Ever since Disclosure and Rudimental released that they were headlining/curating a festival at Brighton City Airport (Shoreham Airport), Brighton has been awash with people asking whether you were going to Wild Life. The buzz definitely started early as everyone and their dad had got a ticket for what was going to be Brighton’s biggest ever festival, with around 70,000 festival goers dancing on the landing strip. Then with the announcements of who was set to play across the four main stages – Nas, George Ezra, Mark Ronson, Wu-Tang Clan, Jamie XX, Nicholas Jaar, Skepta & JME, Gorgon City, Seth Troxler back-to-back Jackmaster, Soul II Soul, Andy C, Dusky, Julio Bashmore, Years & Years, George Fitzgerald back-to-back Joy Orbison, Skream, Lapsley, MJ Cole, My Nu Leng, Kiko Bun, and many more impressive acts – everyone has been trying to find any way to bag themselves a ticket.
 
Going on the train from Worthing to Brighton, which was full of intrepid music fans from all ages, excitement arose with the first sight of the sea of colourful flags and massive blue tents on the impressive festival site. A long line was forming outside the organised bus stop as bubbling festival-goers crammed onto the buses like packed sardines on a hot journey that only built up the anticipation for what was to come.
 
On arrival Mark Ronson was DJing on the Main Stage and had the crowd dancing with an assortment of cool crowd pleasers, which was certainly a great omen for the rest of the weekend. Darting from stage to stage I saw Grammy-nominated singer MNEK commanding the Big Top tent, whilst Skream was playing a progressive house set on the Warehouse Project stage (WHP). Early 90s neo soul group Soul II Soul produced their groove ridden beats on the main stage which had the crowd busting a move to classics like ‘Keep On Moving’, with George Ezra following and provoking a huge crowd to sing-a-long to ‘Budapest’ in the glaring sunlight. Next on the main stage was the legend and the godfather of Hip-Hop Nas, who showed everybody just why he has that title. Playing mainly songs from his 1994 debut, Illmatic, he played an unbelievably good set which was jam packed with other fan favourites such as ‘Made You Look’ and ‘I Can’ which made for my favourite 30 minutes of the festival. Before Saturday’s headliners came onto the main stage, I had a quick look at the highly rated George Fitzgerald back-to-back set with Joy Orbison on the WHP stage and the legendry UK garage musician Wookie at the Black Butter Records & Friends tent, both ensure the crowd became a raucous dancing mess. As Rudimental stepped onto the main stage, their soft Drum & Bass enveloped everyone putting the entire audience into a jumping frenzy. Having only had one album so far (their second We The Generation is set for release on 18th September) the London quartet could hardly believe the emphatic reaction they were receiving. Joined on stage by a number of the singers that featured on their debut Home, it made for a performance that was worthy of a headline slot. Just before I left the festival gates, I couldn’t help but be sucked into Maya Jane Coles playing back-to-back with Heidi at the WHP stage who were putting on an infectious show full of throbbing beats and roaring bass in a fantastic Tech House set.
On the Sunday, Swedish DJ Jonas Rathsman welcomed myself and other festival-goers into the festival with a lovely sunshine Techno set on the WHP stage which certainly got everyone in the mood for a great day of music. Years & Years showed why they are one of the highest rated bands in the UK by putting on an energetic show on the main stage, which I’m sure won over new fans for their mega upcoming show at the Brighton Centre. I then caught a bit of Grime act Novelist at the Big Top tent who played to a hyped up crowd, and with songs like ‘1 Sec’ (which was recorded with Mumdance) you can see why. The crowd’s energy was at breaking point throughout Skepta & JME’s set, with everyone putting their hand pistols in the air and shouting along. The pair owned the stage with JME rolling around on a Hovertrax eBoard and Skepta encouraging an ever bigger mosh pit. Just when I couldn’t see it getting any more rowdy, Willey came onstage to do ‘On A Level’ and Boy Better Know track ‘Too Many Man’. Revolutionary and renowned Hip-Hop act Wu-Tang Clang brought the ruckus to the main stage, provoking the audience to put their W’s in the air with a set full of trademark jams which had the crowd elated, but for myself and other Hip-Hop fans it was a disappointment. With the absence of main members Method Man, RZA and Raekwon, Wu Tang failed to live up to their legendary status with Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna and DJ Mathematics’ trying to hold the pieces together. Nicholas Jaar played his ambient dance beats with Jamie XX doing a tasty vinyl set afterwards great response from a full Big Top tent, whilst Annie Mac played her heavy hitting crowd pleasers to a rammed audience at the main stage. Without a word, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence took to the stage as Disclosure and went straight into ‘White Noise’. I can’t remember the last time I have seen such a receptive audience so willing to get their groove on – it was complete dancing pandemonium. As well as performing songs for their breakthrough debut album Seattle, there was also a selection of new tracks from their upcoming second album Caracal (25th September). These sounded great, especially as the band were joined on stage by an amazing collection of guests that included Lion Babe, Nao and Kwabs, but most impressively Gregory Porter. Admittedly, I left Disclosure’s show a little early to catch visionary German House DJ, Henrik Schwarz. Having been a favourite of mine for many years, he was just as good as I imagined and the loyal crowd were definitely ecstatic with the show he put on. Eats Everything closed the festival on the WHP stage, making sure the party vibes carried on right till the last moment.
 
For a festival in its first year, Wild Life had a phenomenally strong line-up which had something for everyone. The line-up order was a little confusing in spots – I can’t imagine George Ezra coming off stage and high fiving Nas who was waiting to come on next. That said, the pure joy from the entire festival crowd at being able to see so many huge acts in one place couldn’t have been more obvious. Wild Life was a huge success and the crowd made it a very peaceful, fun event (with only 15 arrests over the weekend – a resounding success as festivals go). I can imagine that organisers Gigs & Tours will be looking forward to bringing back Wild Life next year – only bigger and better with maybe a few Brighton acts included in the line-up?
Iain Lauder