Guns N’ Roses at Hyde Park BST, June 30 2023  [Róisín Gadelrab]

EACH year Hyde Park’s BST festival comes around, there is an unspoken competition as to which band used the screens of the Great Oak stage the best. No one else may be aware of it, but for those who attend regularly, the incredible wraparound screen, when used well, sets this festival apart from many others.

Guns N’ Roses revived much of their imagery from the old days – snakes, skulls, inevitable roses and a Ukranian flag across wartime scenes for Civil War; a computer-generated P!nk appeared in the guise of Max Headroom styled by Brigitte Nielsen before her astounding set and Take That and Lulu were engulfed in flames for Relight My Fire. Still, nothing has yet beaten Blur’s dancing psychedelic ice creams of 2015…

But before all this, we start with Gwen Stefani. If you didn’t know P!nk was headlining, you’d be forgiven for thinking Stefani and her incredible array of dancers and cult costumes were there for the top slot – the 30-degree heat seemingly only fuelling the technicolour performance.

Gwen Stefani [Dave Hogan / Hogan Media]

Stefani, who must sleep in a cryogenic unit such does she appear to have been preserved for the past 20 years, ran through her back catalogue, with all the colourful pop and zany facial expressions you’d expect – giant bananas for Hollaback Girl, harlequin dancers, a bedazzled throne – the Gwen Stefani of her heyday was alive and immortalised on set, although the Harajuku influences that have been deemed problematic in the 2020s appeared toned down.

High-energy, crystal-clear vocals, comic strip choreography, this was a showcase – and, while Stefani may be more popular with an older crowd these days, her dazzling performance and quirky outfits would appeal to many teens of today.

She was generous in her love of London, where she used to live, and humble in her request to the audience to indulge her in new single True Babe – a perfect, supporting act to P!nk, for whose set she stayed and rocked out in the VIP area in a display of solidarity.

P!nk at Hyde Park BST [Dave Hogan / Hogan Media]

If Stefani hadn’t already set expectations high, P!nk’s reputation for putting on a spectacular show raised them further – and she didn’t disappoint. The last time we saw her in Hyde Park at Wireless in 2010 she zorbed the crowd in an inflatable bubble.

This time she zapped and zoomed across the audience on an incredible four-way wire set-up like a kick-ass Tinkerbell, part delicate performer, part mischievous rock goddess.

If P!nk isn’t your regular listening choice, it’s easy to forget that she isn’t just good at putting out huge pop hits. As well as balletic aero-acrobatics, her performance encompasses gentleness, kindness, wry observations about marriage and divorce, generosity, endless chatty asides to her fans, graceful dance and banging rock.

Her gritty vocals are a match for any of the rock acts of her time – bring her up onstage with Axl Rose (as she has done before) and she could eat those songs alive. The big hits were there: Get This Party Started, accompanied by fireworks, flamingos, and bananas; mesmerising dancers fell from platforms onto trampolines and P!nk somehow managed to keep her fiery vocals clear while soaring over the crowds for So What.

I don’t really write love songs, she apologises at one point, before drifting into a dreamy Make You Feel My Love on the piano.

The sweetest moment came when she was joined by her daughter Willow for Cover Me In Sunshine, while her cover of Sadé’s No Ordinary Love was breathtaking. The only thing missing was an old fave – Family Portrait – but then does she need it?

Guns N’ Roses at Hyde Park BSE  [Róisín Gadelrab]

The following Friday, taking to the stage for the all-too-respectable time of 7.20pm, we wondered if this punctual incarnation of Guns N’ Roses was hoping for an early night.

Perhaps it was a good thing that the hot weather had been dampened by some typical English drizzle or else the masses of middle-aged men in Slash and Axl cosplay, who had been drinking all day, would have been even less likely to clear the way for the multitude of parents ploughing buggies through the deepest crowds, irritated at the apparent oblivion of the inebriated.

While introducing young children (with ear defenders) to the life-changing impact of live music should be encouraged, is it wise to bring buggies to the very front section where the merry fans stumbled through the throng clutching buckets of churros and boxes of opened beer cans (a questionable bar policy) unlikely to notice the little child carrier beneath their clumsy feet?

The multi-generational appeal of the band attracted a mixed-age, multi-national crowd – and one person drinking the very rock’n’roll tipple of hot chocolate with cream and sprinkles!

Opening with the up-tempo It’s So Easy, the pace was set. Axl did his damndest to be the man of his youth, vocals clearly better than the TV Glasto broadcast, particularly when he reached for his trademark high notes – but naturally not quite as strong as decades past. The dance moves of old, mic-stand swinging, familiar, if a little out of place on the body of a man in his 60s, who, understandably is not quite so snake-hipped today.

After stumbling on the wet stage early on, the eager-to-please singer told the crowd: “With the mist, the stage is getting progressively slipperier, I’m just gonna slow down with the running around. We’re not gonna bust our asses,” immediately thinking better of himself, adding: “We’ll still bust our asses for you.”

It was a little unfortunate that Ian Beale returned to EastEnders the same week G N’R returned to prominence in the UK as the hair likeness was hard to ignore but thankfully, that’s where the similarity ended. Mr Brownstone – not about a nice man living in a beautiful Brooklyn house – kicked some energy into a relatively static crowd, initially there more to appreciate music than to rock out.

The lyrics of tracks like Absurd are a reminder that the kind of rock that G N’R specialise in, is of a time – the misogynistic descriptions likely questionable today. But their classic riffs cut through, timeless bars bonding listeners and, as the riffs to Sweet Child O’ Mine, Civil War, Paradise City and many more rise across the years, a giant Slash towers over the stage and crowd, cutting iconic shapes across the huge screens as his fingers weave their spell over his multitude of guitars.

The full G N’R sound was completed by the rest of the band, who kept the instrumentals fresh and the jam-packed set on form, sparking up the crowds with Welcome To The Jungle and You Could Be Mine. The answer to our early set time musings came three hours later when Paradise City rang out across Hyde Park.

As night fell and the silhouettes of nostalgic ageing rockers in band T-shirts mashed their air guitars and moshed their heads to their idols for one last time, the band showed that this version of G N’R – a cohesive, almost earnest version of their scrappier selves – came here with the best intentions, a 28-song set a week after headlining Glastonbury (three bonus songs including Don’t Cry) and a refusal to – at least intend to – slow down despite any physical restrictions that come with time.

Take That [Dave Hogan / Hogan Media]

It looked like the kids were left at home for Take That the following day as their mainly middle-aged audience sipped wine and jealously guarded their spots as they waited for their idols to arrive. Some fans had camped from the night before to ensure they would be in touching distance of Gary, Mark and Howard, the remaining members of the once five-piece.

Such was the dedication to the 90s boy band that the park felt arguably more crowded than any of the other nights and, as they came onstage to The Flood, followed by a horde of neutral-clad dancers, their cult-like status was cemented. Even the many husbands and partners in the crowd were belting out every word.

It was an experience to be surrounded by such an electric atmosphere, where almost every person knew every song, the strength of the band’s relationship with its fans was palpable. And, for those who may not be hardened fans, it’s difficult not to get swept up in the euphoria and ticker tape, oh so much ticker tape, through oh so many songs, when there is so much goodwill emanating from the band to their fans and vice versa.

Running through Could It Be Magic (Howard bashfully admitting to forgetting the words), Greatest Day, How Deep Is Your Love and more, the band scaled stairs that were much larger than in rehearsal Mark confides, took their act down the aisle for a piano sing-along to A Million Love Songs, celebrated Pride and picked out the most amusing fan signs “this song is older than me” one read, “they all are”, Gary quipped back.

A moustachioed Mark took the ringmaster role for Shine, sharply sung but unfortunately evoking that one big supermarket advert for obvious reasons these days. They generally kept to dance moves suitable for their age but did attempt a few from their younger days during Pray – if you know, you know – and it was amusingly apparent.

Calum Scott joined the band for Dancing On My Own and, surprise, surprise, a fierce, full voiced Lulu appeared as flames lapped the trio now all dressed in fluffy white coats on the big screen.

As the tight set wound up, there were some magic moments from Patience, Hold Up A Light (aided by phone lights), Never Forget and Rule The World and there was a feeling that people went home a little happier that night – the kind of set which lightens the mood of even the most indifferent.