The Yahoo Wireless Festival has changed its venue for 2013 and what a venue it is! The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is the new incarnation of 2012’s Olympic Village and it has been undergoing work since the Paralympics ended to make it a world class venue for all kinds of events, sporting and creative as well as a university campus and housing. Opening in July after all of the reconstruction, the Yahoo Wireless Festival will be the first major event to make use of this fabulous new venue in East London. Accommodation in the area is easier to find than you might think, a legacy of the Olympics and so you will have no problem in booking a London hotel from the likes of Hotel Direct. Logistics put in place for the Olympics also makes travel to the Park spectacularly easy and whether you are coming in from outside London from Heathrow Airport or just crossing the city it is a breeze to find.
The Yahoo Wireless Festival has been running since 2005 and has been in some great locations – its first ever year was in Hyde Park and the first night headliners were New Order. This year the organisers have pulled off a bit of a coup, having secured Justin Timberlake on his only UK tour of 2013, which is his first tour for some time as he has been concentrating on acting. With daily tickets on sale as well as weekenders, the crowds are likely to be immense, but anyone disappointed for Friday shouldn’t worry – Justin will be back up again on Sunday, this time sharing the stage with Jay-Z who features on his latest album single. Also showing their faces on the Friday are Snoop Lion, Trey Songz and many more!
Saturday brings the first of Jay-Z’s headlining performances at the Yahoo Wireless Festival 2013. He is supported by Emili Sandé – this event will be a crowning moment for her, as she has sung here before; she featured in the opening and closing events of the Olympics in 2012 so the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is somewhat of a home from home for her. Also appearing are Rita Ora, Kendrick Lamar and many more. Ticket sales are bound to be high for the whole festival but especially for the Saturday which looks to be an amazing day of music from start to finish.
Sunday will be a brilliant day though, with Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake sharing the top spot. They collaborated on the album single release Suit & Tie and so sharing a stage seems the next natural progression and should be an excellent set. Will.i.am is one of the supporting acts and should get a great reception – love it or hate it The Voice (BBC) has raised will.i.am’s profile even more in the past year and many fans will be there to hear him perform rather than just comment on the performances of others. Hip hop stars A Tribe Called Quest and rapper Nas are also on the stage during the day, along with ASAP Rocky (without the Mob on this occasion), Jessie Ware and many more.
Festival season is well underway by the time the Yahoo Wireless Festival hits town, but this has to be one of the best venues of the year and certainly one of the easiest to get to – plus, there are not likely to be problems here with mud, traffic chaos and other problems that beset festivals routinely so if you only go to one festival this year – make it this one. For more info on this years Yahoo Wireless Festival visit the official site.