Musically the BST events are right across the spectrum, from pop to rock to dance and more. This year’s headliners on the various days included Olivia Rodrigo, Zach Bryan, Sabrina Carpenter, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, ELO and (the one I got the chance to see) Noah Kahan.
I’m actually going to be quite brief on the music side of this review – Ellissa will follow up with something that focuses more on the artists – and instead detail more about the venue and event itself. I hadn’t actually planned to go to the show, but due to Ellissa needing a travel buddy (her first time in London, work shifts preventing anyone else going with her, and her being my daughter so no way was she going alone) Dad ended up being quite willingly drafted in.
Courtesy of a friend who lives in Cambridge, accommodation was organised and we travelled in from there on the day. Obviously accommodation in London can be pretty pricey, as can getting in and out. We live in Glasgow, for those who didn’t know, so while a day trip wasn’t impossible it would have been exhausting!
The weather was significantly better than we have been having back home, and we enjoyed a nice walk around London before arriving at Hyde Park a little before 2pm to get our tickets and head in. Merch was quite reasonably priced at £35 for a t-shirt (Iron Maiden were asking for £45 at the Hydro in Glasgow the previous week), and there was no queue at all at that time.
On entering the arena / venue space… wow. This is one well laid out festival, and it looks incredible. I’m sure people who have attended in the past will know what to expect and it’s likely similar year on year, BST really impressed. Branded bars stood two storeys high with steps up (sometimes for guests or customers of a sponsor but still), food stalls were numerous, Amex customers could pick up their freebies if they didn’t mind queueing for ages, toilets weren’t miles away from anything, and all three stages were well situated.
The Oak Stage in particular is an impressive beast, with a single oak tree to the left framing one side while the remainder was made up on bright video screens that followed the contours of the stage itself. The Birdcage stage where we headed first is for the smaller acts and tucked down the side of the Oak Stage. As the name implies it’s small and cagey looking, and made of wood. We caught Maya Lane there, our first act of the day, and the played a fantastic half hour set to a couple of hundred people. Definitely a talent (aided by her 1-man support band) she played an impressive cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” alongside her own very enjoyable original material.
Nearby was a stall hosted by a wonderful charity To Write Love On Her Arms. Noah Kahan is well publicised as raising awareness of mental health issues through his own organisation The Busyhead Project. TWLOHA were there by invitation to help get their message across that simply put: you matter. They had a display (in conjunction with Busyhead) where fans could write messages of self belief and support and pin them up for others to see. I saw more than a few people in tears – myself and my daughter included – as we read them and added our own. Please consider clicking the link at the start of this paragraph to find out more and support them. As promised to the two ladies looking after the stall, a donation has been made from Moshville Times. Thank you for your brilliant work.
Scheduling across the day meant that the Birdcage and Rainbow stage acts were on at exactly the same time, and as they finished the main stage was in use. A shame as it meant that if there were two acts on at the smaller stages that interested you it means catching – maybe – 2 songs at one, spending 2 songs walking to the other, and seeing the final 2 songs there… but such is the joy of festival clashes!
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We wandered over to the Rainbow stage, stopping to watch a bit of Hazlett and enjoying the ambience. The sound at all three stages was spot on, no matter where you were watching from. My Rainbow Stage highlight was Paris Paloma, an artist I’d usually not have taken the time to listen to but my daughter is a big fan. Well, Ms Paloma has another (older) fan as of today. She crammed a lot into her thirty minute set, the music was a delight and the messages regarding equality that she is quite rightly pushing are ones that I (and we at Moshville Times as a whole) support 100%.
We somehow managed to randomly bump into the only people that Ellissa knew were at the festival (also having come down from Glasgow) in an indoor bar, before going to see Gigi Perez. Having a 20-something year old with me to tell me all about the artists definitely helped as there was next to no mobile signal. Thank you, Ellissa, for being my Wikipedia for the day! Perez also impressed and, though she’s less my kind of music than others on the day, a couple of her songs absolutely blew me away.
Elsewhere in the arena was the Garage stage that I hadn’t spotted on the map. Random acts popped up on there during the day and the ones we saw were definitely worth stopping by and enjoying. One was a drums / percussion act that we literally spotted just as they were wrapping up which was a shame. The other was a Cuban (or pretending to be Cuban) act doing great covers and with a frontman who really knew how to get an audience going.
Before I get onto the last few bands, a couple of more things about the event. Food and drink prices were… high. But not beyond those that you’d regularly expect at a festival, and also not extortionate given that you’re in London. We’d seen similar pricing at restaurants and pop-ups near the Globe earlier in the day. A can of Grolsch was £6.80, I think, to give you an idea. A burger was £10 to £15, and Lidl was offering a meal box with a drink for a tenner which seemed the best value but as a result they had a huge queue. What I did see of the food looked good with decent portion sizes at least.
My only major issue was with the first aid / welfare. Ellissa had a headache and we’d not packed any painkillers. No bother, we headed to First Aid. Where we were told she could purchase a packet of paracetamol… for £4. Or wait 30 minutes to be seen by a medic. We opted to wait. While we were there, we saw numerous other people coming in and seeing the same thing over and over. Sticky plaster? Wait or pay a vastly inflated price for one plaster. Feminine hygiene issue? Dig out the credit card. Sun cream? Hope you’ve got an overdraft.
While Ellissa was seen in less than 15 minutes, the fact that they’re upselling basic medical items at an exorbitant rate is simply wrong. I’ve been to more festivals than I can count and I’ve never seen that happen before. I’d have no issue if the paracetamol were 50p, maybe even £1, but gouging people for being ill (or in some cases for their bodies doing something completely normal but at an unexpected time)… no. The net effect is people going without or wasting the medic’s time as they opt to go the cheaper route. I have memories of Bloodstock a couple of years ago putting huge sun cream dispensers in the welfare and press tents during particularly hot weather for absolutely no charge whatsoever. The cost to the festival is minimal, and helps ensure that people are safe.
This is the only negative thing I have to say about the entire event. Everything else was superb.
Finneas was entertaining enough, and had the crowd wild as he brought on Ashe to change his set from a solo on to one including songs from a new band he’s formed with her. Both singers have incredible voices and there was obvious chemistry between them. The band, The Favors, release their debut album soon.
Another artist I’d likely have been lynched by those around me for not knowing was up next, but credit to Gracie Abrams she put on a great performance (and I learned from my walking Wikipedia that she’s JJ Abrams daughter – now him I know).
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Headliner Noah Kahan, though, was someone I knew and had heard a few songs from. I know a bit about him from various sources as well, in particular how vocal he is about mental health as he is a sufferer himself. Within two songs I knew that I didn’t just like his music, I liked him. He’s personable, open and obviously still nervous on stage. He speaks quickly between songs, almost rambling, but he’s funny and honest. Anyone who can introduce their next track with “Here’s a song about making your best friends feel like shit” is good by me.
Billed as pop-folk I don’t see why we can’t gather him under our rock umbrella and when he declared that “I am so amped! I wish I was playing heavy metal or something!” this old man quite happily threw the horns! Noah – get your publicist to set you up with a metal band for a cover or something. I would definitely love to hear what you could come up with!
As well as bringing earlier performers Grace Abrams and Gigi Perez back on stage at points for some duets, the headline-grabber the next day was an appearance by Lewis Capaldi during “Northern Attitude”. Bedecked in (I think) Chelsea FC shirts, the roar when Capaldi appeared rivalled that for any performer that day and I saw fans around me completely lose their shit. Now, I don’t know much about Capaldi but I do know that he’s recently taken time out for his own MH issues so it’s obviously huge for him to be coming back into the limelight, especially alongside someone else so open about their struggles.
The only thing that could top that was final song “Stick Season” and the fireworks, and even that was quite close.
Trudging out of the park and dealing with crowds and annoying unlicensed rickshaw drivers aside, the journey home was a breeze. Hyde Park is situated well for transport and dispersion and the buzz amongst those heading home was very positive. A wonderful day out with one of the closest people to my heart, an amazing setting, perfect weather, and the music? Top notch across the board. Well worth the stress of catching up on tons of work when I got home!
Thank you to our friends at Outside for chancing their arm on a rock / metal publication to review this show. We’ll definitely be hoping to cover more Hyde Park events in the future whatever the genre.
