Lido Festival review: Jamie xx, Romy and Sampha

11 June 2025, 01:37

New kid on the block, LIDO Festival, arrived on the London music scene with a line-up many festivals could only dream of. 

Promising to be a festival that places artists at the helm of its curation, Saturday 7th June saw Jamie xx headlining, with ARCA, Sampha, fellow The xx band member Romy, and a slew of the hottest names in the electronic industry -including Nia Archives, Skrillex, Panda Bear, and DJ Harvey - making their LIDO debut.

As is tradition for many British festivals—the heavens truly opened, leaving many festivalgoers seeking shelter in two of the three covered stages. This meant the two stages where Romy, DJ Harvey, and Wookie were playing were flooded by streams of people queueing up either to catch their favourite artist or to find respite from the apocalyptic-esque weather—you decide.

Yet there’s something highly admirable about the British and their ability to not let poor weather conditions get in the way of a good time—never more evident than at this festival.

‘Character’

Watching neo-soul musician Sampha on the main stage with his silky-smooth vocals and infectious energy immediately brought sunshine to the muddy turf of Victoria Park—if only metaphorically, for the first few songs.

He opened the set with his emotively raw 2017 track Plastic 100°C—an ode to balancing his relationships and health—accompanied by three band members.

As the rain began to subside, Sampha performed a rendition of Hold On - his 2011 collaboration with SBTRKT - a walk down memory lane for fans of SBTRKT’s genre-defying eponymous debut album.

As he spoke to the crowd, he told fans he admired the fact that everyone was still watching despite the weather. “It builds character,” he added.

The South London-born musician also told the crowd he felt “very grateful” to be there, noting that some of his family members were watching his performance.

Open about his journey with grief and the passing of his late mother, his set featured the emotive track (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano.

At one point during the performance, Sampha danced at the front of the stage to his cover of Roy Davis Jr & Peven Everett’s iconic garage track Gabriel - transporting the crowd back to the nineties with a neo-soul twist.

He later joined his band members on the drums in the corner of the stage - his energy and enthusiasm mirrored by the crowd.

‘Nostalgia’

Before Jamie xx’s headline slot, he had already performed not once but twice that day—a B2B set with electronic music producer Skrillex, followed by another set with Nia Archives.

Jamie xx, real name James Thomas Smith, has forged a highly successful solo career since the band’s formation in 2006 - yet the echoes of The xx’s inimitable style still reverberate throughout his work.

He opened the set with the dreamlike track Wanna from his 2024 album In Waves before moving into the higher-tempo Treat Each Other Right - a track imbued with dancefloor-fuelled hedonism.

As is tradition at one of Jamie xx's sets—and anyone who was lucky enough to catch one of his Alexandra Palace In Waves shows last year would know—London’s best-loved DJ couldn’t leave the crowd immersed in sound alone.

A huge four-sided LED cube surrounded the DJ, while cameras zoned in on dancers in the crowd, projecting them onto the two big screens flanking the stage.

As one of the ‘dancers’ appeared among the crowd, he took to the microphone to sing his solo track GMT - revealing himself to be fellow xx bandmate, singer and bassist Oliver Sim - before joining Jamie on stage to perform their joint anthem Waited All Night.

Other memorable moments included Jamie’s acid-twisted remix of Gosh and Razzy Bailey’s I Hate Hate, followed by All You Children, Life, and the electrifying Baddy On The Floor.

Fans were captivated when Jamie’s The xx alum Romy emerged to perform the ethereal track Loud Places—a glitteringly nostalgic song of hope and connection in a chaotic environment. A perfect song for a festival crowd that had weathered the storm—and come out the other side to experience a groove-enthused dancefloor masterminded by Jamie xx.

Romy encapsulated the feeling among the crowd with four simple words: “We love you, London.”