Parklife Festival 2023: a vibrant dance party in the Manchester sun
In partnership with Parklife Festival
Manchester is boiling hot. On the jam-packed tram from the city’s Victoria station to Heaton Park, the young crowd cool themselves with handheld mini fans and supermarket tinnies. Inside the gates, sunglasses are a must — not just because of the 30 degree sun’s scorching rays, but also to guard against the clouds of dust circling the air, being kicked up by the festival’s 70,000 daily visitors.
13 years since being founded as Mad Ferret Festival, an end-of-year student bash at Platts Field Park, Parklife is now the UK’s biggest metropolitan festival. It’s a reputation that in recent years has helped attract the likes of 50 Cent, Megan Thee Stallion, and Tyler The Creator. But while there’s a strong hip-hop and rap offering, and a healthy smattering of indie and pop acts, it’s a dance music festival first and foremost.
On Saturday afternoon (June 10), Rochdale-born drum and bass vocalist Piri launches into catchy, sex-positive liquid drum ‘n’ bass tracks like ‘Soft Spot’ and ‘Updown’, joined on the Valley Stage by a pair of backing dancers. Jamz Supernova delivers a fluid blend of UK funky, leftfield electronica and Latin American grooves, while Peggy Gou, always the coolest character in the place, enraptures thousands of ravers with a heavy concoction of trance, deep house, and pumping techno. Gender inequality in dance music continues to be a massive problem; therefore, it’s refreshing to see so many female and non-binary DJs absolutely smashing it at Parklife.
At the Temple Stage, a triangular structure made of bronze shipping containers that look like they’re about to crumble onto the stage below, the weekend’s garage-heavy bill is kicked off on Saturday evening by UKG royalty DJ EZ. He drops classics like Architechs’ ‘Body Groove’ and So Solid Crew‘s ’21 Seconds’, setting the tone for younger acts like Conducta, Bklava and Interplanetary Criminal to further underline why the UK garage scene is currently in rude health.
Having grafted for years to earn her status as one of the best rappers on the planet, Little Simz is enjoying being showered with praise wherever she goes. Appearing on the Parklife stage in an oversized black suit and tie, the north London rapper is humbled by the love she gets from the Manny crowd.
Rattling through new bangers from surprise December drop ‘No Thank You’ before bursting through the back catalogue, Simz stirs up the masses for the weekend’s first major homecoming: Aitch. The city’s poster boy rapper is back where he belongs, striding through hits like ‘Taste’ with explosive bursts of pyrotechnics that help to create a serious party atmosphere. There’s even a guest appearance from AJ Tracey for ‘Rain’.
Saturday night ends at The Valley, where Fred Again.. shows why he’s swiftly becoming one of the world’s hottest producers. A live camera next to his production setup shows him tapping away frenetically at a sampler, building layers of sound by snapping between vocal snippets, kicks and heavy bass noises, all the while commanding the crowd calmly and confidently.
The next afternoon, fans awaiting the arrival of London R&B sensations FLO try to shelter from the scorching heat by clasping onto the strips of shade next to the stage barrier. Group member Stella Quaresma can’t help but ask, “Is anyone else hot?!” – but thankfully, the trio don’t let the weather impact their performance. Strutting across the stage in tight formation, their gorgeous harmonies and synchronised moves make Destiny’s Child comparisons irresistible.
Not long after FLO finish, grey clouds start to form in the sky, and by 4pm, rainfall wreaks havoc on the site; festival organisers are forced to paused all music for over an hour as thunder rumbles above. In the Eat Your Own Ears tent, pumping basslines are replaced by crowd chatter, with the odd football chant thrown in for good measure.
When shows eventually resume, prolific dance-pop vocalist Becky Hill paves the way for a Wu-Tang Clan and Nas performance that brings a taste of New York to north Manchester, aided by grainy footage of thousands of W-shaped hand gestures. Nas riffs well with fans, although there’s an unavoidable sense that the young crowd isn’t as familiar with Wu-Tang as the NY hip-hop giants expect or deserve.
That isn’t a problem for The 1975, who after a lively warm-up from pop experimentalist Self Esteem, glide through their vast catalogue to a rapturous reception. Led by a chatty, laid-back Matty Healy — who causes ripples of discontent at one point by trying to get the tribally-divided crowd to applaud Manchester City’s recent Champions League win — the show feels like a proper homecoming for a band that has a deep relationship with Manchester.
Meanwhile, in the Eat Your Own Ears Tent, UK jungle’s brightest young star Nia Archives strives to foster similar ties. She connects with a crowd that roars back high-tempo bangers like ‘So Tell Me’, skanking out as the sun sets to one of the country’s most exciting electronic acts.
An eclectic bill, and a tendency to surprise, are key features of Parklife. True to form, at the festival’s tail-end, during a beautiful set by soul and hip-hop double-act NxWorries (aka singer Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge), something unexplainable happens. After a show that blends crooning neo-soul with MF Doom beats, .Paak pulls on UK rap titan Dizzee Rascal for a booming performance of ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’. Filing out of the tent afterwards, fans struggle to process this inexplicable link-up. But for a festival that’s committed to traversing the margins between UK dance music, global pop and more, that’s just par for the course. Roll on next year.
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