LIVE REVIEWS
.jpg)
“It’s the first time I’ve been to this part of the country,” announces Edinburgh wunderkind DJ Barry Can’t Swim as he gazes out from the main stage. “It’s proper nice, man.”
Wilderness Festival, held on the prim and proper Cornbury Park estate on the edge of the Cotswolds, has a reputation for being one of the poshest in the country. More than just a music fest – or less, depending on your perspective – it’s almost equally focused on tunes, talks, food and oddball entertainment. Wander around at night and you’ll find three women in pink cowboy hats (aka DJ collective Femme Again) lip-syncing to Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ opposite a sports ground where two teams are having a vigorous dance-off over who’ll go first in a game of dodgeball.
Against this backdrop, it doesn’t really seem so weird that electro-funkers Ibibio Sound Machine spend Friday evening hyping up an audience that includes two punters dressed as lobsters, or that a guy in a loincloth gets his groove on to Barry Can’t Swim’s emotional house. Even returned ‘90s dance giants Faithless’ bonkers heavy metal cover of Joy Division‘s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, which segues into throbbing house before the two styles merge in mind-melting fashion, sounds perfectly normal here.
Is Wilderness as posh as people say? General camping tickets are £278 before booking fees, which makes it cheaper than Reading & Leeds, and the food trucks are only as expensive as those at most festivals. There are boujie ‘dining experiences’ and suchlike on offer, but you don’t have to book those. So it’s only really ‘middle-class’ if you have preconceived ideas of what middle and working-class people like to do. Us plebs like nice stuff too, you know?
In any case, no-one’s too stuck-up to resist Alison Goldfrapp, who demands the audience “get [their] arses moving” to her liquid funk on Saturday night, the band blasting the Van Halen-style synth of ‘Rocket’ and drafting in a keytar – always a good sign – for a super-slinky ‘Ooh La La’. Over on the Atrium stage, London DJ Jordss plays to a small but appreciative audience that swells when she drops Diana Ross’ ‘Upside Down’ (the communal spirit is only mildly interrupted when someone dressed as an alien chases their pal through the middle of the dancefloor).
Easily the musical highlight of the weekend, though, is psychedelic soul don Michael Kiwanuka, a quietly subversive figure whose songs sound like lost ‘70s masterpieces that tackle police brutality (‘Hero’) and racial identity. The audience is packed on the main stage and as serene strings give way to a distortion-drenched ‘Hard to Say Goodbye’; it’s the beginning of what feels like a ‘Glastonbury moment’ at the wrong festival. ‘Hero’ crashes out in a squall of feedback and a howling solo tears through epic closer ‘Love & Hate’, the heady atmosphere answering the question Kiwanuka posed in earnest at the top of this sensational set: “Are you ready for some soul music?”
Indeed, hip-hop titans De La Soul cheerily demolish any faint prospect of a Sunday evening wind-down with a fuzzily feel-good set that sees rapper Posdnuos lead an enthusiastic crowd chant of “potholes in my lawn”, which probably isn’t actually much of a problem in the Cotswolds. After disco maven Jessie Ware breezily declares Wilderness her “favourite new festival”, it’s up to future-facing electronic duo Bicep to close the main stage with their hyped CHROMA show, an audio-visual bonanza that pulses with glitching, kaleidoscopic visuals and beats like controlled detonations.
Hugely ambitious and drawing perhaps the youngest main stage audience of the weekend, it’s a fitting end to a do that’s as much about the party as it is its immersive quirks. New this year, for example, is The Riddle, a dance tent and bar built around trees that sprout up to the rafters, which leads out to a chintzy garden populated by people dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. This is the meeting point of the two sides of Wilderness.
By night the festival is a party paradise, with punters flocking to The Valley, a hedonistic strip deep in woodland that leads up to a triangular stage pumping out house and techno. And then there’s House of Sublime, a burlesque tent that hosts what can perhaps best be described as a BDSM dominatrix show. Yes, there’s cage dancing. By day, though, you’ll find families taking dips in the tree-lined lake, which is also not a bad way to shake a hangover (though you’ll probably want to give the Family Field a wide berth).
Obviously, with Michael Kiwanuka and Bicep as the big draws, however great they are, this isn’t a festival with a superstar musical line-up to rival that of, say, Reading & Leeds. If you’re here solely for the tunes, it’s probably a four star weekend. But if you’re looking for pure escapism – be it hedonistic or family friendly – it’s a five. Wilderness: it’s proper nice, man.
LIVE REVIEWS
The closing hours of Reading 2026 have finally arrived. Florence + The Machine brought the rain during ‘Dog Days Are Over’ at The Grid, opening the heavens and leaving the festival site completely soaked. The weary fans who have stayed behind are wet, exhausted and clearly feeling the effects of the weekend. What they need now is one final enormous celebration to make the wait worthwhile.
The Gallery tent comes alive as the speakers blast ‘Favourite’ by Friday’s headliners and fellow countrymen Fontaines D.C., receiving the kind of reaction usually reserved for ‘Mr Brightside’ at a drunken wedding reception. Moments later, Kneecap display their familiar statement accusing Israel of carrying out genocide against the people of Palestine and Lebanon, with support from the UK government. It captures the Belfast rap trio perfectly, combining serious political messages with an unapologetic party atmosphere.
“We use our platform to talk about what we believe is right,” Mo Chara explains during the performance, before recognising those who “aren’t so fucking lucky” and whose voices have been suppressed. He soon encourages the audience to roar “fuck Netanyahu” and “free free Palestine”. Later, he starts a powerful chant of “Aaaaaa-ndy Buuurn-ham’s a waaaaaaan-ker” to the melody of ‘Seven Nation Army’, targeting our new Prime Minister over his claim that “a united Ireland is off the table”. Laughing, he asks: “The BBC won’t broadcast that, or will they?” As it turned out, they did not.
Away from the headlines and the controversy, there is no denying the connection Kneecap have built with their audience. Politics may shape the conversation, but the crowd also came to enjoy themselves, ready for a rave after the rally. The performance begins carefully with the heavy rumble of ‘Smugglers & Scholars’, before exploding during the Grian Chatten collaboration ‘Better Way To Live’ and the threatening energy of ‘Sick In The Head’. “Are ya ready for a mad one?” Mo Chara shouts. The response is already obvious.
The atmosphere becomes increasingly chaotic as the hip hop rhythm of ‘Cold At The Top’ and the hypnotic trance sounds of ‘An Ra’ send the entire tent into motion. The trio jokingly thank the UK for everything it has given Ireland, listing UKIP, fish and chips, a mental health crisis, Jimmy Saville, HP Sauce and Bloody Sunday. However, the show reaches another level once the second half begins. The explosive ‘Sayonara’ brings the ‘beef’ to ‘IBEEFA’, while ‘Get Your Brits Out’ and ‘Guilty Conscience’ give the crowd every reason to obey Móglaí Bap’s demand to “oooopen up the piiiiiit”.
Anyone watching closely may have questioned why the cameras continued to focus on Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara. The pair eventually reveal that they have spent recent weeks performing alongside a “provisional” DJ Próvai. Wearing the familiar tricolour balaclava, the temporary replacement handles his role as the crowd agitator with confidence while their bandmate enjoys some paternity leave. “Some things are more important than music, and that’s family,” they explain. How sweet. Móglaí Bap quickly destroys the tender moment by adding: “As you might know, the Brits took all our potatoes from Ireland; they took all our cocaine,” before declaring, “but we still have all our caaandy.” The group then charge directly into one of the biggest tracks ever written about extremely powerful ketamine.
‘Liar’s Tale’ sparks another huge reaction with its response to Keir Starmer, “genocide armer”, while the group warn that “you’re not getting away with doing nothing”. It is a politically charged message hidden inside an irresistible anthem from musicians who have experienced the “belly of the beast” through the legal system. Their latest album, ‘Fenian’, has helped Kneecap fully embrace the celebration that has always been part of their identity. Their live production now feels capable of filling arenas, blending the intimacy of a late night lock in with the rhythmic force and visual scale of The Chemical Brothers, the reckless electronic punk spirit of The Prodigy, and the fearless political honesty of Public Enemy. The spectacular visuals complete the experience.
Kneecap fans at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Kneecap fans at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Closing with the powerful combination of ‘Fenian’, ‘H.O.O.D.’ and the enormous ‘The Recap’, Kneecap bring our final celebration at Reading to a thrilling conclusion while also finishing their last festival appearance of the summer. “It’s been a pleasure to spend it with you mad c**ts,” Mo Chara says before leaving the stage. The feeling is mutual.
Return to NME here for the newest reports, reviews, photographs, conversations and further coverage from Reading & Leeds 2026.
