Author: Jack Needham

If Download Festival 2025 is to be believed, this is a summer of unseriousness. At this past weekend’s Download Festival [13-15 June], we saw 90s icons Vengaboys pumping ‘We Like To Party’ to a crowd of enthusiastic metalheads. McFly played a mix of Metallica and incredibly feel good, pre-watershed pop to a main stage Friday night crowd. Instead of this being an incredibly regrettable decision from the band, the British foursome were officially welcomed by the Download faithful with a circle pit of approval. Festivals such as Mighty Hoopla, who recently brought a mix of noughties stalwarts and Eurovision icons…

Serbia’s EXIT Festival has announced that this summer’s edition will be its last in Serbia. The decision, says the festival, comes after EXIT publicly aligned with the country’s student-led anti-corruption protests, which occurred after the Novi Sad station collapse in November 2024. The tragedy claimed 15 lives. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Studenti FTN-a (@ftn_se_budi) Since showing support for the protests, EXIT says that after it “publicly stood with the students of Serbia in their fight for a freer and more just society,” the festival has “been subjected to immense financial and political pressures…

Jonathan Mayers, the co-founder of US music festival Bonnaroo, has died aged 51. Mayers is also the co-founder of Superfly Entertainment alongside Rick Farman, Richard Goodstone and Kerry Black. In 1996, Mayers and the Superfly team launched the first Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, in Manchester, Tennessee. The festival has since grown to be a 70,000 capacity festival, and is a major event on the US festival market. “Our hearts are extremely heavy.” This year’s festival, set to take place 12-15 June, hosts headline appearances from Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo and Hozier, alongside performances from Avril Lavigne, Justice, John…

Glasgow’s iconic dance music establishment Sub Club has announced its line-up for the Southside Weekender. The event will take place over two days (2-3 August) at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park Arena, and will host DJs such as Ron Trent, Detroit icon Moodymann, Derrick Carter, and Sub Club residents Harri & Domenic. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sub Club est. 1987 (@subclub87) More information and tickets can be found here.

British group SAULT have been announced for London’s All Points East festival. The performance, set to take place on 15 August 2025, marks only the second time the R&B act have performed live. Singer-songwriter Cleo Sol and reggae act Chronixx will also perform on the day. View this post on Instagram A post shared by All Points East (@allpointseastuk) While SAULT have largely remained an anonymous act throughout their existence, it’s understood that the group is led by musician, producer and Little Simz collaborator Inflo. In April of this year, SAULT released their latest album 10. Previously announced…

Vikram Gudi has made his name in the music industry in quite untraditional ways. He grew up in Birmingham, moved to London and became an intern at the record label Ninja Tune. Now, he organises stages at Glastonbury’s Shangri-La area and is the founder of Lila, a non-profit that describes itself as an organisation “focused on empowering South Asian artists & music professionals in the UK music industry.” He also had to lie to his parents to get all of this done. Growing up in a South Asian household, a career in the music industry simply wasn’t a thing. Undeterred,…

The International Festival Forum (IFF) has announced details of its 11th edition. The event will host 1000 agents and festival leaders, and will take place in London between 9-11 September 2025. The event will feature agency pop-up offices, numerous speed meeting sessions, genre-specific mixers, and acts as a showcase for the global music festival industry. The weekend will also play host to a conference programme where industry members will lead discussions about the future of the music festival industry, and what we can learn from 2025. Keynote interviews this year will include Jim King, CEO of AEG’s European Festival Division,…

West London’s Junction 2 festival has added Above & Beyond, deadmau5 and Christian Löffler to its 2025 line-up. Further new additions include deadmau5 as his Testpilot alias, Quest b2b Adiel, DJ Koze, Midland, and a special performance from Palms Trax b2b 2ManyDJs. These acts join the previously announced 999999999, Nina Kraviz, PARAMIDA, Job Jobse and more. Junction 2 has become known for its sound and stage design, which sees Boston Manor Park transformed into a paradise for dance music enthusiasts and revellers. For its 2025 edition, Junction 2 will soon be unveiling news on a brand new stage, which will be revealed on social…

BludFest has proven itself to be a music festival success story. Debuting in 2024, BludFest advertised itself as a home for YungBlud’s fanbase, a place to be yourself and, crucially, a major music festival without the major music festival prices. And by all metrics, it achieved its aims. People came, people danced, and people found their community. YungBlud is intrinsically linked to his festival. First off, it bears his name, and he founded it. But he also has a passion for it that isn’t shared by most artist-led festivals. He doesn’t just turn up, perform his set, leave and collect…

Pitchfork Music Festival London has announced its second line-up for the fifth edition of it’s UK outing. Taking place from 4 – 8 November 2025, the new additions include writer, composer and performer Ali Sethi, electronic musician Nicolás Jaar, Canadian rock troupe Destroyer and The Fiery Furnaces. The newest additions also include dance producer Marie Davidson, ambient musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, dance-rock group RIP Magic and the US-based rapper and poet Saul Williams. Producer Carlos Niño also joins the bill, alongside Los Thuthanaka, Nala Sinephro, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, Atlanta indie rock acts Mamalarky, Loukeman, holybones and Irish…