Hackney Weekend!

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend on Saturday and it really was bloody brilliant. I didn't think the site and the stages would be as big as they were and after hours of travelling down from Manchester I was kitted out with my wellies and pac-a-mac, ready to see a lot of my favourite artists such as Ed Sheeran and The Vaccines.
We arrived in London at about 9am and after the 2 hour train from Manchester I was feeling pretty ill after being sprung out of bed at 5.30am. We got a taxi to the site and I was so surprised at how little people knew about the event, when we said we were going to Hackney Marshes they thought we were going to watch a football match or something. If it would have been in Manchester everybody would have known about it!

Tim Westwood on the DJ Stage

We queued up to go through what they explained would be 'airport style security' and it really was, it took us about an hour to get through and we were there as early as we could have been, half an hour later and the queues were miles long. It wasn't that bad really considering our tickets were checked four times, and we went through an airport metal detector and all of our bags were raided!
BBC, I applaud you, no knives were getting in there.
There were a few opening acts such as Tim Westwood and some little bands on the BBC introducing stage which were quite good, we didn't really like Weswood. I only knew like one of the songs he played.

Jessie Ware on the In New Music We Trust Stage

Vernon Kay introducing Jessie Ware

The first act we saw was Jessie Ware, I had only heard one of her songs before which was 110% but I thought she was really good, she had an amazing voice! Also I never knew that she was the vocals on the song 'Running' which Disclosure did a remix of and who she also brought on stage with to do the song. We then saw Emeli Sande who I have seen before but I thought she was incredible, the last time was at the M.E.N and I thought the arena was too big for her as she had only brought out two songs at the time. The tent at Hackney was just right for her and she was definately one of my favourite from the day!
We had a wander around to see Chris Moyles vs. Tim Westwood on the DJ stage which was pretty funny + Chris is looking trim! It proved good backing music for us eating a well cooked burger with dodgy cheese put on top. Classic festval grub. Then the rain started and everyone got their waterproofs out and we walked over to the main stage to see the end of Rizzle Kicks' set. Watching about 15,000 people doing the hump was quite something, also one of their mums came out at the end!

Rizzle Kicks on the Main Stage

Delilah on the In Music We Trust Stage

Example on the Main Stage

Ed Sheeran on the Main Stage

I missed Rudimental which was unfortunate but I had to secure my place for Ed Sheeran! He was incredible as usual and the only act i've seen that can make a song last nearly 15 minutes and break his guitar twice during the set. LOVE HIM. After his set we rushed over to see The Vaccines who I have seen before when they supported Arctic Monkeys but we were so far away we felt out of it then, they came onto stage and I got a shock when seeing Justin's hair. That thing seriously needs a chop! They were amazing though and the crowd was jumping to hits such as Norgaard and their new song No Hope. Brilliance.
After that, Kasabian took to the main stage. I think they were a bit pissed off and as said in interviews 'Hackney have been introduced to us' because most of the people at the front of the crowd were waiting for Jay-Z and probably looked bored to death. They were acceptional though and Tom Meighan (lead singer) sang an accapella version of a Beatles song at the end. ACE.
We were torn between waiting for Jay-Z or watching Jack White, we went for Jack White and i'm glad we did as Zane Lowe introduced him on stage and he did a few White Stripes tunes such as Seven Nation Army which was the last song of the night.
Jay-Z isn't really my thing so we only watched a bit of his set. His opening with Rihanna doing ‘Run This Town' was quite good although she had these sunglasses on which made me wonder if it was actually her from the distance we were from the stage.
Overall a very very good day on Hackney Marshes!