Like most others, I have to admit I was slightly disheartened to look out of the window on Saturday morning and see it absolutely pelting down with rain. But, grabbing my wellies, I hoped for the best and told myself to get over it – and Parklife delivered.
As always, the day felt like a celebration of Manchester in many ways – the atmosphere and the crowd all oozed the charm you only really find in Manchester (not being biased at all) and the day was made all that better for it.
Arriving at the festival mid-afternoon, it looked as though most of the revellers had already arrived – it was packed, but in a good way. After checking out the set times and stages we first headed over to the Circus stage.
Upon arrival, the unmistakable upbeat tech-house vibes of Yousef could be heard. Relentlessly flowing from one banger to another, it was near impossible for the wandering crowd to pass the open-air tent without stopping for a dance. As always, the Liverpudlian was undoubtedly impressed at his first ever Parklife appearance and the gauntlet had well and truly been thrown down for what was to come the rest of the day.
After a quick half an hour pint of pale ale and some food in Planet VIP, we headed over to the Elrow tent for Toni Varga’s set which was packed with raucous tech, house tracks which emblematic of the typical elrow party. The atmosphere in this tent was undeniable and, although this probably wouldn’t have been achieved without the sheer popularity of elrow and their skill to throw such an epic party, we must admit we’d have liked it to have been a little bigger as it was hard to get the best out of the sound without being right in the midst of it (which was hard to do without surrendering your ability to move!).
Next it was onto the Temple Stage for the hotly anticipated back to back set of Heidi and Hot Since 82. Seismic techno, deft house numbers and everything else inbetween was trawled through, providing an astute set throughout.
Perhaps the standout set of the day was Adam Beyer b2b Ida Engberg back at the Circus tent. The chemistry between the two of them was second-to-none and their synergy remains unrivalled. They provided unpredictability, suspense, perfect build and the ultimate drops to accompany these builds with.
Last up was superstar DJ’s Chemical Brothers on the Main Stage who played an absolute blinder of a show. Hammering out classics such as Hey Boy Hey Girl, Galvanise and Believe and Block Rockin’ Beats to inspire a hefty nostalgic frug, the set was accompanied by trippy visuals and a blazing lightshow.
It’s rare to come across a mainstream festival this endearing – an event so well-organised that it’ll make any electro-head scream with joy. If next year’s line-up comes close to matching the calibre of this year’s acts, we could be singing the musical praises of Manchester for quite some time.
