In its third year, Rally festival finally became what it was meant to be. Two years of running on the only wet day in August because of freak storms would have caused any small festival to close and you wouldn’t blame them; despite capturing star zeitgeist acts like early career Nourished by Time, Chanel Beads and Fabiana Palladino. If you want to see an act before they get big go to Rally. Their patience paid off this year: they finally got a dry one, and it became one of the best, true-to-form DIY festivals in London, built from the ground up to create a natural heir to under-threat festivals like Wide Awake and operate in that sphere, a blend of rap, indie, techno – no matter where you go, carefully curated to orchestrate a pre-End of the Road warmup for many an act and provide fans a chance to see these artists who aren’t going to the traditional end of year blow-out.
First up for us was legendary Indian artist Asha Puthli, who now 80, is still putting out records with the best of them and thriving on her turf. Hailing from Mumbai, The Devil is Loose, is catchy, vibrant summing up her unorthodox journey – finally getting her dues after operating in the music sphere and being sampled by Biggie and Jay-Z. Space Talk thrives in the disco atmosphere and it’s a catchy, easy groove that runs through the 1970s and 60s style. This is one for the bucket list – where else would you get one of the frontrunners of an entire genre on so early in the morning? Puthli plays effortlessly with a groove that many artists several generations younger than her could only aspire to reach. The music that Puthli has thrived in has always been underground, and it’s a shame that only now, well past due – she gets her chance front and centre stage.
From there it’s off to Astrid Sonne, who has touches of Chromatics and the sound of Johnny Jewel influencing her album Great Doubt from 2024 that’s full of detuned piano, airy flutes and brass. There’s a lot of influences here and to credit her, she’s playing on her birthday – acknowledgeable of the rain that Rally usually gets and is overjoyed when the crowd sing-along happy birthday to her. It’s a chance to check out the new and improved Agnes stage; now more accessible to large crowds, now friendlier – more welcoming rather than just an art installation. Everything about Rally year three feels like it’s learnt from the festival’s prior years and the crowd are acknowledging of that; it’s improved, friendly and welcoming. I hung about with 3 different groups throughout the day and checked out some of the art installation around the festival – a blue box with the words “BAD WOLF” proved to be popular with the nerds – a bunch of us tried to get inside insisting it was bigger on the inside than out; and people were generally in good spirits, friendly to talk to and welcoming: a far cry from the open hostility of larger more corporate festivals like All Points East; who couldn’t be less than concerned with creating an atmosphere.
Back over to the main stage for Porridge Radio, one of the last few shows of the Brighton indie rock outfit who have now operated for just about a decade. Vocalist Dana Margolin captures the atmosphere of the crowd – Margolin searching for something that she may never find on the live shows – Anybody is a searing highlight of the band’s live sets. From there it’s off to capture the highlights of the food, pricey, as is the drink selection, Estrella Damn and Jubel, especially if you’re buying a cup for the first time, a £2 purchase is required and added if you lose it to encourage recycling, but it’s top quality food all around, a blazingly good selection of some of the best street food in London – it’s not just overpriced festival food; it feels put together with care and precision, Mexican, Caribbean and Italian among the offerings: a wider culinary palette than most mainstream festivals. It’s a celebration and a love letter to London’s scene.
Rally’s unique position as a festival in-between End of the Road and Green Man allows it to get the best of both worlds – the lineup is a collaboration of both festivals. Following Asha Puthli from Green Man is underground rapper MIKE, who has made a transition to Britain’s Got Talent and is always appreciative of artists trying new things: he gets the crowd to engage in a sing-along and open up a circle pit, not for a mosh pit, but a dance session – the atmosphere is moving, full of groove and good vibes – releasing his tenth album Showbiz! at only 26, the prolific rapper takes London in storm – soul, jazz, sixties girl groups all influenced here.
POiSON GiRL FRiEND and Speakers Corner Quartet celebrating Arthur Russell came next, continuing the effortless groove and good vibes. It was a festival designed to get the party started – the Speakers Corner paying tribute to Arthur Russell allowed the Iowan cellist to be properly inspired and homage disco in a world of echo – one of the 20th century’s true visionaries echoed across a wide variety of genres. POiSON GiRL FRiEND was historic, a solo music project from Noriko coming out of Japan’s underground and cult scene, catchy, dance-y and peak electronic masterclass in motion – Melting Moment is one of the most engaging albums of the scene. No bad act so far then – and it was about to get better.
Moin are one of the emerging and more experimental punk acts on stage and have emerged as a fusion of industrial techno and 80s goth, capturing the highlights of the crowd in engaging fashion – heavy avant-garde on display and pure chaos in motion: you never quite know what they’re going to do next. The crowd are energetic and lively; it’s the most packed out Agnes has been so far – surely worthy of a main stage slot and I’m sure they’ll only grow from strength to strength in times to come.
Then it was time for Black Midi’s Geordie Greep, one of the founding fathers of the entire Brixton Windmill scene and part of the reason why there’s so many people here today – you could argue Rally wouldn’t be here without Black Midi. The DIY madcap influence of Greep is irresistible as he runs through The New Sound with effortless ease, the incel-esque lyrics of Holy, Holy somehow being abrasively brash and self-aware – “you must have heard about me, everyone knows my name, everyone knows I’m holy…” is a catchy, searing chorus that makes the most out of the maverick in motion. It hurts that by this point the lineup is so stacked that there will be clashes: Bassvictim draws a large section of the crowd as does Ben UFO on Visionaire; a smaller stage operating behind a bowling green – Rally cramming everything into the festival for immaculate vibes across the board.
The same is said for the headliners – Floating Points and CASISDEAD proved to be such an insane clash, no matter where you went, you were guaranteed to have a good time. Rally more than delivered with excellent, intimate sound, a carefully curated statement piece that ensured it deserved your look over the heftier more commercial Reading & Leeds and All Points East blowout weekenders – you only need to look at the mess of Victorious Festival, censoring the Mary Wallopers and earning a boycott from artists like The Last Dinner Party and Getdown Services, to ensure fans that DIY festivals of new and emerging artists are sometimes your best bet. Not only are they cheaper, but you’ll get to help them kick up a gear and become the next big artists at these festivals – and get the chance to see established acts in an intimate, small scale setting – where else can you see Floating Points in a small London field? Take my money, Rally, take it all – I’ll be back next year no doubt.
Rally Festival was in Southwark Park on August 23, 2025.
Learn more about Rally 2025 or find out about Rally 2026 at the official website for the festival.
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