After an astounding first year, Wild Life Festival came back for round two at Shoreham (now the Brighton City) Airport. Last year saw the co-creators and headliners, Disclosure and Rudimental, bring in the likes of Nas, George Ezra, Mark Ronson, Wu-Tang Clan, Jamie XX, Nicholas Jaar, Gorgon City, Soul II Soul, Years & Years, Lapsley, MJ Cole, Kiko Bun, and so many more impressive acts for more than 70,000 festival goers to dance, sing and party to. With near-to-no hiccups compromising the event on its debut, Wild Life unsurprisingly won the UK Festival Award for Best New Festival – so the Wild Life weekend now has a lot to live up to.

With six stages to experience a wide range of different music, Disclosure and Rudimental created a wish list of acts that range from friends to people they are fans of and want to see on their festival stage. In our recent interview with Disclosure, Guy Lawrence from the band admits, “We just call people up and ask, I think that personal touch helps … make it more personal”. The two bands followed the same formula that worked so well last year, with the addition of a few more bands, gifting us with a bill that was sure to make people move for two days straight. The Avalanches, DJ EZ, Julio Bashmore, Flume, Andy C, Medlar, Dixon, Carl Cox, Todd Terje and Kaytranada repped the electronic side of things – James Bay, Bastille, Jack Garratt and Ratboy holding a strong front for the bands – as well as Ice Cube, Skepta, Busta Rhymes, Lady Leshurr, Stormzy, Kano and De La Soul representing the best in hip-hop and grime. You can probably see a problem here – how does one see all those acts in just two days?

My fist act of the festival was the cult electronic duo The Avalanches, a late addition to the bill and the act I was most looking forward to seeing. Having recently come out of hibernation after the release of their brilliant 2001 debut album, Since I Left You, the Australian pair tour their second album Wildflower, which is set for release this July. Maybe the blustery grey skies didn’t help them on the Main Stage but their interesting and eclectic set (much like their music) seemed to blow over everyone’s head, struggling to get little more than a murmur from the crowd.

I then rush over to the Big Top tent to catch east coast hip-hop pioneers De La Soul. As arguably one of the most perfect festival acts, the trio brought good vibes and a high energy atmosphere to the festival. With lots of crowd anticipation and hits like ‘Me, Myself And I’, it’s not surprising that this was an early favourite.

Staying at the Big Top, Rat Boy did his best homage of Jamie T to a rowdy teenage audience. Holding an aggressive posture on stage, including throwing water over the audience and threatening to chuck their instruments on the floor, the Chelmsford five-piece had a boisterous crowd in the palm of their hand.

One of the new stages at this year’s festival was the Kopparberg Urban Forest, where I managed to catch one of my favourite producer/DJ’s, Medlar, play a typically brilliant early evening set in the secluded and rather intimate 18+ stage.

Over to the Main Stage to see one of the hotly anticipated acts at this year’s festival, Busta Rhymes. As one and greatest MCs of all time, pioneering his unique flow with acts like A Tribe Called Quest and under his own alias, it’s safe to say that the audience expected quite a bit more. The petty theatrics from the Brooklyn-born rapper failed completely to captivate the crowd’s interest – a shame as his legendary status deserved more, not even downing a whole bottle of champion managed to capture the crowd.

When talking to fellow music lovers inside the festival, the general feeling was that Flume was the winning act over the weekend. The Australian-born beatmaker brought his mesmerising electronic live show to the Big Top, equipped with thumbing bass, futuristic hooks and a cool selection of absolute bangers – including the remix of Disclosure’s ‘You & Me’. Supreme song selector and BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac made sure the appreciative crowd were nicely oiled and ready for Saturday’s centre piece.

Disclosure’s headline slot was met with the same excitement as the year previously, going straight into their long line of hits. With an impressive light show and guest appearances from Kwabs and Brendan Reilly, the crowd was more than pumping – however, all the talk after their performance was about their new song ‘Boss’, which is now another big tune in their brilliant repertoire. The first day did not finish there, as you had the likes of Eats Everything, Andy C and DJ EZ to get lost into the night with.

After battling with road closures and heavy traffic on the Sunday, I arrived at the site around 3pm and headed straight to the Main Stage to catch the end of Anne Marie’s set. The number of people there was a bit low, probably due to the traffic chaos more than anything else, but everyone there was getting into the high energy pop pounding out. The Essex-born, Karate-kicking (Shotokan triple world champion), former west-end musical star, who has a close affiliation with Rudimental, was the perfect energetic performance to get you set for the day.

By the time Stormzy came onto the Main Stage, there was now an impressively large crowd eager to see what was obviously everyone’s first must-see act. Another high energy performance saw Stormzy gear up the crowd and the heavy basslines and hyped up lyrics reverberated round the festival. As you might expect, it was another very slick performance from one of grime’s most exciting talents.

Rising star Jack Garratt was onstage next, playing his impressive one-man-show. Wielding a drum kit, synths, pads, keys, guitar and a looping peddle, Garratt was overwhelmed by the rousing support the audience were giving – there is no doubt this BBC Sound Of 2016 and Brits Critics’ Choice winner has a bright future ahead.

I was fortunate enough to catch a bit of Gerd Janson’s late afternoon set at the magnificent Warehouse Project Stage, showcasing why he is one of the best touring DJs on the circuit at the moment, before heading to the Supercharged Stage to see the queen of UK grime, Lady Leshurr. The Birmingham rapper created an explosive atmosphere that had the whole crowd jumping.

Then on to a complete contrast in style with Indie Rock star James Bay who then took to the Main Stage. Having studied at Brighton BIMM music school, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter had a welcoming return to the place he spent many years, with everyone singing hit single ‘Hold Back The River’.

Jamie Woon was my stand out performance on the Sunday, performing his brilliant electronic soul set which will live long in the memories of those in the Big Top. With a strong band backing him and glorious songs such as ‘Sharpness’, I’m sure those who hadn’t heard of the London artist before will be streaming him the next day.

The sun came out for Bastille’s set on the Main Stage and was the perfect conditions for their melodic pop tunes. Needless to say, everyone was singing along to their catchy songs and really getting into it, up until they said “Here’s a new track, sing along as if you know it”, which obviously did not happen as no one knew it, but as soon as they got back on to the classics the crowd were with them all the way again.

Penelope Isles, one of Brighton’s most exciting up-and-coming acts, headlined the The Allstars Bus stage. Unfortunately, they were plagued by technical difficulties and off sound levels, which all but destroyed their set, but we did get a small glimpse (albeit, a muddy rendition) of new single ‘Gnarbone’.

As at last year’s Wild Life, each day a hip-hop great takes to the stage – Sunday’s hip-hop headliner was legendary rapper and actor Ice Cube. Controlling the Main Stage from the off, the former NWA man performed a strong set of hard hitting gangster rap as well as classics such as ‘Check Yo Self, ‘You Can Do It’ and ‘It Was A Good Day’ that had the crowd with their W’s in the air for the duration. A difficult choice of four headliners closed the final day of the festival – Rudimental, Kaytranada, Kano and Carl Cox.

Having seen Rudimental at last year’s event, I opted for the eclectic electronica of Kaytranada at the Big Top. Kano’s set was supposedly legendary at the Supercharged Tent with Giggs coming on for a guest appearance. However, I was by no means disappointed with Soundcloud superstar Kaytranada. Playing tracks from his recently released debut LP, 99.9%, the Haitian-Canadian producer played a colourful set which spanned a wide range of his influences and had the crowd moving to its end. With the festival shutting at midnight, there was still time to get absorbed in the sounds of superstar DJ Carl Cox at the mesmerising Warehouse Project Stage – I don’t think there could be a better way to celebrate the successful second year of Wild Life Festival.
Iain Lauder

Website: wildlifefestival.com

See our Wild Life photo gallery here: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/Gallery/wild-life-2016

Read our interview with Disclosure here: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/spotlight/1492-disclosure-interview-2016