Warrington Music Fest 2025 – Saturday 31st May 2025
Golden Square / Time Square, Warrington
Now in its 3rd year since returning, Warrington Music Fest is an event not to be missed and a firm favourite in my musical calendar. Gaining huge momentum each year, now across 2 stages and highlighting the very best of local talent, and easily accessible within the town centre at the Golden Square shopping centre sits the main stage and a second, equally impressive stage over at Time Square. Both stages offer full band line ups as well as some acoustic sets with a variety of artists and genres. With a huge line up at each stage bringing a jam packed feast of live music, this does however create some clashes, making it impossible to see every act, so this article is a small review of my highlights and stand outs personally from another wonderful and vibrant festival.
The Lunar Youth
I’m already a huge fan of the Lunar Youth; I’ve seen them many times, so trust me when I say this is a band that excels at live performance. Fascinating from start to finish, oozing stage presence with an honest and open vocal filled with longing set atop melodic, cosmic and celestial sounds. Very textured, almost progressive, tracks alternate from calming, shimmering sound scapes into intense, yet jangly, guitar filled instrumentals. Rhythmic drum beats, soft, syncopated, throughout; there’s an undertone of beautiful melancholy with distortion and unexpected transitions, giving real depth, then comes a rock edge. So much atmosphere is manifested during performance and each band member is visibly lost in the world they are creating. Honestly another epic performance that has every one of us enthralled. Think Radiohead meets The Cure with some ambient sounds thrown in. I just love everything about this band.
Kim Jennet
A solo performance today from Kim (a real power house) often with her full band, a force to be reckoned with; her own original brand of alt rock is real attention grabbing, ‘must-see’ stuff. Stripped back, just vocal and acoustic guitar, this brings a whole other feel, a real chance to see exactly how powerful and controlled a vocalist Kim really is. Far reaching, notes held for super extended lengths, not once wavering. Today a real blues, sometimes country, feel, then throaty, a grate with such texture. So much feeling and expression is conveyed and the range is breathtaking; Immense stage presence, very likeable, chatty and very cool; as a crowd we literally hang onto her every word. A real privilege to see such an open and stripped back performance like this today. One knockout vocal!
Collusion
Indie vibes now for this set – another great live band who are well worth seeing. Melodic bass lines merge with soaring guitars, melancholy vocal and very musically tight. A lively set, originals performed with tons of energy and another crowd pleaser. Immense sounds with interest and character; memorable and vibrant tracks are performed. Real go getting stuff again from Collusion.
Fordton Leisure
I’ve heard so much about this next band, and have been a fan from first looking them up but never managed to catch them live, so I cannot wait for this one…
Hard hitting from the off, real jagged, edgy and cool punk, but such a refined sound. Stage presence swallows us up whole, there’s swagger in abundance, our front man often climbing off stage and up onto the barrier, still whilst playing guitar. Explosive sounds, very original, feels very established, big – a stadium worthy sound.
The crowd embrace this energy fully; it’s such a musical force this band brings with them. A raucously rampaging thrills and spills kind of performance and we’re all eating from their hands. It’s a sound that I just want more and more of. Military beats, hard, fired out, anarchic cries, howls; it feels somehow cathartic, retro, easily early British punk vibes yet also a slight grunge or shoe gaze edge to it – mainly the bass lines. In the mix I also get psychedelic fuzz present too. It combines to create the perfect mixture. THE most musically cataclysmic feel ever (in the best sense) Love, love, loved this set – real stand out for me today, and I need more of Fordton Leisure live in my life!
Gondolas
This band is so much fun! Cool and quirky and a real mixed bag of sounds ranging from indie to rock with a really polished sound. So much personality and energy within this band, very tight musically and seamless performance. Crashing beats, rip roaring guitars and a real softness to the vocal then when needed an edge, a grate, almost a scream. It works and seems effortless. Enthusiastic and very likeable, this band oozes stage presence. Another knockout set from Gondolas, honestly one of my fav bands.
Mademaker
Next up is Mademaker, one impressive live band if ever there was. THE loudest, most impactful 2 piece you could ever see. A kind of shoe gaze/grunge meets punk in an always utterly explosive performance. Speeding,”in yer face” full force musicality and then some. Vast definition and a thunderous sound, sorrowful, angsty vocal, other worldly drumming and spell binding guitars all combine to bring a fuzzy, yet punctuated sound that’s stand out and original. Each time I see Mademaker I just love them more, the energies that come with this band are contagious -try and stand still to this I dare you!
Zen Baseballbat.
Electro ska local legends, Zen Baseballbat, are on the Time Square stage now. A perfect sound track to the early evening sun…high vibrational feels, bursting with fun and happiness. Each and every band member is bouncing and every inch of stage is covered – spinning, leg kicking – it’s all going on here! We can’t help but smile and get caught up in this performance. Witty, observational lyrics, real “stick in your head” and anthemic feeling tracks; pure feel good and so well performed (as ever). So much is thrown into each performance and the crowd is totally wrapped up in this.
Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs
Is it punk? Is it psychebilly? I dunno, but I do know – it’s incredible! I’m a huge fan of Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs, and live they really bring the wilds. In every show they perform the crazy circus train of punk arrives and won’t leave until minds have been blown. On stage antics and real sounds abound. It’s raucous, it’s chaotic (controlled chaos of course), it’s hectic and the crowd bloody love it. Spontaneously combusting with energy, bounding about the stage, pogoing (you get the idea), each original song is performed with gusto. A whirlwind of music that engulfs all in its path and leaves us feeling slightly discombobulated, in the best way ever. Utterly explosive set as always.
Pray for Mojo
Pray for Mojo are one huge creative force. Think psychedelia in full-on Technicolor, brimming over and bursting at the seams, From the very beginnings of this set this band have had us captivated and kept us there under their bewildering and magical spell, encompassing us in a beguiling, beautiful and breathtaking musical spectacular. For me this was the stand out set of the day. Kimono-clad front man, Greg, gets totally lost in the magic created in front of us and it’s incredible to see…often on his knees on the floor, writhing or leaping across the stage whilst playing guitar. Drumming is hypnotic, fast and complex – fired out towards us in the most animated way. Bass lines take us up to a higher level, elevating, transcendental whilst guitars are trippy, textured and intense. Vocals on both parts are characterful and weathered, often with cries or screaming tones. This is really mind bending stuff and I could watch this all night. It’s truly felt like we’ve entered some type of musically driven altered state. A colourful, swirling, spiraling, 5th dimensional feeling – parallel universe or something. So much atmosphere is created, it’s creative genius and so attention grabbing. We all need some Pray for Mojo in our lives so they can transport us to this musical heaven. Breathtaking set, I absolutely LOVE this band.
Skal
Thrills and spills all the way with this next band, Skal…nonstop musical spectacular right here, right now. A band who spectacularly fills this stage with performance, presence and sound. Every inch of space is filled with a powerful energy and is danced upon by the enigmatic front man, Ev. High octane, crashing, anthemic sounds performed to perfection; I just can’t express how good a band Skal genuinely is. If you’re ever in need of some musical mania, go getting, dancing, ear worm sounds then check out Skal and for an even bigger treat, go see them live.
Freight
Freight are a fairly new band, a fun filled box of musical delights which I first encountered at Parr Hall, Warrington, at the Winter Showcase Festival. I was suitably impressed and honestly I could not wait to see these guys again. Here we have the perfect vibe for a festival and especially with the sun shining. It’s happy, it’s joy making, it’s bouncy, funky and so much fun. (I actually have face ache from smiling so much). Band members envelope us with their charisma and cool, floppy hair, smiling and ‘rag doll’ dancing; what’s not to love? The sound is real toe tapping stuff – feel good, summer breeze, indie tunes with a light and free vocal. High vibe guitars, soaring bass lines and skippy beats. The sound is well cemented and sounds established. Very, very impressive set again today, very much enjoyed and danced to by all. My new fav band? – I think so.
Words by Janet Harding
Photos by Jeff Jolly
