A celebration of great indie music

Festival Review: On The Meadow 2025

Following the success of the first year, On The Meadow Festival was always going to come back. What started as an experiment, a risk, a long shot, is now an established event and it gets the attention and interest of more and more musicians and fans.

A very strong line up, consisting of 15 bands and singers over 2 stages, plus DJ sets. In the end, it felt like 10-11 hours were not enough.

Even the bad weather was not able to spoil the party. The Acoustic stage that was meant to be outdoors, was moved inside. And maybe it worked out even better in the end.

The Archangels made an explosive start with their wild rock music.

Nails

It was their 2nd last ever show as a band and they made sure to leave a great lasting memory, with songs including Losers Don’t Cry, Nails and Suck Your Own Ego.

Suck Your Own Ego

President Elect were added a few minutes before the event, as Harri Larkin were likely to pull out and eventually did. After the sets by Mega Sun Machine, Artaca and Stereo Cupid, it was time for Tom McQ to kick off the Acoustic stage party. The fans were able to immediately switch between full electric and acoustic, with no interval gap until the end of the festival. As soon as a set was finishing on one stage, the next set was starting on the other stage.

Leo

It was back to the main stage with The Utopiates, before Leo amazed the fans with his unique retro style acoustic set, using his special microphone that makes his voice sound like coming from a 1950’s radio.

Chris Daley

After the set of Saint Clair on the main stage, it was time for Chris Daley to deliver an incredible performance with his acoustic guitar.

Emergency Break

And then, on the main stage, it was the turn of a very noisy band that causes chaos, with a frontman who has the habit of crowd surfing with a wired microphone in his hand. How did they organizers get them back for a second year? Well, they are the organizers. And once again, they delivered an incredible show. Since they stepped up their presence in the live music scene early last year, Emergency Break have been consistently getting better and better. With their massively charismatic front man Leo Gerchen running the show again with the energy of a power station and all the other band members giving their best. It’s worth mentioning guitarist Joe Adams, who picked up where he left off at Soccer Six a couple of months ago, showing that he’s getting out of his shell and becoming more and more of a rock star.

The set started with Leo running onto the stage in replica Ferrari Formula 1 overalls that Michael Schumacher used to wear, during the time he won the last 5 of his 7 world championships.

He immediately energized the whole room and raised everyone’s excitement levels. And did he crowd surf with a wired mic? Of course he did. Because why not.

Pyro

Can You Feel It

Get Out Alive

 Leo Crowd Surfing

When Oran snapped a string on his guitar, someone brought him another guitar. But there was a bit of a problem with that. It was a bit awkward when it turned out the guitar belonged to the headliners, Larkins. Oops.

After delivering yet another incredible performance at their own festival, Emergency Break have a few big events to look forward to, including Venture Fest in August and their big headline show at Omeara in September.

The Kairos

After a 20-minute easy-listening acoustic set by Fraser Morgan, it was time for high energy again, with The Kairos driving the crowd wild. A lot of other musicians, including festival organizer Leo, were in the crowd.

Suspend

In The Thick Of It

Squeeze

Their set included their upcoming single Tell Me Twice, which is being released on Wednesday 30th.

Tell Me Twice

They finished with their very popular song, Punchline Fistfight, which had plenty of big fans in the room.

Punchline FistFight

Laurie Wright

Laurie Wright’s set was acoustic, but didn’t lack the energy and intensity, with members of Stereo Cupid being amongst the biggest fans. He played some of his numerous hits, as well as songs from his upcoming new album.

We're Only Warming Up

My Rock N' Roll

Talk Of The Town

On My Tod

Finally, The Larkins marked their comeback by headlining the festival, with a 1-hour set.

On The Meadow Festival 2025 was a day of fun, a celebration of great indie music, giving fans incredible value for their money. The bar is set really high, but with Leo being the organizer, it could get even better in the future. The first names for 2026 will probably be announced later this year.