Tramlines 2025: Stunning Weekend Has Sheffield Top of the Festival Class
- Matt Codd, Quiana Smith (Nicole) and Sophie Walker
- Jul 31
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 5
We're going to open this review with some background honesty. In our eyes, last year's festival was pretty much perfect and we had the most incredible weekend, the weather was beautiful and the Main Stage had some of our favourite artists of all time performing like Snow Patrol, Example and Bombay Bicycle Club to name just a few.
This year's festival had to go some way to even match it, let alone outdo it. Immediately, we were left feeling a little skeptical going into this year's event. Barring the obvious standouts like Pulp and Rizzle Kicks, the lineup as a whole didn't have us wholly excited, the forecast didn't look the best and as kick off came closer and closer, that skepticism grew.
From the moment we entered Hillsborough Park though, we realised this wasn't such a bad thing. Last year we found ourselves almost camped out towards the front of the Main Stage and while this gave us excellent views for some of the aforementioned favourites, it also meant we didn't check out as much of the rest of the festival as we may have liked.
This year, we made a concerted effort to explore the festival more and also check out bands we hadn't previously considered upon the lineup announcement. What better place to start than with the bands and artists on our doorstep. Obviously we had done a bit of research into this prior to the festival for our Local Artists Preview piece, as well as being huge fans and champions of local artists in general.
But, starting our whole weekend with a band like Femur live really sets a benchmark. Their music, and stage presence, is undeniable and furiously addictive and they looked totally at home on The Main Stage. By the end of their set, lead singer Felix Renshaw was in the crowd, wired mic in hand, starting a moshing pit after kissing and hugging those he passed on his way in. Across the weekend the depth of local talent on display was so fantastic and we can't wait to see some of these artists develop and move up the bill. Pop-punk local icons Jetski drew the biggest crowd we've seen at The Open Arms stage for a gloriously sunny Friday afternoon set, a bigger crowd than they drew on the bigger Leadmill Stage a couple of years ago they claimed.
On Sunday, April Tapes smashed their set on their first ever visit to Tramlines Festival. Nothing hits like seeing a local artist on The Leadmill Stage (whether that's at Tramlines or in The Leadmill itself) and the Sheffield/Chesterfield quartet made the most of kicking off the final day's festivities with a short but incredibly assured set the left those who made it down early desperate for more. Our final up and coming local act of the weekend was arguably the best though in the luscious indie pop of Sundress. First up on The Main Stage on Sunday, Sundress made Hillsborough Park their own with their infectious genre-hopping melodies, easily switching from pure modern rock to '90s dreampop and more from song to song. With debut single 'Meet Me In Montauk' now at over 100k streams, and with the crowd being left well and truly desperate for more releases, Sundress have to be one of the most exciting bands in the city at the moment. We even secured ourself a Sundress tee to spread the word.
We have also been following the journey of Slambarz for over a year, as they have some of the best artist development programmes, scholarships and workshops to help young people in Sheffield that want to explore music and their craft. Slambarz yet again took over Speaker's Corner at Tramlines, this time over on The Library Stage. Friday kicked off with a set for DJ Dylor (one of Slambarz's co-founders) and DJ Law (In-house DJ) to start off a weekend debuting artists as well as those already established. As the previously mentioned DJ’s followed into Saturday’s line up, they brought in cliques (GSD, CNC and the Slambarz takeover) that have been on the radar for a hot minute now and Cypher sets closing the Friday and Saturday offerings. For us though, it was Sunday that would be the standout. A female-heavy R&B stage that opened with DJ Kyla C and mixes that gives good throwback, Sarafina (aka Afrofina) bringing in a smooth, clean and relatable vibe, fire dance routines from Dance Dynamic, a beautiful aura within Lottie Dawe, established acts at Fuego, W4nnjiro and Kayes bringing in the crowd and Kyla C closing off with an excellent mix of tunes.
The next most obvious place to head was, of course, The Leadmill Stage. Sheffield's premier hotbed for platforming new talent had a stacked cast this year and we caught a standout weekend-closing performance from The Royston Club on Sunday. A packed tent was treated to an even more packed setlist with songs from the upcoming album Songs For The Spine as well as hits from their debut Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars, all of which were met rapturously with an energy that felt like it could pick the whole tent up and move it a few metres. But The Royston Club we've been a fan of for years and there were a couple of other artists over the course of the weekend at The Leadmill Stage that wowed us.
Dreampop quartet daydreamers have been on our radar since catching their support slot at Sea Girls' most recent Sheffield gig, however their performance on Saturday cemented us as big fans. Playing to what they called their "biggest ever festival crowd", the quartet looked so at home - the title of biggest festival crowd at a daydreamers set won't be ours for long. The standout for us on The Leadmill Stage has to be the incredible She's In Parties. We aren't sure Dublin and Colchester usually mix that well but with She's In Parties it's a dream combination. With shades of Pale Waves and Wolf Alice about their sound, and led by effervescent Katie Dillon, She's In Parties have earned a lot of lifelong fans with their brand of dreamy shoegaze ripped straight from the nineties and refreshed for a newer audience. We're proud to be counted amongst those new fans.
Of course, the logical place to go when trying to explore away from the Main Stage is to head to T'Other Stage and here we were treated to some equally fantastic performances. Our first of the whole weekend was the legend that is Dr. John Cooper Clarke who put on an emotional and hilarious show for a massive crowd hanging on his every word. On Sunday afternoon a teeming tent got to see a bonafide popstar in CMAT blow almost all other performances out of the water with just 5 songs - a criminally short set for an artist with the talent, bangers and riding the kind of wave that "the very sexy CMAT band" currently are. Shout out to The Leadmill again here for their Dial Up: '00s vs '10s club night on Saturday evening too, it had us worrying for our voices heading into the final day - or maybe that was that night's headliner?
In what was THE performance of the weekend for us, Rizzle Kicks brought the house down with their first show in Sheffield for 11 years, or 4185 days if you really want to contextualise how much Sheffield (and the world for a large part) has been craving a Rizzle Kicks performance. Our editor Soph was lucky enough to see that performance, but for newer and younger fans, this was an incredible opportunity. The guys did not disappoint in the slightest, their hour flew past and we never wanted it to end. It was special to see them back after all they've been through and to see them come out with an energy that went unmatched over the weekend. It was a true banger after banger set with all the hits, vibes and fun you would have expected from a Rizzle Kicks gig a decade ago, and will surely come to expect again.
Though we weren't overly enthused by the Main Stage lineup overall, we still made sure we caught a glimpse of what was on offer of course. On Saturday we had an absolute blast on entering the festival to the ever-present and ever-brilliant Everly Pregnant Brothers, dodging as breadcakes were hurled into the crowd, as well as a brilliant mid-afternoon treat with the global popstar Natasha Bedingfield - we found it pretty impossible not to belt the words of 'Unwritten' and 'These Words' along with the rest of the festival. Jake Bugg brought his well known, unique brand of indie rock straight after to continue to brighten the day before Scottish indie legends Franz Ferdinand treated a huge crowd to a setlist that played like a Greatest Hits record. Obviously 'Take Me Out' was the highlight but opening with 'Dark Of The Matinee' was also a standout moment for us, it was pure feel good energy across the field.
On Sunday, after Sundress came special guests Scouting For Girls for another Greatest Hits type setlist full of their classic pop anthems. After their last visit - where T'Other Stage field had to be shut due to demand - it was great to see them pull such a huge crowd on the Main Stage. If you were there though remember to keep an eye out for yourself in the music video for their next single! We also weren't finished with the local acts yet as we thoroughly enjoyed the intoxicating arena indie rock of The Sherlocks with their massive show at The Steelyard in Kelham Island just under a year away.
We also opted for 2 of the 3 Main Stage headliners over the weekend. Sunday saw the return of Kasabian after their incredible headline show in 2022. Before that though came probably the most special moment of the weekend. As the Lionesses entered extra time and penalties in the Euros Final with Spain, Tramlines put the game on the screens and up to 40,000 people watched Chloe Kelly smash in the winning penalty. The roar and celebration was incredible, followed by the obligatory spin of 'Freed From Desire', it's a moment that will live long in the memory.
Making it even more special was the fact that Kasabian entered mere minutes after, riding that incredible high. Still one of the best live bands in the country after 20 years and a change in frontman, Kasabian have the showmanship, hits and variety to ensure every show of theirs is memorable. Newer songs like 'Call' and 'Coming Back To Me Good' blended excellently with the established stompers like 'LSF' and 'You're In Love With A Psycho' and even the inclusion of some classics '90s House music like 'Insomnia' and 'Music Sounds Better With You' just fit perfectly in what was a pure party to finish the weekend.
There's obviously one performance that we haven't mentioned yet, and in truth it's required us to get our thoughts out about everything else before we can even begin to comprehend it. But if you didn't know, Friday's headliner was Pulp - the '90s icons, Britpop icons and Sheffield icons. It was a show that encapsulated everything that is so great about this band - Quirky, sexy, fulfilling and unlike anything we've ever seen in our years at Tramlines. Jarvis Cocker is still one of the most entertaining frontmen in the business, from chucking chocolate into the crowd, trying to catch a grape in his mouth (granted, very difficult at an outdoor venue) to walking across the front row of the audience guessing they were from random places in Sheffield and the surrounding areas - We do wonder how many he ended up getting right.
Just pipping Jarvis and the genuinely incredible extended band to the star of their show though, as always, was the plethora of hits they've crafted over the last 40 years. From opening with new album opener 'Spike Island', to a relatively early play of 'Disco 2000' to blow the crowd away, a first spin of 'Sheffield: Sex City' live in 13 years and a live debut of 'Last Day of the Miners Strike', to an unbelievable run to end the show of 'Do You Remember The First Time', 'Mis-Shapes', 'Got To Have Love', 'Babies', 'Common People' and 'A Sunset'. It was a breathless couple of hours packed with moments that each of us will remember and a guest appearance from fellow Sheffield legend Richard Hawley for 4 of the songs, and where most bands would have fireworks to close their show, Pulp in fashion instead opted for inflatable arm-flailing tubemen, which resembled a lot of the crowd by the end of Common People to be fair.
Before Pulp entered the stage the screen announced that it was the 571st Pulp show and it advised us to get ready for a night to remember and it couldn't have been more true. We have never been at a show like that and are unlikely to see one anytime soon. To check out everything else we got up to at the festival, head to our Instagram here. Tramlines 2026 has a long way to go to match the peaks of this year's festival, as well as the sheer depth of quality across all it's stages. Super Earlybird tickets for 2026 go on sale on Friday 1st August and you can sign up for access here. We already can't wait to see what plans they have to top this year.
