Kendal Calling Announces 2025 Headliners

The founder of one of the United Kingdom’s largest festivals has asserted that the event encompasses “more than just music” as the headliners for 2025 were revealed. Courteeners, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, and Kaiser Chiefs are slated to headline the four-day Kendal Calling festival, which is scheduled to commence on July 31 of the upcoming year. Andy Smith characterized the expansion of the festival, situated at Lowther Deer Park near Penrith, Cumbria, as “quite extraordinary.” From an initial attendance of just 900 in its first year, the festival has grown to host approximately 40,000 attendees in 2024. Tickets became available for purchase in August, with over 70% already sold. Other prominent acts confirmed to perform in 2025 include Sophie Ellis Bextor, Travis, The Wombats, Frank Turner, Maximo Park, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Jason Manford. Mr. Smith, now 36, established the festival with friends in 2006 as a teenager, when it was a two-day event held within the picturesque grounds of Kendal Castle. He remarked: “It’s become a celebration for people who travel from all over and for the community we’re deeply rooted in. “When we started, it was just a group of teenagers with this wild idea of bringing music and arts to the Lakes. “Now, 20 years on, it’s grown beyond anything we could have imagined. Record ticket sales have poured in for next year and it’s honestly humbling.” An independent report concluded that the festival’s “impact extends beyond the hedges and walls of Lowther Deer Park,” noting that the 2024 event generated nearly £79,000 for beneficiaries such as Hospice at Home, North West Air Ambulance, and the Cumbria Women’s Rugby Union team. During an interview with Mike Zeller on BBC Radio Cumbria, Mr. Smith stated: “We never would have foreseen it grow to the size it has.”Our ambition has only ever been to make next year’s show better, and anything more than that felt like tempting fate.”It’s just always been about bringing good vibes to a good place and people have caught on to that.” Mr. Smith further indicated that Blondie, Mumford & Sons, Snoop Dogg, and 1975 have been his personal highlights over the years, and he is most eager to see The Prodigy perform next year. He commented: “The Prodigy have always been idols of mine.”We’ve tried to get them and Fatboy Slim for many years, they bring such a party atmosphere and are unlike any other acts you really see.”To get them for the 20th anniversary, we couldn’t have programmed that any better.”