Common People 2018 Festival Headliners

Common People was an incredible weekend. With so much on throughout the day, there was never a moment you felt bored. With the likes of Honeyblood, The Sherlocks and Elvana providing great entertainment on Saturday, I was worried Lily Allen would be underwhelming as a headliner. She was anything but, performing songs from the far reaches of her back catalogue as well as some brand-new singles, she really gave a truly incredible performance. She started her set off with her newest single ‘Higher’ which really shows the direction she is taking with her new album. A much more relaxed style intertwined with electronic vibes and it was sounding great. It was not long until we heard one of her more recognised songs, performing LDN and providing the first moment of the set where the whole crowd was singing and dancing along and absolutely loving it. You could see exactly why Common People had chosen Lily Allen as one of their headliners. With every new song came a classic Lily Allen banger, with ‘Smile’, ‘Knock Em Out’ and F*ck You all appearing over her performance with the latter ending the set whilst the crowd waved their middle fingers in the air. She was absolutely smashing her performance and the crowd was loving every second. This was the first time I have ever seen Lily Allen perform and it was also the moment that I realised how many of her songs that I actually know. Her encore started with Trigger Bang, however, we were not graced with a Giggs appearance, we did get a massive 2000s throwback with her finishing with ‘Not Fair’ and ‘The Fear’.

Sunday was Disco Day at Common People, with calm and relaxing vibes throughout the day with performances from The Cuban Brothers, Boney M and Prince’s legendary band ‘The New Power Generation’. Disco Day was brought to a close with an incredible performance by The Jacksons. It really should have been put on the line-up as ‘The Jackson Experience’ as it certainly was so much more than just a performance. The set started with a short video on the big screen showing their rise to being known as the biggest musical family ever. The family came on stage, with Tito, Jackie, Jermaine, and Marlon making up the band for the performance it was always going to be something special. Bringing out the classic hits including ‘ABC’, ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ and ‘Can You Feel It’, it certainly had the crowd dancing. Halfway through the set, we got another video, which with all the energy the crowd was putting into dancing, a break was probably needed right about now. Before long they were back on stage and we were granted with “Tito Time”, a moment where Tito would play some songs off of his upcoming album (yes NEW MUSIC). He played the first song without his three brothers on stage, but he owned the stage and the performance was as incredible with just Tito. The brother reunited finishing off “Tito Time” together and then getting back to the classics. This is when the whole of Common People became emotional, with a cover of Michael’s ‘Gone Too Soon’ performed by the brothers with the big screen showing a beautiful video tribute to the King of Pop. They then brought the noise and energy levels back up to end what was a truly incredible performance. With Marlon running along the barrier and round towards VIP during the final song, I am also very proud to say that I got a high-five from a Jackson! That is definitely one to tell the grandkids.