NEWS
EVENTS
Parklife 2013 - reviewed
Wednesday 12th June 2013 | Simon
A Friday afternoon, exams had just been completed, the sun well and truly had its hat on and I was on my way to Parklife festival - the perfect scenario! After waking up on Saturday and sinking a few cold beers I arrived at Heaton Park with big expectations... and Parklife did not disappoint. Before even mentioning the array of talent that was performing over the weekend the queue impressed me! Slipping in within about 20 minutes of arrival has got to be some kind of record.
Now to Saturday's acts - I managed to see Cyril Hahn, Dusky, Bondax, Mistajam, Aluna George, Hot Natured and Disclosure. If I had to choose I would say Hot Natured were the stand out performers. The quality and quantity of music I was able to see was incredible, even still I was spoilt for choice with Plan B, The Maccabees, Rudimental, Jessie Ware, Maya Jone Coles and many, many more also coming to perform.
Leaving the festival on the Saturday was slightly inconvenient, however slight problems were to be expected in the transition year as Parklife migrated locations from the densely student populated Fallowfield to the more open and accommodating Heaton Park. Many were left stranded as taxi and bus companies had been fully booked, however spirits remained high, with people having fun on the walk into the city centre, thankfully it was a fairly warm summer evening for festival goers to enjoy.
There was no shortage of things to do Saturday evening either, Parklife organisers had put on some after parties at venues around Manchester with yet more DJ's headlining these events. With the amount of people in the party mood there was also house parties aplenty, which is where I found myself at 3am. Although there was no sign of the party coming to an end I decided to get some sleep to prepare myself for another day of great music tomorrow.
On the Sunday I arrived slightly later but still managed to enter the arena in no time. Upon entry we decided to go on the log flume, yes log flume, that was included this year because why not? After drying off it was down to business, again I was put into some big dilemmas because of sets clashing. My selection this time were ShyFX, Jurassic 5, Joey Bada$$, Mark Ronson & A-Trak and TNGHT with many more including Hudson Mohawke, DJ EZ, Benga, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Julio Bashmore and Example also available to see.
The organisers had brilliantly accommodated for different types of music, with Hip hop, House, Drum and bass and many more on show and each had high sound quality, they had also stroke it lucky with 20+ degrees on both days and not a drop of rain. From the old school to the new school, from chilled out listening to the hardcore raving and from hipster to mainstream Parklife really did have it all. Only £55 for a weekend ticket it was a cheap, fun and sick way to kick off the summer! Comment your own opinions of it below, and if your looking for a cheaper festival in the UK then check it out for 2014.
by Simon Dobson
