Photography: BST Hyde Park, Kings Of Leon Day

RockShot are attending a few of the dates at this years’ musical celebration within the confines of Hyde Park, the Barclaycard sponsored BST (British Summer Time). There are five stages on site, with a total of six afternoon/nights of live music – and a lineup that accommodates a wide variety of tastes. I attended the middle of our three outings; where the accent was firmly on alt-rock, with artists such as Deaf Havana, Pixies and headliners on the impressive Great Oak Stage, Kings Of Leon. You can read my full review of Kings Of Leon here. In summary: great band, great music, please smile a bit.

Kings Of Leon (Simon Reed)

A previous work commitment plus a series of horrific train connections conspired against me and resulted in a late arrival on site. There wasn’t a great deal of time to find my bearings or indeed to discover much of the site at all. My exploration didn’t extend beyond an area in the south east corner of the park, nestled by the Great Oak Stage; the Leafy Grove. This was an area aptly named – majestic trees towering up above, that provided much needed respite from temperatures in the thirties and a scorching sun. There was a sweet little performance space down there too; the Summer Stage, where I caught some of crowd enjoying London-based singer/songwriter Tom Grennan.

Tom Grennan performing on the Summer Stage, BST Hyde Park, 6th July 2017 (Simon Reed)

Tom Grennan (Simon Reed)

The Leafy Grove had a nice relaxed vibe to it and there’s no reason to think this wasn’t replicated about the whole site. I look forward to returning in 2018 to do BST properly and to check out some of the other performance spaces. For now, the best views were to be had from atop the highest rung of the festival photographers’ friend; the trusty step ladder.

There was simply no option to view any more of the site, for to do so would have meant missing the primary support set on the Great Oak stage delivered by veteran rockers Pixies.

Pixies performing on the Great Oak Stage, BST Hyde Park, 6th July 2017 (Simon Reed)

Pixies (Simon Reed)

Pixies delivered a set that was everything one could have hoped for and more. Given their pedigree, there was a strong argument to be made for making them the primary artist of the night. Roll on 2018. I could get used to more evenings in the park like this. For 2017, there is one day left of BST and it promises to be a hell of a good one. The very finest of Americana served up by the likes of Tyler Bryant And The Shakedown, Ward Thomas, Stevie Nicks and the incomparable Tom Petty. RockShot will be there and you can look forward to seeing and reading about it here soon.

Duran Duran @ BST Hyde Park 2026 (Sienna Lorraine Gray)

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