It doesn’t matter how much forensic planning you do as a festival organiser, there are always going to be some variables. The weather, for example, or the punctuality of the talent. Staged during a heatwave, the Finsbury Park leg of Wireless certainly lucked out with the former, but ultimately limped over the finish line, with Sunday night-headliner Nicki Minaj’s set cut in half by the curfew, after starting almost 40 minutes late.
And yet the weekend started so promisingly. Occupying the top slot on Friday was Bronx-rapper Cardi B, making her first UK festival appearance since Wireless in 2019. Emerging from a staircase laden with video projections, and beneath a floating, diamond-shaped lighting rig, the Invasion of Privacy-star worked every inch of the stage and sprawling catwalk during her 70-minute set, pausing to quip “I got asthma!” after a particularly gruelling twerking session. As charismatic as she was combative, Cardi powered through a barrage of hits, bringing out her husband Offset for an extended section, as well as Houston-star Megan Thee Stallion to reprise her verse on the confetti-strewn set-highlight WAP.
