Review by Angus Burnett
This was the eighth invasion of the Cornbury estate by an army of hipsters, burlesque entertainers, intellectuals, feted chefs, families and musicians.
Wilderness is now very adept at blending disparate elements into a fantastic whole. As the very funny compere of an Alternative Miss Wilderness pointed out to a packed audience, people are encouraged to strip naked to play cricket in front of young children and nobody bats an eyelid. When the same compere asked how many people were from Hackney, it got the biggest cheer of recognition of the afternoon.
The setting helps. It is easy to get used to having the Cotswolds on your doorstep. Watching people swimming in the lakes during the best Summer for years it’s easy to see why people fall under Wilderness’ allure. People can ‘throw shade’ at pretentious hipsters paying to be wild bohemians for a weekend but watching people enjoy themselves so thoroughly, it’s hard to begrudge anyone this moment of paradise.
Rising trap-soul star, IAMDDB, offered her hit ‘Shade’ as part of a very assured set. It was probably the easiest shade to come by over the whole weekend. The festival had some big crowd pleasers at the top of the billings. French duo Justice and Jon Hopkins brought a hard edged dance set on the main stage. At night, in the Valley (another gorgeous setting), music legend Mike Pickering brought more dance vibes with a DJ set. He was followed by Groove Armada to keep people in dance heaven.
Nile Rodgers pulled in a massive crowd with Chic on Saturday and reminded people of his remarkable talent, playing hit after hit after hit. Bastille closed the festival on the Sunday with a rousing set.
There were gems further down too. Confidence Man were great fun, tongue in cheek camp delivered deadpan alongside killer tunes and cheesy choreography. Chk Chk Chk were also superbly high-energy funk. Kitty, Daisy and Lewis played their tight retro-but-now rockabilly/ska/blues blend late at night. Jazz crossover Kamasi Washington and Joy Crookes brought a mellower sound to the weekend.
For those who could not even take mellow in the blazing heat of the afternoon there was the return of Letters Live. By turns, fascinating, funny (and filthy during the secret late-night set) and ultimately profoundly moving as they finished with a letter from a Syrian refugee to the people of Europe.
There were debates and comedy in The Forum tent. Shappi Khorsandi repeatedly interrupted by her five-year-old adding to the humour.
The festival did away with its traditional Saturday night Spectacle and successfully dotted theatrical events across and throughout the weekend. You could unexpectedly stumble across a trapeze show, a live ‘silent-movie’ or surreal lantern parade.
Food came from banquets, prepared by some of the country’s best chefs, or from the food trucks. Either way it was delicious.
To cap it all, the weekend seemed trouble free. Unless you count the punch up that broke out between two young brothers after one was declared the winner in The Clubhouse’s Children’s Sock-Wrestling competition as their poor father tried vainly to restore order from the sidelines.
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