Yungblud, the moniker of Dom Harrison, has built success from his authentic connection to his fans. As he has grown more into the mainstream, this is clearly still the priority for the Doncaster-born artist.
2025 saw the Make A Friend tent double in size, with patches, themed friendship bracelets and a photo booth.
At Yungblud Village, fans could create the sofa scene from ‘Lovesick Lullaby’, see the car from ‘Lowlife’, or buy limited edition Bludfest copies of his latest album ‘Idols’. With a busking stage, temporary tattoos and a giant Ferris wheel, this could have been a three-day festival, packed into 11 hours.
Opening the Bludfest mainstage was Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician, Elín Hall. With her storytelling lyricism, Hall writes “songs about being a terrible lover”.
Her set included ‘Is She Pretty’ and her latest release, and the first in English, ‘Heaven to a Heathen’. Enchanting vocals complemented her outfit - a white frilled mini skirt and statement ruffled black top. Elín Hall closed her set with ‘America’, a tale of the person who broke her heart; “they loved their dream more than me”, setting the scene for the day full of great music ahead.
Bludfest is a celebration of blurring genre-boundaries, one artist who has epitomised this in their recent mixtape is Nxdia. Darting on stage to join their band, Nxdia opened their high-octane set with 2021 hit ‘OUCH’, before introducing themselves to an ever-growing crowd; “I spell it Nxdia because I’m super edgy, I’m so excited to be here and party with you for a little bit”.
And party they did, giggling and interacting with the crowd during euphoric ‘Boy Clothes’, before setting the record straight and asking the crowd to boo “train delays”, “ghosting” and a “big f*cking boo for J. K. Rowling”. Effortlessly moving between English and Arabic throughout their set, ‘Body On Me’ got the audience clapping along. Describing ‘Feel Anything’ as a “manic depressive episode in two minutes”, Nxdia’s set closed with viral hit ‘She Likes A Boy’.
Bringing the glam to Bludfest, despite the glaring sun, was Liverpudlian Luvcat, the alt-rock band in their first festival season.
Fronted by lead singer Sophie Morgan, dressed in a vintage-inspired black dress, black sunglasses and red lipstick, the band drew an impressive crowd, including Yungblud himself, shortly before he made a surprise appearance at The Hawley Arms. Recently reworked ‘Matador’ was performed alongside their latest release ‘Lipstick’ and unreleased ‘Alien’ - the track’s festival mainstage debut.
This iteration of Bludfest saw the second stage with five times the capacity. Drawing the crowd there in the dust and blaring heat was none other than Nieve Ella. Opening with ‘Anything’, Nieve Ella delivered forty minutes of energetic pop-rock with highlights of ‘Things He Said’ and ‘Sweet Nothings’.
Heartstopper fans appreciated ‘Car Park’, which features in the latest season, before she teased her upcoming single ‘Good Grace’. Twirling, dancing and falling to her knees throughout the set, it was clear the pounding heat could not stop the Nieve Ella show. For her final song, the audience became a chorus of “la-la la-la” as they joined in the final part of her 2024 hit ‘Sugarcoated’.
Smoke filled the stage as guitarist Chloe Dadd hyped up the crowd for Peach PRC. As she opened with ‘Perfect For You’, the dancers in pink complemented the audience of pink and black outfits, many adorned with lace and fairy wings. Peach PRC, looking like she was visiting from a fairytale, introduced the next song: “Let's do a little gay song, this one's called Blondes”.
The climactic high notes of ‘Secret’ were met with screams and applause from the adoring audience, before the infectious party pop of unreleased ‘Sweet and Low’. Following a break from performance with an ethereal pole dance routine by Peach herself, ‘Like A Girl Does’ was Lesbian pop at its finest. A more angsty side to the popstar was seen in ‘F U Goodbye’ starting with a cry of “let’s say f*ck off to some idiots”, before fan favourites ‘Forever Drunk’ and ‘God Is A Freak’ closed her pop-fuelled set; “You’ve been amazing, thank you for having me Bludfest!”
Best known for hit singles, ‘Never Need Me’ and ‘All I Ever Asked’, Rachel Chinouriri kickstarted her first festival headline set with “Bludfest let’s go”, diving into ‘Garden of Eden’ before ‘My Everything’ slowed the tempo as she waved to fans, catching their eyes in the crowd.
Chatting about her debut album, ‘What A Devesting Turn Of Events’, she shared “I wrote a lot about the traumas of my dating stories” continuing her set with ‘It Is What It Is’ which ended with a full crowd coordinated two-step. Rachel Chinouriri’s headline was a duality of high energy and introspective lyricism, with tongue-and-cheek hits like ‘Dumb Bitch Juice’ and soulful vocals in ‘So My Darling’.
Of the latter, she said, “It reminds me how beautiful and fragile this life is, you want people to look at videos of you and think ‘they’re full of love’”. ‘Can We Talk About Isaac’ got the crowd jumping, the energy ever-growing as she closed the second stage with ‘Never Need Me’.
Closing your own festival is a high that not many artists have experienced, but for Yungblud, it is his second year. Opening his set with ‘Hello Heaven Hello’, the first single from his recent album ‘Idols’, his intention to give the crowd “the best night of [their] f*cking life” was immediately clear. His new music felt effortless to an audience who knew every word as if it had been out for years, not a day. Whilst some artists might bring the pyro out for the finale, by his second song, ‘Lovesick Lullaby’, he was calling for mosh pits, and there was fire on stage.
Guitarist Adam Warrington wowed in ‘Strawberry Lipstick’ before Yungblud was joined by fan “Thomas from Oxford”, who played guitar on ‘Fleabag’. With the same level of honesty as bravado, Dom shared, “I was so f*cking nervous to release this album”, before the glorious debut live performance of ‘The Greatest Parade’. New releases from ‘Idols’ were interspersed with classics, ‘Parents’, ‘Tin Pan Boy’ and ‘California’ - the latter showing off the horn section featuring saxophones, trumpet, trombone and sousaphone.
Always one for wordplay, Yungblud shared, “This has been the biggest change of my life, and I was so terrified to put this out” before performing ‘Change’ now joined by a string quartet. Imploring the audience to donate to War Child; “the world is in f*cking turmoil”, a powerful speech about the ongoing global conflicts led to a call to action; “we have to protect the future, we have to talk to the old men who are holding this world back with their greed.”
A surprise appearance from Billy Idol, perhaps less surprising if you checked what was taking place the next day at Milton Keynes Bowl, wowed the crowd as the two rock icons performed next to each other down the runway. The encore followed ‘Loner’, with tens of thousands in the crowd waving in unison. The climactic three-minute instrumental that closes ‘Ghosts’ was followed by ‘I Think I’m Okay’ and ‘Zombie’, his set-closing song from now until the “end of time” before an emotional, “I love you so f*cking much”, as the sky was illuminated with an impressive fireworks display. For a festival centred around community, one final chorus of ‘Zombie’, which saw thousands screaming lyrics, was a moment to be remembered.
Maisy Neale
Images: Aśya @orchi_day
