ASAP Rocky and Chris Brown give energetic Wireless Festival performances

ASAP Rocky and Chris Brown have given energetic headline performances during the opening day of Wireless Festival in London’s Crystal Palace Park.

The rap music festival is taking place at three sites over two weekends in London and Birmingham.

American rapper ASAP Rocky, 33, took to the stage in an all black outfit for his exclusive UK festival performance.

The event, billed as Europe’s biggest celebration of contemporary black music, began on Friday and will end on July 11.

Performances are taking place at two London venues, in Crystal Palace and Finsbury Park, and at the Birmingham NEC – with the festival returning there for the first time since 2014.

ASAP Rocky’s performance marks his return to English soil for the first time in six years.

The rapper reportedly welcomed his first child with singer Rihanna in May.

American singer Brown, 33, performed ahead of ASAP Rocky, taking to the stage in a pink hoody and blue jeans, paired with a platinum buzz cut featuring a blue stripe.

Brown’s headline slot at Wireless marked his first UK festival performance in more than a decade.

Friday also saw performances from Australian rapper The Kid LAROI and American rapper Lil Uzi Vert – both of which also gave UK festival exclusive shows.

As the festival continues multi-award winning artist Dave will be joined by more hip hop megastars from across the pond including Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, ASAP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator, J Cole and SZA.

J Cole will perform at Crystal Palace Park on Saturday, followed by Tyler, The Creator on the Sunday.

The following weekend all eyes will be on Finsbury Park where an historic all female line-up of Cardi B, SZA and Nicki Minaj will take to the stage.

The event will be SZA’s first European festival headline slot and her first UK performance in four years.

That same weekend Dave, who recently won best hip hop/grime/rap act the 2022 Brit awards, will headline in Birmingham, followed by Cardi B on Saturday and J Cole on Sunday.

As part of a new partnership with BBC Radio 1Xtra, radio DJ Snoochie Shy also hosted a set on Friday – the presenter, whose real name is Cheyenne Davide, has had her own show on the network since 2018.