Wireless festival to finish early for Euros final

Paint the Town Red singer Doja Cat will still be performing a full set, organisers say

Wireless festival has announced it will end early on Sunday to give fans "plenty of time to travel home" to watch the Euro 2024 final.

The three-day rap, R&B and hip-hop festival in Finsbury Park, London, opens later, with Nicki Minaj due to top Friday's line-up.

But organisers announced in an Instagram post that Sunday headliner Doja Cat's set had been brought forward to allow the event to finish at 19:00 BST.

The football clash between England and Spain kicks off an hour later at 20:00.

Friday headliner Nicki will finish at 22:20, while on Saturday rapper 21 Savage's set will end at 22:15.

There were unhappy reactions from many festivalgoers, who questioned why the match couldn’t be shown at the festival.

Jazzi-Mai Edwards tells BBC Newsbeat she will still be going but that "it doesn’t make any sense why they wouldn’t play it on the big screen".

"I’m disappointed because I paid for the ticket months in advance for a full day," the 22-year-old says.

Jazzi-Mai also thinks an hour won’t be enough for many in the crowd to get away to watch the final.

Ellena Kkolos describes the late changes as "disappointing and disrespectful".

"Music and football are two different cultures, two different worlds and not everyone is interested in football," she tells Newsbeat.

"Us festivalgoers have paid a lot of money to enjoy the music," Ellena, 32, adds.

Two big acts - Tyla and Digga D - were due to perform on Sunday but have pulled out since their appearances were first announced.

Wireless's organisers had yet to announce replacement acts for the pair.

Rapper Digga D is currently facing drug charges and South African artist Tyla announced the cancellation of her world tour earlier this year because of a serious injury.

Some fans speculated the festival was ending due to a lack of a replacement, but organisers Festival Republic have told Newsbeat: "The change in running order and curfew is exclusively to accommodate people wanting to watch the football, no artists have been pulled or sets cut because of this."

Rappers Flo Milli and Veeze also pulled out of Friday's line-up, but have been replaced by NSG and Kairo Keyz.

Organisers said Doja Cat would still perform a full set despite the early time of her headline set.

Barbie World artist Nicki Minaj will be headlining on Friday

Other acts over the weekend include J Hus, Sean Paul, Gunna, Future, Rema and Uncle Waffles.

The festival has also promised "surprise acts" to over the course of the weekend.

About 50,000 fans head to Wireless each year.

The festival also announced single-use disposable vapes were not allowed and could be confiscated.

Last year, Wireless signed a five-year deal with Haringey Council to be held in Finsbury Park every summer until at least 2027.

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