The highlight of the day though was found in the guitar-focused Now Wave tent. Following the abrupt cancellation of the hotly-tipped Savages, all eyes fell to Johnny Marr to pick up the slack, as the local legend triumphantly took to the stage to deliver a fantastic set full of crowd-pleasers both old and new. Half of the audience was raised with Johnny’s guitar playing and he knows it- clearly relishing being onstage, he poses and pogoes around the stage like an 18 year old, jangling away at his guitar and never missing an opportunity for a quick solo.

Newer material like his recent single ‘New Town Velocity’ goes down a storm, but of course, the real highlight was his showcasing of Smiths classics. Playing four vintage tracks- ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’ ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘There Is A Light…’ and ‘How Soon Is Now’, the crowd absolutely erupted into full-on eyes closed, lighters out sing-a-long mode. Forget reforming The Smiths, Johnny’s finally snatched back his legacy from Morrissey’s po-faced clutches. Get this man a bigger stage and let him be the world-beating rockstar he was always meant to be.

Overall, it’s been an incredible weekend, and easily the strongest Parklife yet. The organisers have clearly found their niche artist-wise, and created that rare beast that caters equally to the dance fans and the indie kids. With the festival’s rapid expansion in both prestige and popularity Parklife has nowhere to go but up, and is in a prime position to emerge as one of the country’s finest new musical institutions.

CLICK HERE to read Saturday's review.