BLUDFEST bites back at MK Bowl
- Shahnaz Hussain
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
For as long as I can remember, The Craufurd Arms has been the heart of alternative culture in Milton Keynes.
It’s on an appropriately overcast and gothic day that international superstar YUNGBLUD – otherwise known as Dominic Harrison, a 27-year-old from Doncaster – meets with press (and a handful of extremely excited fans) to promote the hotly anticipated second year of his festival – BLUDFEST.
BLUDFEST 2024 saw 30,000 fans flock to The National Bowl Milton Keynes, spending only £50 a ticket. All the while, the festival boasted a colossal 11-act lineup including Lil Yachty, Soft Play, and The Damned. It returns to MK Bowl this summer determined to put live music back in the hands of fans.
“When you put a mad idea out into the world… it could have fallen flat on its face. I feel like a lot of people wanted it to fall flat on its face” says YUNGBLUD, who immediately exhibits obvious disdain at the music industry’s sky-high pricing, which makes live music inaccessible to so many people. It’s clear the vision and success of BLUDFEST is looking to buck the trend: “I think this is gonna incite people. If it works, people have got to change things. People have got to look at ticket prices, because we set a precedent.”
With its return, BLUDFEST features yet another eclectic bill spanning multiple genres including alternative R&B, rap, pop, punk, indie-pop and rock. The lineup features Chase Atlantic as main support, as well as blackbear, Denzel Curry, Luvcat, and Masterpeace, and will be headlined by YUNGBLUD. The festival will also feature a second stage at 10,000 capacity (four times the capacity of last year) headlined by Rachel Chinouriri. On top of this, an expanded fairground, and the return of the ‘make a friend’ tent – a space encouraging attendance from solo festivalgoers by providing the opportunity to meet and cultivate community.
YUNGBLUD makes it clear that the fans are at the centre: “All I care about is my fanbase. I will always communicate why – if it’s got to go up a tenner, I’ll tell you why. I was so tired of hearing these prices are ‘just the way it is’ [when] there’s 500, 600 kids outside in Dallas who can’t get to my gig. We’re here because we want somewhere to go, somewhere to belong.”
YUNGBLUD is revered by fans worldwide for his vocal stance on ethical practices and inclusivity, and BLUDFEST aims to bring this to the forefront. With the festival being advertised as ‘accessible as possible for d/Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent attendees’ (BLUDFEST.com), YUNGBLUD also makes it clear that, for him, platforming emerging artists is key:
“I feel that we have a lot of power to make a positive impact, so we should. We can bring new artists into it and give them a f***load of people. It would be so easy for me to fill to this bill up with people who sound and play just like me, but I think what’s so sick is we welcome new genres, new ideas. It was all about positivity and acceptance. I think this world that we have built can be a beautiful representation of alternative culture.”
The festival comes hot on the heels of YUNGBLUD’s forthcoming album Idols, which will be released on the day before, Friday 20th June: “There was no better way to showcase the size of it than at Milton Keynes Bowl.” And with hopes to send the festival on a worldwide tour, it’s inspiring for me to think that it was, very intentionally, begun in Milton Keynes.
A ticket will set you back £65 (“I need £65 to make this literally perfect and to make it work. But I’m not going to take the p*** out here.”) This, even as an increase on last year, is still well below the average price of a day festival ticket. BLUDFEST comes to The Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday 21st June and tickets are available to buy online now.
Written by: Ayesha Nightingale