Wolf Alice at Glastonbury 2025: Britain's best band level up

By this point, calling Wolf Alice the most consistently brilliant band of their generation feels a bit like calling the sky blue or the Glastonbury toilets harrowing – a statement of such crushing obviousness it barely merits repeating. Still, there’s something about watching them return to this festival now, on the cusp of their fourth album and newly signed to a major label, that suggests the band have realised it too. Not in a smug, victory-lap way. More in the manner of people who’ve been told repeatedly that they’re brilliant and have finally decided to believe it.

They open with ‘Formidable Cool’, which remains a fantastic title for a song and, frankly, an apt description of how the whole thing feels. That song used to sound like a swaggering threat. Now, it feels more like a confirmation. For years, Wolf Alice seemed slightly allergic to the idea of being one thing. Too heavy to be pop, too beautiful to be punk, too clever to be easily marketable. What’s changed isn’t the songs – they’ve always been this good – but the posture. There’s a newfound strut, a kind of glinting self-assurance that gives even their quietest moments the vibe of a band who know they’ve got the range and don’t need to prove it to anyone.