Parklife Festival Weekender 2014 Reviewed

There was rain, shine and a hell of a lot of mud at the Parklife Weekender this year, and we couldn’t have asked for anything less from Manchester’s biggest music festival.

“All in all, the Sunday was certainly more our cup of tea.”

Saturday bore the brunt of the bad weather with 50,000 odd music lovers fighting their way round Heaton Park in search of any tent, stage or speaker which floated their boat musically. The Saturday line up definitely swayed more toward the genres of Hip Hop and Drum and Bass, whilst the Sunday took a more chilled approach with plenty of House and some Indie on the main stage chucked in for good measure.

All in all there was enough choice to appease most of the excitable Northern crowd for one weekend.

Personally, I felt the Saturday went through more teething problems in terms of crowd management. Overall though, still not detracting from the magic atmosphere of festival which was contagious for all. We watched effortful shows from Route 94, Redlight, Bonobo and of course Snoop Dogg to name just a few of the strong line up on offer. Overall we’d have to say the focal point of the Saturday being Snoop Dogg, if only just for the anticipation from fans. Once on stage he did not fail, to deliver but we don’t know if we just expected more due to urban legend rather than witnessing the man behind the name.

Good morning from Parklife! We do appreciate that a small percentage of people had trouble getting in yesterday, especially in the…

– Parklife Weekender (@Parklifefest) June 8, 2014

…challenging weather conditions. Please note that any problems that a few people may have encountered with scanning tickets, is now solved

– Parklife Weekender (@Parklifefest) June 8, 2014

… Getting on site today will be a much quicker process. The weather is looking up today (Yes!), but still best to wear wellies….

– Parklife Weekender (@Parklifefest) June 8, 2014

… We expect our busiest entrance times to be from 1pm, so we suggest getting down early. See you at Heaton Park! The Parklife Team x

– Parklife Weekender (@Parklifefest) June 8, 2014

Pound for pound, the Sunday was certainly more our cup of tea. Featuring House DJs from across generations, with enough on offer to plan a full day of dancing. And dance we did, firstly catching up Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Shortly followed by longstanding, New Jersey DJ Kerri Chandler, who didn’t fail us on expectations, playing classic beats, encapsulated in his own way, making sure he left his mark.

After Kerri, we were quick to catch the remainder of Erol Alkan back to back with Daniel Avery; a Warehouse Project favourite over the recent years dueting with a familiar partner in crime from his own label. Who’s set, whilst more punchier; still provided the individualism of the DJ’s themselves, who definitely put their own stamp on the setlist of songs.

After more wandering, we ended our evening decided upon seeing legendary London DJ Carl Cox, who’s sound we’d experienced live prior to Parklife and not been left disappointed. We saw his first half of set which was an adrenaline boosting, crowd inducing, masterful set. But half way throughout we thought it wise to enquire into the tent next door where just as much noise could be heard.

Green Velvet were also headlining their tent; providing a combination of classic house beats mixed with futuristic sounds to give an all in all amazing atmosphere channelled across the crowd. Once in we couldn’t escape and simply had to see more of the intoxicating vibes flooding the tent. We rallied between Carl and Green Velvet in the end, unable to choose a favourite as both were just too damn addictive in sound. A definite high point to end the weekend.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who made The Parklife Weekender 2014 possible. We couldn’t have done it without you x

– Parklife Weekender (@Parklifefest) June 8, 2014

We can only hope the 2015 line up proves to be just as strong!