Review: RALLY Festival 2025

5 Minute Read

250823_RALLY_2025_JakeDavis_@jakephilipdavis_@khromacollective-8591

Art & Culture

Something strange happened at RALLY Festival this year. Something utterly strange. The clouds parted, the sun shone and the rain was kept at bay. The weather gods deciding that it would be time to spare Southwark Park from its annual downpour – just this once.

As such the mood was positive and glowing for the third edition of RALLY Festival, albeit in the past we have secretly enjoyed the somewhat sombre, moody wet vibes of what has become perhaps London’s most exciting and well curated showpiece of the summer calendar. At least if your musical tastes sit on the weirder, wilder side of life that is.

What sets RALLY apart is the vibe: intimate, odd, and full of the kind of magic that happens when you chuck art kids, ravers, crate-diggers and curious locals into Southwark park on a midsummers day.

It’s unique in that it’s not trying to be MASSIVE – the production is relatively muted compared to some of the over the top extravagance of the London daytime festival circuit these days. Less fun fairs, more small tents and better vibes all round.

This year saw the festival play host to a well curated assortment of bands and dj’s – some perhaps better known than others.

Headliners came in the form of CASISDEAD and Floating Points who each both owe a lot to the underground, despite the fact that they are both respectively bigger than that these days.

However, it’s not really the headliners which caught the attention on the bill this year. Most people we knew were excited to catch a remarkably rare performance from Moin, who remain relatively low profile yet raucous in their musical output. Moin is made up of Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead, best known for their output as Raime, as well as long time collaborator and percussionist visionary Valentina Magaletti.

They performed their mutated blend of avant garden punk meets freeform jazz and beyond to a powder keg of a crowd who danced in pits and nodded along with purpose to a band they might not often get a chance to see. Rough, ready and very much live – this is the sort of show Rally has become accustomed for.

250823_RALLY_2025_JakeDavis_@jakephilipdavis_@khromacollective-5989

Earlier in the day Astrid Sonne elegantly charmed and eased in the day with her sophisticated, modern approach to Neo Classical soundscapes – all with a delicate, moody energy.

Elsewhere Ben UFO gathered one of the biggest crowds of the day, swallowing a good proportion of the festivals crowd. It’s what we’ve come to expect from a DJ who balances precariously between the world of big rooms and small basements. The underground crowd appreciated the selections but it can be hard to feel connected in a crowd so big.

OK Williams was hailed as one of the sets of the day, her eclectic approach was well suited to weaving between sounds and genres whilst keeping things local in a bass heavy, well driven set.

RALLY is really a modern celebration of the who and what of London at present. Well curated, well booked and very cool. This year was perhaps its biggest yet but it still managed to retain the core, grassroots sensibility of what is now arguable a staple of the London calendar.