LIVE REVIEW: Y Not Festival 2025

Pikehall in Derbyshire is mainly thought to be a quant small village with a couple of farms, a dozen households and scattering of sheep grazing the landscape. However if you happen by chance to be travelling that way at the start of August over the brow of one of the sparce hills you are met by the almighty sight of Y Not festival, stretching over some of the gigantic fields with enough entertainment to keep the thousands of attendees entertained for the 4 day sojourn.

Gigslutz arrived a little later than expected on Friday, nonetheless we went straight into the deep end with Manchester’s far too often unsung heroes Northside taking to the Giant Squid stage. Mixing their own fabulous funk, groove, baggy soundscapes, the packed out tent were treated to a set filled with bangers. Starting out with the all time classic Moody Places new comer drummer Andrew Smith filled the drumming stool with ease, adding his own fills with deliciousness, the added magic of bassist Cliff Ogier and guitarist Rob Glennie are a perfect chemistry on the likes of Weight Of Air and Tour De World. Front man Dermo is in his element, bouncing around the stage like someone whose just found their golden ticket, his engagement with the crowd is second to none especially when he sees young and old faces wear their logo t shirts. Their closing number, the anthemic Shall We Take A Trip has their followers from the back to the front remembering their days of youth, the mighty Northside don’t ever disappoint.

On to Friday headliners the mighty Prodigy, the once rave conquerors are now a fully fledged bombastic explosive rock outfit, with the added bonus of lasers and full band, Liam Howlett and Maxim know how to outstrip many of their rivals. Opening with the ludicrously addictive Omen, the masses infront of them know they’re in for a treat. Maxim mixes lyrics with instructions for the voodoo people to follow his lead, that is until the rebirth of the legendary Keith Flint lights up the stage with the instrumental of Firestarter, the unmistakable Mohican hairstyle reminds every one of the timeless and regrettably all too soon departed frontman. That said the band play on and do Flint justice by doing so, Poison, Breathe seemingly invite spirits from the outer universe to the proceedings, with the final bow of Out Of Space harking back to those early 90’s rave days, the Prodigy have thee most exceptional qualities and abilities to pass the tests of time.

Sigrid delighted the mid-afternoon Saturday crowd with her delightsome pop anthems, the Norwegian singer-songwriter appealed four-fold to the packed out crowd playing her familiar hits Plot Twist, Sucker Punch and of course her most familiar tunes Mirror and Strangers. Brummie favourites The Twang make a welcome return to the festival with a magnificent main stage set the band all singing the praises of the singalong crowd. Brit Award winners Last Dinner Party entered the stage to their own style of spectacular theatrics, lead singer Abigail Morris donned a black trench coat before the band into Burn Alive and their stomping Nothing Matters. Another of Manchester’s favourites Courteeners closed off the second day with their unmistakable indie rock, the unmistakable silhouette of Liam Fray enters the stage followed by his band mates, as first licks of Are You In Love With A Notion lights up, the crowd singalong in unison, ready for a night of boundless energy. Summer, That Kiss, a cover of It Must Be Love in salute to the nutty boys and Modern Love all confirm these Middleton heavyweights are kings of their trade. Not Nineteen Forever gets the smoke flare treatment it so richly deserves, an anthem for the modern day, it’s a fine way to sign off day 2.

The Sunday sermon begins for many of bended knee but those aches and pains are soon forgotten when Franz Ferdinand and Alex Kapranos enter stage right, their jagged rock pop guitar anthems help lift the crowds spirits with familiar hits such as Take Me Out, their new spritely hit Build It Up gets an extra special fanfare from the eager crowd who send off their heroes with affection. Indie journeymen Shed Seven bring out the very best in both music and crowd energy, Rick Witter and his band of merry men turn out their best efforts with their likeable jangly indie anthems such as Chasing Rainbows, Getting Better, Disco Down and Going For Gold, these number one hit makers look likely to not stop yet. Maybe one of everyone’s band of the weekend Noasis bring their own energy after having seen Oasis at Wembley the previous night. The 20,000 strong crowd are bang up for an afternoon of Manchester bangers. Rock n Roll Star, Some Might Say, Live Forever and the closing chimes of Champagne Supernova, the festival have been treated to these glorious tunes that are so richly being brought back to life by the real thing on their world tour.

The final bow of the weekend belongs to the nutty boys Madness, with the own inevitable showmanship Suggs along with other original members light up the crowd when it was probably everyone would be on their knees, the crowd are more than ready for more and it shows on such classics as One Step Beyond, MyGirl, Love Struck, Shut Up and the curtain call of Night Boat To Cairo, Madness are such as naturally affectionate band, they all feels like they are your closest friend, we all seem to know someone who’d fit into the band and maybe that’s part of their appeal, yet no one can play as real and mean it as much as these Camden stalwarts. It’s overly fitting these true living legends close of the 2025 Y Not Festival, here’s hoping 2026 will follow suit and be as memorable.

More information on Y Not Festival can be found here