Bludfest 2025: YUNGBLUD leads music's next generation at Milton Keynes Bowl

For years, YUNGBLUD has been punk rock's answer to Bart Simpson, delivering bratty songs of rebellion with youthful angst. Live, the gigs have been about causing as much smirking chaos as possible. As he struts out onstage at Milton Keynes Bowl to close out the second instalment of his own festival though, something is clearly different.

The set starts with giant video screens flashing up the word "hello" in every language imaginable as dreamy pop music swells around it. It's all a bit Coldplay, and that vibe continues as a flurry of white confetti erupts halfway through the opening 'Hello Heaven, Hello', a huge, bombastic track that's basically a stadium show in nine minutes. As reintroductions go, it's a brilliantly bold one.

YUNGBLUD's classic rock-inspired album 'Idols' was only released yesterday, but it makes up a big chunk of tonight's 100-minute show. "It's the biggest change I've made," he explains, adding that he was terrified about how the faithful would react. It's an exciting evolution, and we're clearly not the only ones who think so. The words to the urgent 'Lovesick Lullaby' are screamed back at him, while the searing 'The Greatest Parade' and the slow-burning 'Change' add new depths to YUNGBLUD's electric rock'n'roll. A brass section elevates the scrappy 'Parents', his expanded band make classics like 'Funeral' hit even harder while live strings amplify the beautiful fury of 'Monday Murder'.

Moments before, YUNGBLUD stops everything to share an advert for War Child and encourages the crowd to donate, if they can. "The world at the minute is in fucking turmoil," he adds. "Children are dying in Gaza, the Ukraine and Sudan. We have to talk to the fucking old men who are holding the world back with their greed. We have to speak up, and we have to protect the future."