There are music festivals, and then there are full-blown cultural events. Day 4 of LIDO 2025, headlined and curated by Charli XCX, landed firmly in the latter. Set under a cloudless London sky, Victoria Park was transformed into a brat-green-soaked, wine-stained hyperpop playground: a place where music, identity, and pure aesthetic indulgence collided without apology.
The party girls and gays were out in force to celebrate Brat Summer 2.0. As their outfits made it from the group chat to the field, there's no question why they're here - if Charli builds it, they will come. Cultivating a carefully orchestrated vision of club futurism, LIDO brought everything sweaty, emotional and euphoric to the forefront.
Magdalena Bay triumphed with a set that made everything feel like it was going to be okay. It was early in the day, but the energy was already rising - bodies warming in the sun, glitter starting to stick . Their soft and sweet pop marinated in the heat as they delivered a polished high-gloss daydream.
Then came 070 Shake, who took that dreamy haze and lit it on fire. Dark, raw, and drenched in distortion, she stalked the stage like she was preaching something no one was ready to hear. Shake didn’t bother with crowd pleasing - her set was immersive, brooding, and brilliant in its refusal to compromise.
The Japanese House brought a shift in tempo but not in tone - offering up a gorgeously low-key stretch of melancholic pop. Amber Bain’s vocals - soft, soothing and endlessly layered - were perfectly at home in the beating sun. Everything felt golden as her voice drifted out like sunlight through water. While their set felt like a delicate slow-burn, they had the crowd utterly transfixed. Smiling and swaying along, they emit nothing but pure joy as the gentle, precise tracks burt full of feeling.
Over at the aptly named 'The Club', Rose Gray brought something altogether different as she delivered hot pink rave euphoria with big vocals and even bigger attitude. Her set swerved confidently between euphoric 90s house hooks and shimmering modern pop. It wasn’t just fun - it was commanding. Her voice cut clean through the early-evening heat, styled somewhere between high drama and high BPM.
The Dare broke through the haze with abrupt, necessary chaos. Harrison Patrick Smith bounded across the stage setting fire to the idea of subtlety. His set felt like a throwback to indie sleaze before anyone tried to intellectualize it. Girls scream and throw cigarettes on stage as he released his unrestrained party-anthems to the sweaty masses.
And then: Charli XCX. She arrived without fanfare, launching straight into '365' like she was crashing her own party. The energy was feral. Every moment of her set was laced with intention - designed not just to entertain, but to assert her position as the patron saint of the 21st century pop rebellion.
There was almost no talking. No long speeches. Just sweat, precision, and power. Her set felt like a love letter to her fans - plugged-in, body-positive and a dare to the industry: catch up, or get left behind.
Reflecting on the day, Charli comments, "I hope you had as much fun as I did - it's basically all my favourite atists." While the day had it's fair share of teething issues, with sparesly distributed set times and stages reaching capacity, there's no denying the endless fun all around.
LIDO 2025 wasn’t just about music. It was about identity, curation and subculture. It felt like stepping inside a world built by someone who understands the stakes of being young, online, and constantly evolving - and at the heart of it was Charli XCX. While she might be 'no Bob Dylan', she continues to prove that she's still ahead, still fearless, and still rewriting the rules.
Brat forever <3
