Crack Magazine’s Festival Guide 2025

With over 50 programmes and events taking place over ten days in January, the London Short Film Festival spotlights the best of this year’s independent cinema, emerging filmmakers and new short films, alongside a curated events schedule focused on both the history of film and the industry today. Discussions will be anchored by this year’s theme, ‘Spaces’, exploring dedicated third spaces for creativity and culture – and what we lose when they close.

Three days of good music in Mexico is a compelling prospect at any time of the year, but in February? Boutique festival Carnaval de Bahidorá is an underrated no-brainer for those looking to escape the last days of Winter. Held at Las Estacas park in Morelos, just a two-hour drive from Mexico City, the site sits right by the bright turquoise Yautepec River in a secluded location surrounded by nature. It all sounds blissful, but the line-up makes clear this is a festival that parties hard – think heavyweights like Ben UFO, Pearson Sound, Pangaea, Joy Orbison and Jeff Mills, alongside the likes of Logic1000, ISAbella, SoFTT and Octo Octa b2b Eris Drew.

AVA London’s three-day programme pairs all the gloss of an industry conference with great taste and a true understanding of how to put on a good party. Catch live shows and sets from Erika de Casier and Mechatok at Hackney’s EartH on Thursday, Ryoji Ikeda, Marcel Dettmann and EMA on Friday at HERE, and LSDXOXO on Saturday at The Cause. The daytime schedule also features live a conversation with FKA twigs, a mixing masterclass with Tom Elmhirst and much more.

Every spring since 2011, a carefully considered yet creatively bananas line-up has convened in this seaside city for a weekend of cultural expansion – and that tradition continues in 2025. Among the cutting-edge highlights at this year’s Rewire are Arooj Aftab; Colin Stetson and Self, with their singular approaches to emotional catharsis; spectral post-rockers Moin; ambient jazz explorers Nala Sinephro and SML; drone queen Kali Malone with Stephen O’Malley; and a club-friendly thread that includes Two Shell, De Schurmann and DJ Plead b2b with Roxymore. We could go on…

Not just named after Trish Keenan’s retro-futurists, this Brussels event also channels that group’s spirit of experimentation. Its eighth edition brims with intrigue, as guest curators Anna von Hausswolff, Backxwash and Colin Stetson cast a brooding influence over a bill that features Tim Hecker, industrial art-punks Dame Area, Cairo producer El Kontessa, bubbling producer De Schuurman and avant-rockers Kassie Krut. International Anthem will also celebrate 11 years with shows from Ben LaMar Gay, SML and Jeremiah Chiu. What more do you need?

Sónar Lisboa is once again setting the tone for festival season this spring with an adventurous, expansive programme that brings together forward-thinking electronic music from across the globe. Split across the more laid-back Sónar by Day (Saturday 12 April and Sunday 13), and the immersive Sónar by Night (Friday 11 and Saturday 12), shows will be held at Pavilhão Carlos Lopes (Parque Eduardo VII), with two additional open-air stages for the daytime. Highlights include Jeff Mills, Underworld, Josh Caffé, Modeselektor, ISAbella and Héctor Oaks, as well as stage takeovers from Dengo Club and Lisbon’s Enchufada, and a Principe x TraTraTrax link-up featuring Bitter Babe, DJ Lomalinda, DJ Firmeza b2b Nick León and more.

Music and arts festival Horst is back this year with an expansive programme spanning architecture, installations, performances and more, with a focus on the themes of community, identity, ecology, and the democratisation of the dancefloor. Its summer exhibition is a highlight, as its extensive line-up of musical guests, from TraTraTrax’s Verraco to drum ‘n’ bass shapeshifter gyrofield, and link-ups between Hannah Holland & Josh Caffé, Helena Hauff & DJ Stingray 313, and CCL & Object. Expect to be moved by innovative stage design, immersive sound, and thought-provoking art.

Having become a standout on any Londoner’s festival calendar, this year Peckham’s GALA celebrates its milestone 10th anniversary. Honouring its roots and growing community with a stacked line-up featuring Avalon Emerson, Ben UFO, Batu, Anz, HUNEE & Antal, HiTech and Pearson Sound, as well as a full weekend Floating Points stage takeover, an open-til-close set from Theo Parrish and much, much more, as ever, it’s not one to miss this summer.

Italy’s Bloc Fest is giving us three dates in two truly beautiful locations this summer, stopping first in Naples for an event hosted by cultural hub La Santissima in May, and then in UNESCO World Heritage area Cilento in June. With artists including Vegyn, DJ Python and John Talabot set to play in Cilento and Deena Abdelwahed, Nour, the Palestine Sound Archive and more on the bill for Naples, really, it only makes sense to add both to our calendars and spend a few weeks in Italy in-between.

The third edition of this Parisian indie rock and pop weekender sees it expanding its reach to take over the concert halls and indie shops of the Bastille district – including the iconic Supersonic club where it all started. With a programme brimming with emerging talent from all over the world – including London’s Honeyglaze, Bristol’s Adult Leisure, Oslo’s Pom Poko, Istanbul’s Scattered Ashes and Montréal’s Sorry Girls – and a bunch of free events to encourage venue-hopping, you might discover more than you bargained for.

The annual pilgrimage for electronic music fans that excels itself every year. En route to its reconfigured industrial home in Lyon this year are techno and synth pioneers Jeff Mills and Suzanne Ciani, and a wide-roaming roster of genre-defilers that includes Artificial Intelligence OG Speedy J, Helena Hauff, Alice Glass, FÖLLAKZOID, CCL, KI/KI and so many more. All of that noise will be accompanied by four days of free-to-attend workshops and talks exploring a range of techno-political issues. Mark Fisher would almost certainly approve.

From the organisers of All Points East comes this artist-curated humdinger that turns each day of its two-weekend run into an encapsulation of its headliners’ worlds. Massive Attack bring their acclaimed, battery-powered live show, with support from Air, Tirzah, and Yasiin Bey and the Alchemist. Charli xcx reanimates Brat Summer with a supporting cast of collaborators and kindred spirits. Jamie xx leads a day stacked with ambitious, club-adjacent acts. And Outbreak brings its DIY punk throwdown to the south. We’re spoilt for choice.

In which Sónar hands the curatorial reins to a legion of guest artists, labels and promoters for this annual spin-off series at Barcelona’s open-air museum, Poble Espanyol. Bringing a maximalist mindset to the Med this year are Australia’s Grammy-winning electronic trio Rüfüs Du Sol, Swiss audio-visual masters Adriatique, UK house and techno label Solid Grooves, and Adam Port and &ME from Berlin’s beloved club collective Keinemusik. As usual, EDM hedonists Elrow will close out proceedings with one of their mind-mangling spectaculars.

Fifteen years old this year, Manchester’s Parklife festival has existed for almost as long as many of its most enthusiastic attendees have been alive. In that time, it has earned itself a reputation as a festival-goers’ rite of passage thanks to line-ups that hit as big as any summer blockbuster out there. This year’s bucket-list of acts includes hip-hop tough guy 50 Cent, the Bratty one, pop-queen-in-waiting Lola Young and a list of big, beaty dance acts longer than the line for the Metrolink home.

Returning to Lisbon’s Parque de Bela Vista, MEO Kalorama is back for its fourth year with a line-up that’s looking like its biggest yet. Spanning from avant-pop and leftfield electronics to cult classics, highlights include headliners FKA Twigs, Jorja Smith and Pet Shop Boys, as well as Sevdaliza, Model/Actriz and Boy Harsher. To supplement all this, the electronic-focused Panorama Lisboa stage returns with a generous offering featuring Helena Hauff, Kelly Lee Owens and more.

The crew behind Wild Wood Festival do exactly what they promise to do: put on a good party. Nestled into the Cambridgshire woodland with less than 2000 guests in attendance, this independent festival has a truly intimate feel, powered by a close-knit community that keep the energy high year-on-year. But don’t confuse its smaller size for a compromise on the line-up – this year’s programme features the likes of Midland and Lukas Wigflex, and will take place across four stages (some of which are built from the forest floor itself). With secret venues and surprises planned for the weekend, this is one to turn off your phone for, dance under the trees, and embrace the unexpected.

The Polifonic crew are spoiling us. Not only have they added an additional stage to accommodate this year’s doozy of a line-up, but they’ve also tacked on an extra night of dusk-till-dawn raving. Paying a visit to this stunning, sun-dappled location on the Med, where the sea glints invitingly in the near distance, are house and techno pioneers including Laurent Garnier, Honey Dijon and Jimi Tenor, plus modern-day club explorers Batu, Chaos in the CBD, Mogwaa, Moxie, Octo Octa and Shanti Celeste.

Neopop once again plugs the sleepy port city of Viana do Castelo, in Portugal’s far north, directly into the rave continuum. The 18th edition of this techno-specific weekender is themed ‘Interplanetary Dance Music’, and its cosmic potential will be unleashed by a long list of DJs running the gamut from Sustain-Release founder Aurora Halal, Charlotte de Witte and Jeff Mills to ZenGxrl’s Batida-infused slammers, Richie Hawtin and a techno special from none other than Goldie. DubLab’s brain-mashing visuals will ensure a far-out experience.