This year the UK’s favourite pop festival, Fusion, moved to Otterspool Promenade in Liverpool celebrating the city’s status as a UNESCO city of music and with a plethora of acts from both sides of the pond it promised to be the ultimate summer pop party.
The big problem with planning anything outdoors in our green and pleasant land is the unpredictable weather and the start of Day 1 saw rain rain and more rain. Wellies and plastic ponchos were donned and off we headed to Otterspool.
The first act we saw was the effervescent Fleur East who lifted the crowds dampened spirits with her energy and infectious smiling, her powerful voice seem to envelop the festival goers and her set was full of crowd pleasers culminating in Sax which saw the crowd erupt.
The eagerly awaited multiple MOBO winner Tinie Tempah announced to the crowd, Liverpool is one of my favourite cities of all time, a real party town. He had been in Ibiza the night before and had brought the party island’s vibe to my city. His set included, Written in the stars, Earthquake, Miami to Ibiza, Girls Want, Not letting go and ended with Tsunami. This was a high energy, high volumed performance which saw us soaked by ribbons them warmed by burst of fire. The whirling lights and Mr Tempah’s voice were hypnotic and the crowd partied, dancing to Girls Want in a trance apart from my disgruntled 12 year old son who felt very shortchanged that Zara Larsson was nowhere to be seen!!!
The clouds parted and the sun decided to put in an appearance just as the comeback kid Mr Craig David came onto the stage with his TS5 set. He commands the stage, it’s a one man show with not a note dropped and a hefty helping of impressive rap. He connects to the crowd and they are won over by both his sweet smile and humility in equal measure. Highlight of the set is When the Bassline drops, this guy certainly knows how to put on a show.
I’m not sure why but I always find the word Labrinth quite menacing, it conjurs up images of mazes and beasts, the Labrinth that we find at Fusion Festival is formidable and talented in equal measure. A powerful set which sees the master bow three times before Seven Nation Army erupts. A varied set which includes, Let it Be, What is Love, let the sun shine and culminates in Earthquake, the bass of which must have read at least 5 on the Richter scale.
