Brockwell Park, London
For a festival persistent on inviting the 'alternative', South London's Brockwell Park gleamed with Wide Awake Festival's entrusted headliner, Caroline Polachek, embracing a litany of musical outsiders from around the globe.
Committing themselves once again to their 50-50 gender split on their billed acts, the festival endeavoured to spread their wings to grace the quirkier spheres of electronics and modernistic pop. Merely another phase in the festival’s impressive evolution, few others can boast the unwavering support for such diversity in their acclaimed lineup grounded in South London.
In spite of the evolving trajectory, however, it was Model/Actriz and Gilla Band which instigated an anchoring of the more historically-favoured flavours of noise-rock and post-punk, two particular genres which have uncontrollably proliferated in recent years within the U.K. The industrially-tinged, abrasive aura of relative newcomers, Model/Actriz, intensified the sweltering afternoon heat as frontman Cole Haden traversed his way through the slowly-gathering crowd - a stark contrast to their matured companions, Gilla Band, who lashed through their sounds with an eerie stoicism on stage.
As the afternoon wore on, slacker-indie stalwart Alex G infected the summery masses with an emotionally dynamic and spontaneous set - typified by the premature appearance of headliner Caroline Polachek offering backing vocals on the ballad-esque track ‘Mission’. Yet it was the forever-evolving act Black Country, New Road who solidified their status as one of the most intriguing homegrown, experimental rock acts of recent - fronted by Tyler Hyde’s darkened vocals, aptly coinciding with the fading sun and promise of a stifling summer’s night.
The insatiable demand for our current popsphere was also fed, commenced by the enigmatic duo, Jockstrap, vociferously igniting an orgy of uncompromising art-pop coalesced with quirky, dance-fuelled electronics captured on their debut LP, I Love You Jennifer B. From the sauna-infused capsule of the Moth Club stage to the breezy, monolithic Wide Awake stage, the excitement for the heralded hyperpop sub-headliner Shygirl, as well as the unconventional debut headliner, remained palpable.
Ultimately, Caroline Polachek reignited a sensation of modernistic art-pop of the utmost left-field of coordinates, as her acclaimed latest LP, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, marked the pinnacle of Wide Awake's offerings. As Polachek breezed through her galvanising set, filled with ethereal vocals and booming instrumentals to rapturous applause, one also felt an appreciation to those organising: taking a chance on this unorthodox billing triumphed in the face of adversity.
For this single day in the summery beginnings of late May, Wide Awake fortified itself as a worthy festival feeding those hungry for boundary-pushing, off-the-beaten-track artists - showcasing the very best of London’s illustrious melting pot.
Tickets for next year's Wide Awake Festival are on sale now and can be found here.
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