T In The Park, BST, Wireless: UK’s big festival weekend recap

All the commotion following Brexit has left the UK in quite a muddle, however, this past weekend, the Brits been blessed with not one, two, but three summer music festivals, from Scotland’s T in the Park, London’s Wireless Festival, to the ten-day fun fest at Hyde Park that is British Summer Time. To give you a better picture, here’s a recap of the extremely eventful UK weekend.

First up, local hero Calvin Harris owned the stage at T in the Park on Saturday (July 9) at Scotland’s Strathallan. The Scottish DJ still gave a solid performance even though he had already been billed to perform eight times in the past decade, and showed no sign of remorse over his recent break up with pop’s baroness Taylor Swift.

Harris’s performance was followed by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ controversial headline set on Sunday night (10 July).

The set was composed of the band’s greatest hits, as well as tracks from their new album The Getaway, which was released last month.

The set drew split opinions from the fans, some complimenting the band as the “highlight of their weekend”, while others criticised Red Hot Chili Peppers for being merely a “jalapeño”.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers never fail to deliver! That’s how you close a music festival. ? #Fantastic ??????? #bbctitp

— ☀️Jill☀️ (@HappyGraduate) July 10, 2016

Just watched Red Hot Chili Peppers at T in the Park.

What *are* they?

And ‘bloody awful’ doesn’t count, despite being entirely applicable.

— David Petty (@exprojectionist) July 10, 2016

Just watched Red Hot Chili Peppers at T in the Park.

What *are* they?

And ‘bloody awful’ doesn’t count, despite being entirely applicable.

— David Petty (@exprojectionist) July 10, 2016

The red hot chili peppers were superb. Gg lads. Me n kurt howlin oor hearts oot lol

— Claude (@Arthriticspruce) July 10, 2016

The red hot chili peppers have to be the highlight of the weeknd????

— cody mowbray (@codymowbrayx) July 10, 2016

Let’s be honest the Red Hot Chili Peppers have only ever been a jalapeño.

— Tom (@automatom) July 10, 2016

However, T In The Park has seen better years, as the festival began with the unfortunate deaths of two teenagers. Megan Bell and Peter MacCallum, both 17, died of unexplained causes on T in the Park’s first day (July 7).

Festival founder Geoff Ellis has expressed his condolences to the family: “We like to think of T in the Park being one big family so there have been two deaths in our extended family.”

“For it to happen at the start of the festival, it’s meant everyone has had that sadness to begin with. But we have to keep the festival going,” Ellis added.

Following the death on Thursday, a cash machine was stolen from the premises on Friday night (July 8).

Though the police are still investigating the mysterious disappearance, some folks, including BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, were curious to the mechanics of the theft itself.

T In The Park you were amazing as always. I am very curious as to how someone stole an ATM machine though… Please send details

— Annie Mac (@AnnieMac) July 9, 2016

Until next year T…

T In The Park was held at Strathallan Castle, Perthshire from 7-10 July. Other lineups include The 1975, The Stone Roses, Jess Glynne, Disclosure, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and more.

Meanwhile, the folks at the Wireless Festival also saw some big names, many of whom were also present at T In The Park, including Calvin Harris and The 1975 who played Friday night before their performance at T In The Park on Saturday.

Other lineup artists include Kygo, Martin Garrix, Big Sean, and Fergie who’s back with new single “M.I.L.F” and performed for the first time in three years.

Wireless Festival was held at London’s Finsbury Park from July 8-10.

Finally, over at the annual British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park, Stevie Wonder celebrated his masterpiece album Songs In The Key Of Life‘s 40th anniversary at the festival.

The 25 Grammy award-winning singer sung in front of a crowd of over 65,000 people.

Before his four-hour performance (yes four), the 65-year-old legend sat down and gave a moving speech, urging his audience to “choose love over hate, right over wrong, kindness over meanness, hope over no hope at all,” and that “all lives matter”. After the speech, he performed a beautiful rendition “Love’s in Need of Love Today”.

Speaking of legends, legendary 1960s singer-songwriter Carole King also performed her first performance in 27 years at the festival.

The 74-year-old headlined on July 8, with with supports from The Eagles’ Don Henley and her daughter Louise Goffin.

On the following night (July 9), the Mancunian golden boys Take That gave the performance of their lives on the Green Oak Stage, performing a medley of their 90’s hits, inviting legend Lulu for “Relight My Fire” and English duo Sigma for “Cry”.

This year’s British Summertime Festival was held at Hyde Park for two consecutive weekends from July 1-10. Click here for more details of the lineups.