Day two of Splendour Festival featured stormy skies and lots of electrifying performances. Not ones to let a little bit of weather put us off, and with a packed line-up waiting across all the stages, we didn't waste any time hitting the fields of Wollaton Hall again...
You can find our review of Saturday at Splendour here.
Opening day two of the festival on the Confetti Stage were local indie legends Set in Motion (above). Now, I’ve seen them a lot over the course of the last two years, but this set was the best I’ve witnessed from them in every way. Even though it was raining and cold, the band brought the energy and performed to the very highest standard they could. Playing a mix of brand-new songs and songs from their debut EP, it was a great mix. However, frontman Alfie’s vocals were simply insane, with his signature vocal mix, of which evokes pop acts like Lewis Capaldi and Tom Grennan, perfectly cutting through the indie-rock instrumental.
Set in Motion fit so perfectly into the festival landscape, and it’s so good to see local acts that care so much about the music they make and that are so talented getting the limelight. A truly brilliant set in every way.
Rock n roll revival band, and winners of Future Sound of Nottingham 2025, Archy & The Astronauts, delivered a brilliant set to open the Splendour Main Stage. Now, as with many of the weekend’s earlier acts, and incidentally the smaller ones, rain was a key component in the atmosphere on Sunday; however, every act smashed it in that respect, and Archie & The Astronauts were certainly no exception. For a trio, they have an extremely well-rounded and loud sound, every note, every lyric and every drum beat completely fills the air. Their sound is loud, precise and roaring; a true testament and footstep in the long unwinding legacy of rock and roll. They also have a brilliant stage presence, again evoking a strong and powerful sense of rock n roll revivalism; they are true modern rock stars who certainly have a fantastically bright future ahead. This band is worth watching out for.
After that, Nottingham’s chill indie-rock five piece Grain Mother (above) delivered a delicious 30-minute set over on the Confetti Stage. Again, huge props to the sound engineers for delivering such an excellent sound quality for every act. For this set, the quality was something else. To achieve a perfect balance of everything for a five-piece who all play consistently is a massive feat which hugely elevated the set. The simply beautiful vocals provided by frontwoman Alice Robbins were next level throughout, and the entire band were on top form with every member on point.
Alice’s vocals are beautifully haunting at times, with precise lyric delivery and intertwined intrigue with every note she sings. Grain Mother have always been a brilliant Nottingham-based act but this set truly proved their worth. A great example of real talent getting the centre stage.
Splendour is really shining a light on local talent this year, and the next act that got the spotlight treatment was Leah Wilcox (below). With her live sets consisting of herself alongside a seasoned and talented four-piece band, there’s a lot to be excited about, and this set absolutely delivered in every way. Leah’s powerful and resounding vocals complement her sparkly guitar tones perfectly, and this sound fits in the band setting exceptionally well.
The silent engagements between the entirety of the band made the set: every single part worked in tandem with another, and the actual vocal harmonies between the members during songs was heavenly. The whole performance was extremely well thought out, like all of Leah’s sets, and was inter-spread with dance choreography, beer bottle slide guitar solos and a dash of American country music. Overall a brilliant set: a beautiful 30 minutes that served as a true testament to local talent.
If you’ve never seen Sunderland’s Mickey Callisto (above) perform live, you really are missing out. Having spent some time fronting a Queen tribute band, Mickey embodies the spirit and charisma of the late-great Freddie Mercury, both in his incredible voice and natural showmanship. His infectious energy during Destructive Love got the crowd on the Bodega Stage woken up, before a goosebump-inducing acapella cover of Queen’s Who Wants To Live Forever – a song that recently sent him viral after performing it on Britain’s Got Talent. A pindrop performance that left the crowd stunned in awe, this was one of the highlights of the entire weekend.
However, Mickey proved he is also much more than just a Queen tribute act, as he hilariously detailed his time working in an O2 phone shop before another of his brilliant original tracks, Stick It To The Man. His tracksuit top came off as he bounded about the stage during a pulsating performance of his liberating anthem Homospace, before closing out emphatically on recent single, Supernova. A star in the making, it seems only a matter of time before Mickey is playing the bigger stages.
Sticking with the Bodega New Music Stage and sticking with great talent from the North East, it was time for another Sunderland gem in Tom A. Smith (above). Incredibly still only in his early 20s, Tom and his band are seasoned veterans at this point, with the singer-songwriter performing his first gig at just eight years old, before touring the UK relentlessly throughout his teens. The experience showed as he was on form on Sunday, with tracks such as Little Bits and Never Good Enough getting the crowd singing along. He then spoke about recently signing his first deal with record label Fiction, before closing his set on his forthcoming, LCD Soundsystem-inspired single, Fashion. An earworm and instant hit with the fans in attendance, Tom is another artist with a big future on the horizon.
Meanwhile, on the Main Stage: Lucy Spraggan (below). I came into this set with seemingly no knowledge of her, though it rather seemed that I was alone in this; the crowd were loving every song. Her charming vocals border on the spoken word at times, evoking a noughties or early '10s female indie element. Her band is brilliant and so is she.
About two-thirds of the way into the set, she played a song that I instantly recognised, and the entirety of the packed Splendour crowd did too. It was Last Night (Beer fear), a truly wonderful song about night life, alcohol and romance. The song’s chaotic charm served as a window into Lucy’s warm and comforting, very human world. However, the highlight of the set was a rendition of Wait for Me, in which she got the audience to sing along in unison: beautiful and fantastic to hear. Lucy is a brilliant festival act and a truly excellent songwriter and this was a wonderful set.
With one of the most powerful sets of the whole weekend, Kate Nash (below) was an absolute tour de force on the Confetti Stage. Sporting a white dress designed by artist Tia O’Donnell, with the words “What are your intentions here today?” on the front and “Free Gaza” on the back, showing solidarity with pro-Palestine activist Laura Murton, Kate’s performance was equal parts urgent, thought-provoking political protest and joyous indie nostalgia.
After taking the audience “back to 2007” with Mouthwash, it was actually songs such as Agenda – which feels even more relevant today than it did seven years ago – and pro-trans anthem / anti-TERF tirade GERM that ended up leaving the biggest impression. That said, it was her climatic performance of 00s indie classic Foundations which erupted the Confetti field, with inspired young women climbing onto shoulders to passionately sing along with Kate. As the song ended, the sound of Sinead O’Connor’s cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U played over the soundsystem, as Kate and her band held up both the trans pride and Palestine flags at the front of the stage, conducting the crowd in truly heartwarming scenes. Beautifully defiant and a touching moment of unity, Kate Nash’s community spirit demonstrated exactly what Splendour is all about.
If there’s one artist you’d want performing as torrential rain begins, it is pop princess Sophie Ellis Bextor (above). As the heavens truly opened, the singer continued to twirl elegantly in her sparkly green dress, keeping the soggy crowd’s spirits up with dancefloor filler, Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love). Her radiant energy seemed to scare the rain clouds away, as the sun came out and a glorious rainbow appeared over the fields of Wollaton Park during her electric covers of ABBA’s Gimme Gimme Gimme and Madonna’s Like A Prayer. After impressively booting a large blue inflatable football into the crowd – in high heels no less – she ended the set in style on her resurgent single, Murder on the Dancefloor.
Even when the sun is shining, it seems they just can’t avoid the lightning. If there was any band that was sadly going to be derailed by the unpredictable weather this weekend, irony pointed it in the direction of much-loved Scottish band, Travis (below).
After getting the crowd suitably warmed up with hit singles Sing and Side, as well as what frontman Fran Healy described as “F**k you songs” such as recent cut Gaslight, he announced the band had to leave the stage due to an incoming thunderstorm. During their 30-40 minutes off stage, lightning did indeed light up the sky, shortly followed by rumbles of thunder and further downpours.
Eventually the storm passed, but rather than Travis coming back out, roadies emerged to start clearing their equipment and begin the set-up for Sunday’s headliners: Kaiser Chiefs.
Thankfully, though, the band did manage to get one last moment with the crowd, as during the Kaisers’ headlining set, Ricky Wilson invited Fran Healy onto the stage for an extra special rendition of Why Does It Always Rain On Me? A suitably fitting end to a joyous – albeit a little bit damp – weekend at Splendour Festival. And we wouldn’t have it any other way, would we?!
Roll on 2026!
Splendour Festival took place on 19th and 20th July 2025 at Wollaton Hall. Check out our full photo gallery below, including all the above artists as well as Remember Monday, Levellers, The Fratellis, The Publics, Davoli, Cardinals, Echo & The Bunnymean, TTSSFU and Kezia Gill. You can find our Saturday review here.
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