Public Enemy, Skrillex, South West Four, Clapham Common 26/08/12

South West Four, Clapham Common’s annual bank holiday weekend dance fest faced an early challenge this year, with steel grey skies bringing torrential rain to the Saturday. But come Sunday, the sun had come out, dried up the arena, the event was at capacity and the crowd were more than up for a banging good time under blue skies.

Old School Hip Hop Legends Public Enemy came on surprisingly early in the day and played a storming set of classics, from ‘911 is a joke’ and ‘Fight the Power’ to the soundtrack single to the Paralympics ‘Harder than you think’. They even manage to fit in some turntable, guitar and drum solos into a day of entirely electronic music. It’s doesn’t seem like it’s been 25 years since their first album. True pioneers.

At the other end of the day Skrillex also takes no prisoners, with a stage show befitting his headliner and ‘biggest thing right now’ status. His DJ booth looks like some giant Cylon Interceptor and he seems to have borrowed Rammstein’s Pyro rig for the night. Flames shoot upwards, lasers fill the sky and the earth and bowels tremble before the sub bass. WeeeeeoooooWWWWWW! WUB WUB WUBWUBWUB “Come on let’s go”! That’s the essence of it really, but it’s a bucket load of fun. His background in hardcore bands shows through in the high energy, and moshing tempos of much of his music. It reminds me of how a lot of hardcore bands would play at breakneck speeds and then slow down for a ‘moshing’ section, where punks would circle and slamdance. That rhythm is essentially Skrillex right there.

Other highlights of the day include Pete Tong playing the ‘all gone Pete Tong’ tent, ‘Too Many DJs’ at the Together tent and ‘Diplo’ on the main stage. A special mention must go out to the staff and audience, maybe it was the sunshine or the nature of the music, but it was definitely a good vibe day. A great variety of acts across different tents, decent sound (I’m looking at you Hyde Park), Congratulations to the Locked n Loaded team for creating one of the best parties of the summer.