Orange Rockcorps Concert 2011

Early this year, I have gave 4 hours of my time to carry out manual labour at an adventure park. Within the 4 hours, I weeded, I gardened and I painted. Even though it led to a lot of sweat and required a lot of energy, I received a ticket to the biggest concert that Orange Rockcorps has organised in the United Kingdom, 11,000 volunteers across the country will be assembled at Wembley Arena to be serenaded by different musical guests, who were kept unknown until days before the event. Jessie J, Adele, Janelle Monae and even Lady Gaga were rumoured to be the performers. On Tuesday 12th July, 2011 the scheduled performers included; Eliza Doolittle, Professor Green, Kelis and headliners, Primal Scream and Diddy-Dirty Money.

The show was hosted by Channel 4's Nick Grimshaw and the ever fashionable, Alexa Chung. The concert was kicked off by Eliza Doolittle, whose set included a stripped down version of Bruno Mars' Grenade. Though I praise her for her vocals and stage presence, the audience response was somewhat lukewarm. The show went on when surprise guest Wretch 32 delivered a set that included the crowd-pleasing TraKtor. Professor Green followed suit and delivered a lukewarm performance but as he got more comfortable on stage, his set picked up momentum and he delivered a pretty impressive show.

Edgy r&b/pop star Kelis, took the stage in a body hugging sequin jumpsuit with feathers locked into her hair. Her set received little response from the crowd mainly because I think the crowd were not too pleased with her distant stage presence when performing her hits which included Milkshake, 4th of July and Acapella. She however left the crowd cheerful as she closed her set with her duet with Calvin Harris, Bounce. Indie rock and roll band, Primal Scream took the stage after Kelis, and their dedicated fans sang along and cheered them on but at the time they hit the stage, everyone was saving their energy for the final act of the night.

Diddy-Dirty Money took the stage after a teasing 30-minute wait. The Bad Boy boss finally took the stage to thunderous roars and loud cheers from the crowd. The mogul then stated " I have a 20 minute set, but there are too many hits, so I am gonna perform as many of those hits as I can". Those hits included, his verse on 50 Cent's I Get Money, Been Around The World, Bad Boy 4 Life and All About The Benjamins. His Dirty Money bandmates, Dawn Richards and Kalenna Harper joined him on stage for Missing You and Last Night, then surprise guest Chipmunk to perform his hit song, Champion (Featuring Chris Brown). As his set drew closer to its end, Diddy Dirty Money performed their power song, Coming Home. As it reached 12 midnight, UK grime rapper Skepta joined the Dirty Money crew for the grime remix of Hello, Good Morning.