Twenty years after they formed, Chemical Brothers remain an enticing live act for both veteran dance fans and today’s teenagers. On the second day of Wireless in Hyde Park, Central London, it was hard to tell what the duo were playing — they mangled snatches of tracks, rolled songs in each other and completely reworked classics such as Star Guitar and Hey Boy Hey Girl. Their secret is to keep their techno sounding fresh — the sirens had gone, tempos were well up on a decade ago.
Their visuals, as always, were brilliant. They released coloured balls into the crowd, splashed out on lots of lasers and they were even revealed to have a sense of humour when a snippet of Noel Gallagher singing Setting Sun was accompanied by beetles crawling across the screens. The only niggle was that two thirds of their set was played before darkness. That’s the drawback of being in a park rather than a field.
The day had been dedicated to dance, and from late afternoon Hyde Park was a sea of bopping bodies. Warm weather, great organisation and superb sound added to the atmosphere, but mostly it was the smart band choices that made the day. The Unwind stage was a tent with a Pringle-shaped top and open sides that allowed fans who couldn’t fit inside to see the stage. That benefited the Californians LMFAO, who attracted a huge crowd as much for their silly antics as their party hip-hop — think the Beastie Boys meets Black Eyed Peas fronted by a rapper in red who looks like Russell Brand.
Five MCs sported sparkly outfits, plastic shades and ludicrously large medallions, poured beer into each other’s mouths with a fluorescent funnel, jumped into the crowd and fell on the floor. One wore a cardboard box robot head, another changed his top after every song. For getting the party started, LMFAO’s fun disco-funk proved perfect.
On the main stage Chase & Status staked their claim to be this generation’s version of the Prodigy. The pair spent most of their time behind huge white desks crammed with equipment, leaving MC Rage and a slew of guest vocalists to get the crowd bouncing. Grinding synths and thundering drums drove a fabulous Fire in your Eyes, Pieces was euphoric drum’n’bass with a guest spot on screen from Plan B, and when the Sun beat down during Sweet Sensation, it felt as if a bit of Ibiza had come to Hyde Park.