"Fucking hell man, what a crowd. I didn't know there were this many freaks in London. I've never seen so many mullets in my life!"
It's 6:25pm, and on Wide Awake's main stage, Viagra Boys' topless, tattooed frontman Sebastian Murphy is in a mischievous mood, encouraging a sun-kissed and sweaty crowd to be on their "worst fucking behaviour." The Swedish sextet, who self-identify on their Spotify profile as 'a bellowing, unstoppable force majeure of latter-day punk, PTSD disco and synthetically enhanced kraut', which frankly, we can't better, are a perfect festival act, loud, loose and lairy, and their 50 minutes onstage kicks London's finest alternative music festival up another gear.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, for Wide Awake 2023 starts for many not at its traditional home in Brockwell Park, south London on May 27, but at Earth Hall & Earth Theatre in East London on May 26, with a 'pre-party' featuring Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Slift and more on the eve of the main event.
