A Weekend At WILDLIFE Festival 2017

Wild Life returned to Brighton (well Shoreham actually) for its third year and I was invited to join in the festivities in what would be my first year at this local party.

With over 45,000 people attending and a line-up that wouldn’t usually tickle my fancy I was both excited and apprehensive to attend. However I was keen to see what it was all about and I packed by bubble bag full of festival essentials ready to dance my heart out for two days.

The sun was shining and I was of course there for both work and play so I made sure I had my camera at the ready, and my questions prepared as I also got the chance to interview two Brighton DJs across the weekend which you can read more about here.

Friday was filled with a range of artists and its line-up included Jess Glynne, George Ezra, Chaka Khan, Clean Bandit, Zara Larsson, Grime artist Stefflon Don and the evening headliner was Brighton resident Fatboy Slim. 

I was keen to see Stefflon Don and I headed over to the Wild Life stage to see her perform. She was fantastic, her set was lively and it was a great way to kickstart the festival. I also got the chance to spend the afternoon hanging around with fellow blogger Georgia. 

All glittered up and dancing around like a loon, my eyelashes started to peel off and my hair was a mess but I didn’t care, as I was extremely excited to see Chaka Khan and I managed to watch her backstage (next to Jess Glynne may I add).  Afterwards I was also lucky enough to catch Clean Bandit’s set and their walk back to the dressing room where I took a quick snap of the band members.

Now these were some artists throughout the weekend that I usually wouldn’t listen to, however the vibe was energetic, animated, and it was nice to see children with their families . There was just general love and positivity all around which was incredibly uplifting.

Now I was invited into the VIP area however, I spent more time out and about as the VIP wasn’t much more special in comparison to the public festival areas. I found the atmosphere there was lacking a little, the only bonus was that the queues to the toilets were short so I didn’t hang about as outside there were parades, a funfair and some tasty food stands awaiting!

It wasn’t long before the evening was upon us and over at the Terminal Stage Fatboy Slim was spinning decks and playing his classics. The crowd was going ‘wild’ but unfortunately I didn’t watch the whole set as I was so tired and decided to head home. 

Sunny Saturday was similar to Friday but I was pleased that Jamie had the day off work so we walked down to the festival together in high spirits. 

We both decided to check out the tents and other stages including the Kopperburg Urban Forest Stage, the Sounds Of  The Future Stage and The Elrow Stage. The Elrow Stage was an energetic and animated tent full of people dancing to EDM and raving the day and night away!

Overall Saturday was much more chilled than the previous day and we watched Damian Marley, Rag ‘n’ Bone man and then perpared ourselves to get hyped up for Stormzy! Now this may comes as a surprise to some people but I love Stormzy, I adore British Grime music and it is definitely a genre we should be proud of!

Without a doubt Stormzy lived up to the high expectations. He was incredible. The crowd was buzzin, everyone young and old were jumping up and down and it was definitely the highlight of the whole weekend.

The day came to a close and Dizzee Rascal made a come-back and meanwhile Rudimental and Armand Van Helden played on the Terminal Stage into the early hours. Again I was so tired we watched a bit of both sets and then walked towards home in the hope of getting a cup of tea on the way back! 

Wild Life is definitely more laid-back than festivals I have previously been to, and it does give you a chance to interact, meet new people and basically do what you please without feeling pressured to run to another stage. Who knows what next year has in-store, a bigger and better line-up perhaps? All I know is that you should make the most out life, enjoy what you can and celebrate the summer weekends! 

Thank you Wildlife for inviting me this year! It was definitely an experience filled with weird and wonderful moments!

Have you ever been to a festival leave a comment below!