Saturday morning started with a question, who would be the headliner of day two at RADAR Festival 2025?
It has been a crazy week for the RADAR Festival organisers after the planned Saturday headliners Bob Vylan sparked controversy at last weekend’s Glastonbury Festival. With scandalous headlines from mainstream media and the UK government getting involved, RADAR Festival were forced by undisclosed powers to remove the band from their lineup midweek.
With the festivals website still saying “HEADLINER TBA”, it wasn’t until I checked the festival’s app that the plan was revealed. In damage limitation mode, the festival organisers had bumped local band VMBRA up to the opening slot on the Kerrang Stage, with all subsequent acts being promoted one slot higher up the order.
VMBRA, winners of the recent Metal to the Masses Manchester competition undoubtedly relished the chance to play on the much larger stage and clearly had a mixture friends and local fans on the barrier as they were singing along to almost every track. The band dedicated their penultimate song “Money Tree” to an unnamed ex-prime minister, who apparently used to talk about not having an endless money tree.
On the Sneak Energy Stage, Air Drawn Dagger‘s set took an unexpected turn when faulty in-ear monitors prompted lead singer Maisie Manterfield to leave the stage and join the mosh pit so she could hear herself, occasionally returning to check the setlist. While new single “Castle” received a brilliant reaction, a mashup of The Prodigy’s “Omen” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic” was a combination of unusual and brilliant.
Pintglass were up next on the Kerrang Stage, and this one should probably come with a parental advisory warning for strong language. Taking up my spot at the front of the stage as the band appeared, I honestly wasn’t sure if they were going to rob me or build me a conservatory due this “bunch of geezers” wearing a combination of high viz vests and balaclavas. Clearly leaning into the working-class aesthetic, the band asked the crowd if there are “Any tradies out there?”. With the expected responses of builders, plumbers and electricians, someone then responded with “Asbestos remover”, which provoked the amusing comment of “I bet you’re fucking minted mate, you guys charge a fucking fortune”. While the band may be tongue and cheek, there unique style of ‘Geezercore’ music was a highly entertaining addition to RADAR Festival, and as lead vocalist Ben Mason quoted “If you don’t fucking like it, you can fuck off, because I fucking do”.
Lastelle started their set with the question “Who’s just been to see Pintglass?” followed by the statement “Well, we’re a little different, but you can still move!”. The Oxfordshire post-hardcore band delivered an impressive set, highlighted by the inclusion of a brass instrument. With some huge songs like “Changes With The Seasons” and “Tired Eyes”, the sound of the band slightly reminded me of Welsh rockers Holding Absence. With a quick plug of their upcoming tour and a request to go buy a band t-shirt the set was over a little too soon.
Deciding to skip a couple of bands, I went to sample some more of the food available. Today’s choice was a rainbow bowl from the Poke Bowl truck and wow, it was tasty. With rice, tofu and many salad toppings, this really set me up for the rest of the day.
While I’m not sure if it was due to the controversy around the festival’s lineup, Ozzy Osbourne playing one final farewell gig in Birmingham today or the fact that it was still mid-afternoon, the festival was noticeably quieter than the previous day. Although the extra space did allow a few people to have an impromptu kickaround with some beach balls at the Kerrang Stage.
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Despite my previous comments, French metalcore band Novelists pulled in the largest crowd of the day so far for their set. While the band only had time for eleven songs, they chose to fill half of their set with tracks from their 2025 album CODA and the audience loved hearing new tracks such as “Say My Name” and “All For Nothing’. With lots more beachballs appearing from seemingly nowhere, a few of them even made it up onto the stage. With the bands crew assisting in removing most of the balls, vocalist Camille Contreras took the opportunity to launch one of these balls back into the crowd with an impressive kick from her striking silver boots.
It was time for things to get truly international. Hailing all the way from Toronto, Ontario instrumental band Intervals took to the stage. With them having flown in just for this one gig it was an honour to witness, especially as this was the first time the band have played in the UK since they played Download Festival in 2019. While I stood listening to the performance my mind was filled with an intrusive thought, or more of an intrusive question. While I can understand how bands name songs with lyrics, how do bands name instrumental songs? So, if anyone from Intervals is reading this or you are in an instrumental band, please feel free to get in touch. Ending their set a few minutes early, Aaron Marshall announced, “See you in September”, referring to the band’s upcoming UK tour dates.
Headline act for the Sneak Energy Stage today were Annisokay, and you could tell everyone had been looking forward to this one as a huge crowd was assembling. With Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” playing prior to the band taking to the stage, one of the security staff took his chance for a moment in the spotlight, showing off his best dance moves to get the crowd laughing along.
With the lights dimming momentarily, the band appeared beginning their set with “Throne of the Sunset”. Lead vocalist Rudi Schwarzer took the chance to address the audience early in the set taking the time to thank them for coming to check out their band and admitting that they “Didn’t know what to expect from headlining the smaller stage at RADAR Festival” as they have “Never played a festival in the UK before”. The band from Halle, Germany kept the energy high throughout the set with hit after hit and Schwarzer spending time balancing on the barrier leaning into the crowd.
Almost at the end of day two, Annisokay were the first band that I noticed getting remotely political as prior to playing “Human” the band stated, “There is a lot going on in the world right now, but we are here to forget it”. The band managed to squeeze a plug for their 2026 UK tour, by first asking “Who’s seen us before?”, which the majority of the crowd hadn’t, then followed it up by asking “Who’s going to come see us next year?”. They also added that unfortunately they are not coming back to Manchester next time, although looking at the tour dates while writing this, they will be playing The Key Club in Leeds on the 15th January 2026.
The latest track from the band, “Inner Sanctum”, saw an insane amount of crowd surfers, that threatened to overwhelm the security staff. However, it was great to see that the sensible crowd were holding people stationary, only moving to them to the front when security staff had some spare hands. “Calamity” had more of a party atmosphere and really gave vocalist and guitarist Christoph Wieczorek a chance to showcase his clean vocals. The set finished with the band’s biggest song “STFU”, an impressive end to their first UK festival headline slot, but I’m sure RADAR Festival and others will be looking to book them in future years.
Walking back to the Kerrang Stage for the last time today I noticed how clean the whole venue had been kept over the past two days. At a gig by this point you’d be ankle deep in empty pint glasses by now. I’m not sure if it was the lineup alternating between the two stages that gave staff a chance to sweep between bands or if RADAR Festival attendees were just extra tidy, but it was nice to be able to walk around without the plastic crunching under your feet.
Swedish alt-rock band Normandie might not have planned on being a headliner at RADAR Festival 2025, but with the aforementioned controversy and a huge hole in the lineup, they more than rose the challenge, playing what lead vocalist Philip Strand described as “The longest set we’ve ever played”. With big tracks such as “Serotonin” from the 2024 album Dopamine and “Holy Water” from the 2021 album Dark & Beautiful Secrets, it was clear that the band meant business.
Strand talked about how it was a dream to play the venue that his friend from Hot Milk, Han Mee refers to it as “Vicky Warehouse” and mentioned that each time they play in Manchester the venues seem to get bigger, having first played in a tiny pub where the plumbing leaked toilet water on them while on stage. The hits kept coming with “Jericho” and “Babylon” featuring in the middle of the set, the first of which received probably the loudest cheer of the night.
This will be Normandie’s last show of the year, presumably they are taking some time away from touring to start working on some new material, but Stand joked that tonight they were in a “battle with the band Oasis” as it one of their first comeback shows in Cardiff this evening. The set continued with the audience bouncing along and numerous crowd surfers for each song. With the curfew fast approaching, it was time to wave the “White Flag” for the final song. While impromptu, this was a brilliant headline set that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Another great day completed at RADAR Festival 2025, my only slight criticism is that I wish there had been a little more communication via social media and on their website about the changes to the schedule, rather than just putting the amended schedule on the app.
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Photos by Jack Barker Photography
