Rapper Common gets in amongst the crowd

Everyone Rises to the Occasion
Review

Rise Festival - Finsbury Park
Andy Dangerfield
Jazz virtuoso Roy Ayers couldn’t have timed his set more perfectly. The sun had just broken from behind the clouds as he launched into his mellifluous Everybody Loves the Sunshine to a warm Rise festival crowd.

Looking dandy in a white jacket and trilby, if rather incongruous orange stripe tracksuit bottoms, the 65-year-old proved he wasn’t going to be outshone by a five minute vivacious solo by his drummer. He danced around shaking his vibraphone sticks to confirm he was still the great showman he’s always been.
“You’ve been so good to me over these years. And I think I have been good to you too,” Ayers said bashfully at the climax of his set. Oh yes, Mr Ayers, indeed you have.
Rise was the largest free anti-racist music festival in Europe.
On the main stage, ex-blur guitarist Graham Coxon appeared to be going for a Samuel L Jackson look in a back-to-front black Kangol-style hat. People around me asked who he was and then, when they found out, questioned if he’d perform any hits from Parklife. But he played an effervescent set of solo material with great aplomb and gained a few new fans along the way.
Buzzcocks were looking noticeably balder and tubbier than in their heyday but the old guys played with gusto to prove they could still rock. Rumbustious punk kids as young as 10 crowd-surfed to the front showing hits like Ever Fallen in Love are as relevant now as they were in their 70s prime.
Bob Marley’s old band the Wailers were a perfect end to an eclectic day of music. Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett led the vocals in a set comprising Bob Marley’s greatest hits. As they broke into Stir It Up, the crowd began hip shaking in unison. The whole audience sang along in adulation to a sublime No Woman No Cry and Redemption Song.
As we made our way home – to the apt sounds of the Wailers’ final song Exodus – we were told not a single arrest had been made at the trouble-free festival.