As One In The Park

Victoria Park has become an integral venue as part of London’s live music scene. There’s the Field day for the indieheads, Lovebox for commercial-led fun, and The Apple Cart for families. However, As One in the Park is a brand new festival taking over Victoria Park and is branched as the biggest gay festival in London. Flamboyancy and partying was expected from a line-up that featured Rylan, Union J, Conor Maynard and Rita Ora who was headlining her first ever festival.

Wandering between stages wasn’t a problem at this festival and it seemed apparent that most the attendance gathered outside the main stage, soaking up the blistering bank holiday Sunshine. Colours were dashed all over the site and Victoria Park was filled with a feel good atmosphere as the festival site filled up for a day full of cabaret and music.

Kicking off the main stage was former X Factor contestant and new celebrity big brother host Rylan who got the audience riled up with excitement with his re-enactment of his favourite X Factor covers including ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘Spice up your life’ by Spice Girls, all going down a storm with Rylan’s diverse fanbase.
Next up was also another group that were brought to fame through the X Factor was Union J who was clear fan favourites at this festival. Opening with a range of covers, the boy band demonstrated great vocal capabilities and got the audience engaged with their short and enthusiastic performance. New single ‘Carry You’ was a clear standout and shows the pure potential that this group have.

Greeted by deafening screams Conor Maynard jumped straight into action with upcoming single Animal and album track Take Off, closely followed by the lively Vegas Girl, a recent single which gave the crowd a chance to sing along rather than just scream at him. His onstage energy seemed relentless as Conor was able to keep the demanding audience dancing to his upbeat tracks, but also slowed them down in all the right places. Performing an array of his own songs, conor also added a mixture of covers to his set including Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ making his set much more enjoyable.

As the festival progressed through the day, many A-listers could be found getting in on the action and lingering around the site including Katy Price, Gok Wan and also Helen Mirren.

With the sunshine drawing to its end, it could only mean that it was time for the headliner who was in the form of Rita Ora. The atmosphere turned electric as the festival population charged towards main stage with screams echoing through Victoria Park. Speakers blasted an introduction, teasing her appearance before Rita burst onto the stage performing latest single ‘Radioactive’. Dressed in a fun and quirky outfit, Rita introduced herself to the As One In The Park audience, before getting the crowd in a frenzy as she launched into her first U.K single and number 1 record ‘Hot Right Now’. This sizzling party track, released last February, propelled Roc Nation’s rising star into the sky, grabbing everyone’s attention on the way.
With an incredibly fun performance of ‘Shine Ya Light’, Rita’s personality shines through beautifully, getting the audience singing along, almost like a mantra. Her vocals were great throughout, proving she’s one of the very few artists in today's chart who can actually sing without the use of auto-tune.
The party continued as Ora rocked the crowd back and forth with her second U.K number 1 single ‘How Do We (Party)’. After leaving the stage, Rita returned for an encore compelling of her biggest hit and crowd favourite ‘R.I.P’ to a deafening ovation from the crowd.
This was a perfect finale to As One In The Park, which left the crowd singing ‘R.I.P’ on their way out of the festival site.

There was a fantastic futuristic feel to this event; the bright lights, colours, costumes and a young captivated audience that engaged entirely with the event. Bringing great light to the gay community and proving that As One in the Park can be a festival that needs to be recognised.

Here’s hoping that we see As One in the Park return come 2014.