Live Review: Yungblud enjoys 'best night of his life' at inaugural Bludfest at National Bowl in Milton Keynes

The Doncaster native played an explosive 17-song set, going onto describe Bludfest as “the best night of his life”.

Joining Yungblud were 11 acts playing across two stages all taking place on a glorious afternoon in Milton Keynes.

Aside from the music, there was a plethora of entertainment, food trucks and a fairground.

** You can see a gallery of more than 40 photos from Bludfest here. **

Jazmin Bean began the festival on the main stage and had people running from the entrances to catch her opening set.

After Bean’s kick-start to Bludfest, a representative of War Child took to the main stage to talk about the importance of their organisation and the partnership with the event.

It was then over to the first set of Stage Two which saw Aziya perform brilliantly to a more intimate sized crowd.

Lola Young was next up on the main stage who opened with ‘Good Books’, from her new album ‘This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway’.

It was an emphatic performance which had her fans singing along to every track with her.

Landon Barker took the second stage by storm for his set with hundreds of fans packed in to watch and ensure there wasn’t an empty space in sight.

A fully energised performance of ‘Friends With Your EX’ had the crowd jumping and singing along with him.

Barker also teased new music as he spoke about how his love for The Strokes has heavily influenced his next album.

Bludfest’s ‘legends’ slot was taken by The Damned, with the punk icons taking the crowd through their discography of their classic hits from the 80s.

Led by frontman Dave Vanian, the punk stalwarts won over multiple generations at Bludfest with hits like ‘Neat Neat Neat’ and ‘The Invisible Man’.

The energy on the main stage reached a new level with the arrival of Soft Play (FKA Slaves) who opened their hard-hitting set with ‘Punk’s Dead’ from their latest album Heavy Jelly.

The duo stepped up their performance by jumping over the barriers with guitarist Laurie Vincent crowd surfing while playing.

The band’s set was briefly paused when singer and drummer Isaac Holman alerted security to a crowd issue, but resumed with the pair receiving a huge ovation after set closer, The Hunter.

A change-up in genre took place as US rapper Lil Yachty followed on the main stage.

His set began with some of his newer material, but some of Yachty’s earlier hits, including ‘I Spy’ got the National Bowl bouncing.

As the rapper left the stage, those watching from the banks of the Bowl and other parts of the site began to descend on the main stage for headliner Yungblud.

As the sun started to set over Milton Keynes, Yungblud’s arrival on stage was preceded by an emotional pre-recorded video message, explaining about how far he’d come and challenges he’d overcome in his career - expressing the importance of being a family through music.

As the message faded out and with the crowd screaming, Yungblud walked on stage launching into set opener ‘superdeadfriends’.

The opener was accompanied with pyrotechnics- with flames rising from the top and sides of the stage - and looking around it was impossible to find anyone who didn’t have their arms aloft, singing along or jumping to the music.

Yungblud took things back to his debut album for his second track, with ‘I Love You, Will You Marry Me’.

For Fleabag, he brought out fans from the audience to play guitar with him.

Later in his set, Lil Yachty returned to the stage for When We Die (Can We Still Get High?) and there was also a version of I Think I’m OKAY- an mgk track from 2019 which featured Yungblud and drummer Travis Barker.

Between songs, Yungblud spoke about being overcome with emotion and also reiterating how important Bludfest’s partnership with War Child was.

After an hour and 45 minutes of amazing songs packed with high energy and emotion, Yungblud signed off with ‘Loner’ – going onto tell fans Bludfest was the best night of his life – and it’s a safe assumption the same can be said for many of his fans inside too.

With Bludfest, Yungblud proved it’s possible to host a festival bringing together huge international stars, homegrown talent, icons and some of the best new emerging acts in the UK – all at a fraction of the cost of what you’d pay for an arena show.

We can only hope Sunday was the first of many Bludfests which will follow.