Wide Awake festival review: a triumphant day after a difficult week
The very existence of the south London one-dayer, as well as controversy over its headliners, clouded the weeks leading up to it – on the day, it pulled through to become a vibrant celebration
“Honestly lads, you’ve no idea how close we were to being pulled off this gig,” Kneecap’s Mo Chara tells the crowd at London’s Wide Awake festival on Friday. Specifically, he was referring to his recent terror charge for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag onstage during a show in the city late last year, but it could be true for Wide Awake as a whole, too.
In the days leading up to the fifth edition of the south London one-dayer – part of the Brockwell Live series which also includes The Mighty Hoopla and Cross The Tracks among others – its existence was in doubt after a local campaign group won a legal battle against Lambeth Council, with the court ruling in favour of the group, who alleged that Brockwell Live didn’t have the correct planning permission for the events to go ahead.
After assurances were made and the gates finally did swing open for Wide Awake, the festival that brings together promoters of small London venues including MOTH Club (also under threat itself) and The Shacklewell Arms, the mood is one of relief, and then quickly celebration. Its carefully curated line-up helps to enhance the mood.
Genre means very little at Wide Awake, meaning you can race from the ludicrously fun throwback rap of Detroit’s Hi-Tech to the Ed Banger-adjacent dance-punk of New York’s Fcukers and the sound of thousands of fans giving canine howls during Fat Dog. The best party of the day though comes from CMAT, who looks every inch the modern pop star. New single ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’ is going viral thanks to its TikTok dance, and other newies from upcoming third album Euro-Country, as well as her obvious star power and excellent band, make you sense this is just the beginning for the Irish singer.
There’s also a righteous anger and political angle to many of the sets. Mannequin Pussy use their stage to ask men to stand up for women not only when they are in earshot, while guest speaker Jeremy Corbyn hits out at Keir Starmer’s recent ‘island of strangers’ speech in five impassioned minutes on the main stage before the excellent Nadine Shah.
Predictably, this feeling is dialled up significantly for Kneecap’s headline set. “They’re trying to silence us from speaking on stage at Glastonbury the way we did at Coachella,” Mo Chara says of his terror charge, and while the likes of ‘H.O.O.D.’ and raucous new single ‘The Recap’ sees the trio having chaotic fun, the prevailing mood is one of defiance, as they implore fans to join them outside Westminster Magistrates Court next month to support Chara at his trial.
While the conversation around the use of London’s green spaces for expensive live music events will continue beyond these last few weeks, Kneecap’s show – and Wide Awake as a whole – shows the power and importance of gatherings like this in troubled times.