By Amanda Cunningham, Rock At Night London Correspondent
Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd July and Friday 8th – Sunday 10th July 2016 – Barclaycard presents British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park
The weather was kind, the crowd strong and the music never stopped. Throughout the double weekend, Pharell Williams, Nathan Sykes, Olly Murrs, Patti Smith, Don Henley and many more.
Friday 1st July, Massive Attack opened BST 2016. The set was billed as one of the live collaborations of the year, with vocalist Tricky performing on the same stage as the Bristol musicians for only the 2nd time. The rap veterans dipped into their extensive back catalogue spanning three decades, including best-known works Safe From Harm and Unfinished Sympathy.
Saturday 2nd July, Florence and the Machine
Sunday 3rd July, Carole King headlined with her epic 1971 album, Tapestry live in full for the first time ever. Tom Hanks, Elton John and various others introduced the artist prior to her outstanding performance via video message, Tom Hanks rightly stated, “There wasn’t a woman on planet Earth who didn’t take Tapestry to their heart”. This being Carole’s first appearance in the UK in 30 years, you could see the emotion being carried throughout her performance as she paused several times to appreciate the 50,000 strong loyal fans, spanning different generations.
Friday 8th July, Mumford and Sons
Saturday 9th July, Take That headlined their very first festival. In true Take That style, 65,000 strong audience were treated to the trademark bright and whacky shenanigans that undoubtibly build a Take That show! The boys were joined on stage by Lulu for the infamous “Relight my fire”, a total crowd pleaser, pyrotechnics and fireworks added to what one can only describe as a ‘Take That feast’. Loyal fans, fans for 25 years had queued for hours (some days) in order to secure the front position, even though they had purchased the HOT spot tickets.
Sunday 10th July
Sunday 10th July, Stevie Wonder headlined the closure of BST 2016, the 25 Grammy award-winning artist welcomed 65,000 ticket holders by an impressive 4 hour performance. Stevie delivered an emotional speech before sitting down at his piano, urging the audience to “choose love over hate, right over wrong”, how he was blessed to be blind and how “all life matters”. The audience applauded his passionate and inspiring words as he went on to deliver hits from the The 1976 masterwork, “Songs in the Key of Life”, released almost 40 years ago.
Please note: Unfortunately, I wasn’t available to attend Florence and the Machine or Mumford and Sons, photographs courtesy of Kevin Nixon – www.knixon.co.uk
