Five must-see acts at Wide Awake
As winter turns to spring, the promise of festivals returning looms large. In fact, nearly every winter I contemplate hanging my festival boots up. Fatigued and most likely still sunburnt, I question whether I have the stamina to get back out there and mosh until my heart’s content. But it gives way to sunshine, subtle hayfever and the idea of a soundcheck in the distance waking me up, I forget such nonsense and start highlighting all the names I will be once again seeing in a field this year.
May is a particularly exciting time for the return of festival season, not only for its widespread line-ups across important cities in the country but also for championing the humble day festival. Before you dig out your tent in pursuit of music, this month allows you to get royally stuck into 12 hours of music without the overhanging fear of whether your bed might deflate again.
One of the finest of the lot is Wide Awake in Brockwell Park. A bona fide day of alternative music, it has consistently showcased some of music’s most exciting acts. This year, the top of the bill boasts a Mercury Prize, thanks to English Teacher, while much-talked-about Kneecap is set to close the day in dramatic fashion. But excitingly, the festival is much more than that, for every line further down the bill packs a band brimming with potential.
So, in honour of the day festival and the nearly 30-year-old knees that stride upon it, we want to give you a top five list of bands to catch. With no sleep deprivation to use as an excuse, you can certainly march from either end of Brockwell Park to watch these five acts, who are more than worth it.
Five must-see acts at Wide Awake
Donny Benet
In what can only be described as a sort of twisted charisma, Donny Benet is a must-see for his pure magnetism. His discography oozes a sort of humorous sexuality, but on stage, it’s delivered with complete self-assurance and a knowing grin. Despite his obvious originality within a contemporary context, Benet’s shows are somewhat of a throwback, harnessing the joy of a mid-1970s funk band; it’s all about the tightness of the rhythm section.
A section which is astonishingly led by Benet himself. Somehow managing to shred his bass guitar while singing relatively complex melodies, once you get past the chirpy exterior and look below his smile, onto his bass guitar, you realise he is playing with a furious technical ability. If you want to challenge me on that, watch him play ‘American Dream’ and ‘Mr Experience’ first.
Wine Lips
At a day festival, there’s no lack of energy preventing you from getting stuck into a mosh pit and letting loose. With Wine Lips, you have your opportune moment. Somewhere between garage rock and psychedelia, this band bounce between sounds and genres with unrelenting energy.
Not to reduce the band to comparisons, but they satiate the appetite of Ty Segall fans. Funelling every ounce of their guitar sound through heavily distorted pedal setups, balancing outright bedlam with a melodic undertone. But where the live show will undoubtedly prove itself to be compelling is in the drumming, Aurora Evans plays like an octopus jacked up on steroids, driving the bands garage sounds into the realms of festival fields.
Hello Mary
There is something about Hello Mary that seems to epitomise the energy of Wide Awake Festival. A safe space of alternative music geeks to let loose and explore pockets of nuanced genre twists they may not yet have discovered, this band seem to occupy all corners of musical interest with coherent interest. Every one of their songs has balance and intent, while breaking down into chaotic interludes whenever possible.
One minute the drumming safely occupies the hi-hat, ala In Rainbows by Radiohead, before quickly making a u-turn and heading straight for the grunge-laden rhythm sections of 1990s Seattle. Inevitably, it makes them an elusive band who tantalise your curiosity throughout every song. It’s a skill that undoubtedly will make a live show compelling, shocking and at their very best, unpredictable.
Getdown Services
I’ve simply never left a live Getdown Services show without a smile on my face. Sure, they’re a two-piece who, for the majority of the show, play with one guitar and a backing track, but there’s genuinely not a live show out there at the moment that traverses every emotion better than this. It’s somewhere between comedy, theatre and high-brow musicianship, taking down every troubled aspect of broken Britain in the process.
But better than that, it’s inclusive, but not in a weird way. We’ve all been in crowds when the band ask us to crouch down, wave our arms or at worst give us an “oggy oggy oggy”. But when Josh and Ben ask you, it’s not from a place of stardom-based delusion. They are there, most likely shirtless, giving absolutely everything to the crowd, and when they ask, you can’t help but give everything back. But perhaps the finest part of their entire show is whenever Josh shreds into a brief solo, because despite all the humour and stupidity that may have preceded it, it has an uncanny knack of hitting you straight in the heart with its indescribable sense of sentimentality.
Gurriers
When the band released their debut album Come and See in 2024, they defiantly introduced themselves as the next great punk band. But what does that label even mean nowadays? Some sort of wilted parody of The Sex Pistols? Oh no, not for Gurriers. Everything about the record was fresh, exciting and refreshingly honest, from the lyrics to the rhythm sections which chipped away at your ear with unrelenting energy.
In their brief career as a band, they seemed to have fully understood the purpose of a live show. The energy from the record is ramped up to make it completely different and unique, but there is a tightness amongst their camaraderie that proves they aren’t here for just fun: they are ready to make an impact. ‘Des Goblins’ is as emphatic a song as you’ll see all day, and ‘Top Of The Bill’ is quite simply the calibre of song from a band who’ve been around the block for more than just one album. Watch them this weekend before they leave us all in the dust.
