Parklife

Heaton Park, Manchester | June 8 + 9th

Having moved the event from the student summer hub Platt Fields over to the much bigger Heaton Park for this year’s two day extravaganza, the team behind Parklife were clearly radiating with confidence. Rightly so, as they’d pulled together a line-up which stood out as one of the most sterling UK bills of the season. But did they manage to pull off the up-scaled mega spectacle? Or did they find they’d bitten off more than they could chew?

First up, Crack headed over at Now Wave’s hand-picked congregation to check out Four Tet’s set. Kerian Hebden’s gradual re-invention to a more club focused artist might seem a like a shame for those who thrived on his older material – once dubbed ‘folktronica’ by the press – yet when he drops 2010’s anthemic Love Cry at the end of his set to a euphoric response, it’s easy to see why he’s invited back to the city so frequently. A similar story could be told about Dan Snaith’s set under his Daphni alias, as Jiaolong favourites Yes, I know and Ye Ye divulge the audience with disco-meets-industrial peaks and old school Altern-8 vocal samples which summon a vintage party atmosphere. Disclosure topped off the night with a headline performance in celebration of the most astounding of feats – the confirmation that their debut album had gone straight to number one in the UK album charts. And with performances like this, it’d be hard to argue that their success isn’t merited. Boasting possibly the most precise and clear sound of the whole festival, they dominated their audience with a rich set that featured guest appearances from both Jessie Ware and Sam Smith.

Hidden out over at one of the site’s far-flung corners were the areas which provided the loudest and messiest party vibes: the Drop The Mustard tent and David Rodigan’s RamJam stage, which was placed at the foot of a rolling hill that seemed to serve as a gigantic naughty-step for its tenacious audience. Unfortunately, we can’t help but feel like a muddy sound quality undermined Dusky’s charged set, leaving many frazzled and faded after queuing just for entry for the majority of the afternoon. However, credit is due for Parklife’s primary local Manchunian pickings, as revellers searching for some of the true blossoming talents of the city couldn’t have done better than to stumble across Sian Bennett’s set inside the appropriately-titled Mirror Mirror tent. The tightly-packed dance space offered a sublime atmosphere during a relentless deep house set that dropped and dropped, ultimately providing itself as one of the festival’s greatest reflections of the city’s glorious nightlife.

The LuckyMe affiliated, strictly all-vinyl Hoya: Hoya resident Éclair Fifi was given the honourable opening slot over on the Hudson Mohawke curated stage once the hangovers had crept across Heaton Park come Parklife’s second day. And although the petite blonde bombshell played to an unfortunately miniature crowd, those wise enough to attend were alleviated with techno Kelly Rowland tracks and high-octane pure pop Cassie cuts, which managed to initiate some questionably feral (yet fabulous) dance moves for a Sunday lunchtime. And the Hoya love didn’t grind to a halt there, as Manchester’s very own dons’ Krystal Klear and Chunky bought the dynamism to stand-out stratums with sudden mixes embracing MK’s II dub remix of Storm Queen’s Look Right Through, which is streamlined into Chic’s Everybody Dance, prompting an atmosphere of foot-stomping vigour in the tent.

As one of the most hyped acts of the weekend, Jurassic 5 delivered an unsurprisingly triumphant set during what was their first UK performance since splitting in 2007. The hip-hop troupe paraded around in the most ecstatic of fashions, integrating a comically-oversized turntable prop as much as possible into a hit-laden set that featured the likes of Concrete Schoolyard, What’s Golden and Quality Control. Another notable appearance among the impressive cluster of hip-hop acts on the bill came from Danny Brown, who fiercely tore through unhinged bangers like Blunt After Blunt and Blueberry (Pills & Cocaine), reaffirming his reputation as the epitome of contemporary rap. It’s just a shame that Brown’s set was one of many which was abruptly switched on the timetable, which lead to some attendees missing out on the spectacle.

Despite the multiple problems faced due to organisational errors and wrongly-advertised stage times (that should, due to the festival’s up-scale, have been ironed out), Parklife Weekender 2013 was packed with unforgettable sets and sun-soaked debauchery thanks to top-class bookings and individually-curated bills. This is the music-lover’s inner-city festival of the North, and not one performance we saw over the weekend disappointed in the slightest. Here’s to 2014, and hoping that the team will return with an equally as massive, tightly organised follow up.

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Words: Leah Connolly + James Balmont

Photo: Daniel Watson