Freeze Festival: Day 2 at Battersea Power Station

A slightly busier Freeze Festival continued into the early hours, hosting more impressive live acts and proving that this festival is a unique London treasure in it’s own right. With Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, Shy FX and Vagabonds performing on the different stages throughout the day, the festival once again had a generous choice of artists to see as the snowboarding/skiing competing continued late into the night.

Shy FX had the crowd hyped on the Desperado Stage with a combination of jungle and drum and bass; a fast paced performance suited to the small, packed-out stage, dropping bangers like the arguably most famous jungle tune of all time, Original Nutta. Those who were bored of the Main Stage and Desperado Tent could head over to the Après Ski Tent to witness super young New Garage DJs Bondax drop funky, colourful electronic beats that had a particularly young crowd move in a more relaxed way than the previous acts on the Desperado Stage. The legendary Grandmaster Flash warmed up the Main stage before the final act came on for the night, dropping old school rap tunes infused with more modern bangers.

Then the main act of the night: political hip-hop pioneers, Public Enemy, delivered an all round energetic, rock infused performance, with live music and hits from their famous 80s albums such as Night of The Living Baseheads, Bring the Noise and Fight the Power. A legendary group in their own right, they suited Freeze Festival perfectly, spreading their rebellious energy into the manic crowd for the last show of the night. Chuck D and Flavour Flav proved that they still have what it takes to deliver spirited, entertaining shows regardless of their age. The only thing that let them down was the sometimes distorted sound – though this never stopped the crowd from bum rushing the show.

Freeze proved that although the majority of those who attended were snow sports fanatics, the festival was all encompassing and had something for those who weren’t particularly focussed on watching the stunts but were more interested in the music.

Matt Di Salvo