Wireless Festival

The Wireless Festival is a music festival in England that takes place every year in London, and took place at Harewood House, Leeds in 2006 and 2007. It is owned and managed by Live Nation.

From its inception in 2005 until 2008, the festival was sponsored by telecommunications company O₂, and was called the O₂ Wireless Festival. From 2009 to 2012, the main sponsor was Barclaycard and the festival renamed to Barclaycard Wireless Festival. For 2013, the sponsor changed to Yahoo!, and was renamed to Yahoo! Wireless. The 2014 Wireless Festival was held in Finsbury Park in North London for the first time, as well as Perry Park in Birmingham. The 2015 Wireless Fesitval took place at Finsbury Park and was sponsored by the fashion retailer New Look with an extra day added due to it being 10 years since the first event.

History

2005

M.I.A. performing on the XFM stage in 2005

The first festival took place in June 2005 and was in Hyde Park only. Tickets were £35 a day. Some of the acts on the line-up were (headline acts in bold):^[1]

• Friday, 24 June: New Order, Moby, Hard-Fi, The Bravery, Graham Coxon, The Dresden Dolls, The Dears, Rilo Kiley
• Saturday, 25 June: Basement Jaxx, M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Death In Vegas, Lady Sovereign, Killa Kela, Mylo, Roots Manuva, Stereo MCs
• Wednesday, 29 June: Keane, Echo & the Bunnymen, Supergrass, James Blunt, Brendan Benson, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright
• Thursday, 30 June: Kasabian, Editors, The Rakes, The Others, Ladytron, Soulwax, Peter Doherty, JJ72, Cut Copy

2006

Depeche Mode headlining the 2006 festival

In 2006, the festival played in both Hyde Park and Harewood House. Tickets were £37.51 per day.

The Hyde Park festival ran from 21–25 June and on the bill were:^[2]

• The Strokes, Belle & Sebastian, Dirty Pretty Things, Super Furry Animals, The Raconteurs, Gogol Bordello, The Like
• David Gray, Fun Lovin' Criminals, KT Tunstall, Violent Femmes
• Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Pharrell, Gnarls Barkley, Metric, Damian Marley
• James Blunt, Zero 7, Eels, Beth Orton, Paolo Nutini
• Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, OK Go, The Dears, The Fratellis, Mystery Jets

The Harewood House festival ran from 24–25 June and tickets were £32.50 for the first day and £37.50 for the second. It featured:^[3]

• Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, DJ Shadow, Pharrell, Gnarls Barkley, Terry Callier, Just Jack, Sway
• The Who, Super Furry Animals, The Flaming Lips, The Zutons, Eels

2007

The White Stripes headline 2007's festival

Tickets for both venues went on sale on 16 March 2007 and the festival took place between 14–17 June in Hyde Park, and 15–17 June at Harewood House. Tickets were £40 for one day, £75 for two, £105 for three or £135 for four days.

The acts for both Hyde Park and Harewood House were:^[4]

• The White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Air, Satellite Party, The Bees, The Thrills, The Sounds, Dredg, Polytechnic, Ghosts, Connan and the Mockasins, Far From The Dance, Kissaway Trail, Pete and the Pirates, The Scare
• Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons, CSS, Plan B, New Young Pony Club, Calvin Harris, Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism,
• Kaiser Chiefs, Editors, The Cribs, The Rakes, The Twang, The Only Ones, Kate Nash, Ripchord, The Duke Spirit, Polysics, Mumm-Ra, The Pigeon Detectives, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Los Campesinos!, and Under the Influence of Giants. Kaiser Chiefs selected the line-up for the day they were headlining (Saturday at Harewood House and Sunday in Hyde Park).

The acts which performed the extra date in Hyde Park were:

• Faithless, Badly Drawn Boy, Kelis, Just Jack and Cat Empire.

For the first time, the Leeds festival offered camping facilities at the festival. Campers were allowed to stay on Lord Harewood's land for £25 for as many festival days as they wished. There were 3 stages this year, and the O₂ Blueroom where only O₂ customers were allowed to enter.

2008

The 2008 O₂ Wireless Festival spanned 4 days in Hyde Park, and was the last to carry the O₂ sponsorship. An attempt to hold a parallel festival in Leeds similar to the Reading and Leeds Festivals arrangement was unsuccessful, and instead a variety of club nights featuring billed artists were held. Tickets were £45 per day.

Fatboy Slim on the main stage on Saturday 5 July

The line-up was as follows:^[5]

• Thursday, 3 July: Jay-Z, Mark Ronson, Hot Chip, Róisín Murphy, David Jordan, The Cool Kids, Hercules and Love Affair, Alice Smith, Kano, Saul Williams, Lethal Bizzle, Elliot Minor, Pete and the Pirates, The Stiff Dylans, Sparkadia, The Hot Melts, Electric Dolls, Beans On Toast, Red Snapper, Annie, Bryn Christophers, Kid Sisters, Tinie Tempah, Yelle
• Friday, 4 July: Morrissey, Beck, The Wombats, Guillemots, Dirty Pretty Things, Lightspeed Champion, The National, Siouxsie, The Courteeners, Black Kids, The Rascals, The Hosts, Kristeen Young, Howling Bells, Magic Wands, The Whigs, Nicole Atkins and the Sea, Mon Ouisch, The Fashion, The Reprieve, New York Dolls, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Liam Finn, Apollo Sunshine, Seawolf, Jaguar Love, Peter and the Wolf
• Saturday, 5 July: Fatboy Slim, Deadmau5, Robyn, Bootsy Collins, Neon Neon, Cornershop, Ryan Shaw, Underworld, MSTRKRFT, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Sam Sparro, Cut Copy, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, The Whip, Junkie XL, Akala, Audio Bullys, Cagedbaby, Japanese Pop Stars, Familien, Yacht, Booka Shade, Why?, Das Pop, InnerPartySystem
• Sunday, 6 July: Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Powderfinger, Goo Goo Dolls, Eddy Grant, Magic Christian, The Hold Steady, Bowling For Soup, Donavon Frankenreiter, Delays, Melee, Luke White, Galactic with Lyrics Born and Boots Riley, Roy World, Joe Purdy, Amy Studt, Dawn Kinnard, The Galvatrons, Silver Seas, Chief, Nellie McKay, Alice Smith, Ryan Shaw, Sons of Albion, Pablo Francisco, Jamie Kennedy, Jo Koy, Gabriel Iglesias

2009

Paul Oakenfold on Stage Two on Saturday 4 July

The 2009 festival was sponsored by Barclaycard and was cut from four to two days in Hyde Park. Tickets were £45 for one day or £80 for both. The line-up was as follows:^[6]

• Saturday, 4 July: Basement Jaxx, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, Paul Oakenfold, Metric, Jack Peñate, Saint Etienne, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force, Frankmusik, Sneaky Sound System, N.A.S.A., Tommy Sparks, Delphic, Filthy Dukes, Digitalism, Skint & Demoralised, Master Shortie, Japanese Popstars, Phenomenal Handclap Band
• Sunday, 5 July: Kanye West, Noisettes, Alesha Dixon, Calvin Harris, N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Q-Tip, Flo Rida, Kid Cudi, Daniel Merriweather, Lady Sovereign, Young Jeezy, Mr Hudson, Chipmunk, Ironik, Example, Florence Rawlings, Zarif, Steve Appleton, The Black and White Years, Diversity, Ratatat

2010

Missy Elliott performance in Saturday, 3 July.

The 2010 Wireless Festival was increased to three days and took place from 2 July to 4 July 2010. Tickets were £47.50 for one day, £85 for two and £110 for three days. The line-up was as follows:^[7]

• Friday, 2 July: P!nk, The Ting Tings, Gossip, The Temper Trap, Plan B, Bowling For Soup, Hockey, Daisy Dares You, Neon Hitch, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Bluey Robinson
• Saturday, 3 July: LCD Soundsystem, Snoop Dogg, 2ManyDJs (aka Soulwax), The Big Pink, DJ Shadow, UNKLE, Missy Elliott, Phenomenal Handclap Band
• Sunday, 4 July: Jay-Z, Lily Allen, Friendly Fires, Slash, Mr Hudson, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Chipmunk, Tinie Tempah, Chase & Status, D12, Wiley, Roll Deep, J. Cole, Chiddy Bang, Wale, Professor Green, Laura Steel, Talay Riley, McLean, Bluey Robinson, Hesta Prynn.

The Sunday date sold out in record time, three weeks before the festival.^[8]

2011

The Black Eyed Peas headline the 2011 festival

Example on the Friday

Katy B on the Saturday

The 2011 Wireless Festival was held from Friday 1 July to Sunday 3 July 2011. Tickets were £48.50 (Saturday/Sunday) or £49.50 (Friday) for one day, £92 for two and £130 for three days. The Black Eyed Peas headlined the Friday, The Chemical Brothers on the Saturday, and Pulp reformed after ten years to play the Sunday and other festivals in 2011. The Black Eyed Peas date had sold out by the end of June, while tickets for the other two days remained on sale until the festival.

2012

The 2012 Wireless Festival was held from Friday 6 July to Sunday 8 July. Tickets went on general sale on 18 November 2011, priced at £49.50 (Friday/Saturday) and £52.50 (Sunday), plus booking fee.^[9] All tickets for the Rihanna day sold out by the end of March, a new record for the festival.^[10]

The acts which played were:

2013

Justin Timberlake performing on Friday 12

The 2013 event was moved to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford after Live Nation pulled out of the tender for Hyde Park due to curfew issues.^[11] The festival was held from Friday 12 July to Sunday 14 July 2013, and tickets were priced at £57.50 for day tickets and £110 for two days, plus booking fees. The event was being sponsored by Yahoo!.

The line-up for the festival was:^[12]

2014

In February 2014 it was confirmed that Wireless Festival 2014 would be held at Finsbury Park, London and Perry Park, Birmingham. The event was held over the weekend of 4–6 July 2014, on three stages. London day tickets were priced at £71.50 while Birmingham day tickets were priced at £68.75.^[13] Weekend tickets for London went on sale at £210 while Birmingham weekend tickets were set at £172. On 3 July, the day before the first day of the festival, it was widely reported that Drake had pulled out due to illness, (making it the second time he had pulled out of a Wireless Festival). This was confirmed on the festival's social media sites and organisers announced that Kanye West would play instead of Drake in London, and Rudimental (who had been the support for Drake) would headline the Saturday in Birmingham with a special extended set featuring very special guests. The organisers also offered those attending on Saturday in Birmingham £20 of "Wireless Credit" which was redeemable against any concessions, merchandise stands and funfair attractions at the event.

London

Birmingham

2015

On 31 January 2015 it was confirmed that the festival would be held in Finsbury Park between 3 and 5 July. The lineup was confirmed via the festival's Twitter page, with confirmation that Drake would return to the festival following his cancellation in 2014. It was also revealed that David Guetta and Nicki Minaj would perform as co-headliners on the Sunday, and that Avicii and Kendrick Lamar would be co-headlining on Saturday. As it's the festival's tenth birthday, there will be a special 'birthday' event on Sunday 28 June. Since the lineup was announced, several artisits have had to cancel their appearance. In early June, Big Sean removed the Wireless appearance from his tour's website and he no longer appeared on the Wireless website's lineup. Around the same time, Boy Better Know were added to the Wireless 10 event. On 14 June, Stromae had to cancel his Wireless appearance amongst other summer dates, after suffering a reaction to anti-malaria drugs whilst on his tour of Sub-Saharan Africa. Jess Glynne tweeted a day later to say she would also be cancelling a number of summer dates, including Wireless, due to having to undergo vocal chord surgery. The Friday sold out by the end of April, whilst the other three dates remained on sale until the festival.

See also

• List of music festivals in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Wireless Festival Official Website
• Virtual Festivals' Wireless Festival page
• Sights and sounds from Wireless Festival 2006: The week in pictures
• Wireless 2010 News
• Wireless Festival News