I’ll be entirely honest with you. Up until 11 August 2024 I was not a Stormzy fan (unless you count falling slightly in love with him while watching his 2022 interview with Louis Theroux – but even after that I hadn’t properly got into his music).
This all changed when I got the chance to see him live while volunteering at Boardmasters festival in Newquay. I did the obligatory pre-watching-live homework and listened to a few of his songs in advance, but I certainly didn’t go in knowing every single lyric.
Arriving at the main stage, anticipation was in the air. Crowds spilled from the barricade as far as the eye could see. Perhaps it was this that made the performance so magical.
You didn’t have to be a super-fan to be part of the incredible atmosphere. I overheard a boy behind me saying, “he’s so cool. I don’t know many of his songs but he’s so cool.” I think that sums up how his stage presence and charisma made the show, perhaps to a greater extent than his music itself.
While artists I had seen earlier overused breaks between songs as a way of gushing to the audience (Becky Hill, I love you, but we do not need to hear your “Boardmasters I’m so grateful” speech between every single song), Stormzy blended them seamlessly into his performance – he did, of course, do the obligatory declaration of love to his audience, but in a way that was so cohesive with the rest of the show it seemed more genuine than other performers.
A particular highlight of the night was ‘Blinded By Your Grace’. This was the main piece of his I knew from before – it feels like one of those songs that is in all of our collective unconscious (Carl Jung was onto something I think). Leading up to it, I heard its name uttered by those around me: “I want him to play ‘Blinded By Your Grace’”; “can I go on your shoulders for ‘Blinded By Your Grace’?” Whether you are religious or not, hearing an entire arena sing such a powerful song is a religious experience; I’d spent the previous night on campsite patrol on the verge of tears as two ‘rival’ campsites (Jaws and Pipeline, iykyk) waged war on each other, complete with throwing tent poles, but hearing everyone sing in unison reminded me that we as humans are more similar than we are different, and music is one of the things that has the power to unite us.
All in all it was an incredible performance from Stormzy. I went in only knowing a few songs, but now I will definitely be adding more of his to my playlists. Though I was excited to see him, he wasn’t the act I was most looking forward to at Boardmasters, with other incredible artists on the lineup. Despite this, and the fact that I was running off three hours of sleep and a can of cold coffee, he is now my go-to when I am recommending artists to see live.
You don’t need to be a hardcore fan to have a great time either: the people around me included a girl who knew every lyric, the boy who only knew one song but was there because Stormzy is “so cool”, and a group of older women who were potentially more concerned about my rather severe case of sunburn than Stormzy himself, but seemed to be having a good time anyway – he is one of those musicians who unites everyone in awe of his performance.
