Doncaster Music Festival review by Rob Johnson
Doncaster Music Festival (formerly Askern Fest, known locally as ‘Donny Fest’) has grown from a small affair on the outskirts of Doncaster, featuring mostly local bands on the lineup, to a stadium-filling, multi-stage event that now includes several world-renowned bands and solo stars. 2025 finds the festival at a new venue, having moved to the Eco-Power Stadium (home of Doncaster Rovers) to cater for the hordes of music lovers travelling to Doncaster for what is another stellar lineup.
Sheffield mainstays The Rosadocs kick things off with a well-received set of indie anthems, with their new single ‘Cross To Bear’ sounding particularly epic, before Manchester band Affleck’s Palace deliver an energetic set, closing with a fantastic version of fan favourite ‘Forever Young’. The Farm are up next, and while we miss the first thirty minutes because of my complete inability to read an itinerary, we do catch their epic rendition of monster hit ‘All Together Now’ which finds the Doncaster crowd in fine voice.
The 48KS have been delivering melodic indie rock for two decades now, and the reward is a sizeable crowd at the Acoustic Stage for what is a captivating hometown performance. ‘Days’,’ in which frontman Ryan Lightfoot, looking resplendent in the new Donny Rovers shirt, intones “You won’t be the last to throw it all away” is the perfect festival song and when the band close with ‘Lead the Way’, a song they wrote 17 years ago, it feels like a celebration of the bands longevity.
The Twang are up next and frontman Phil Etheridge, always the entertainer, leaves nothing on the stage with ‘Wide Awake’ and particularly ‘Two Lovers’ (pound for pound their best song) going down a storm with the first big Main Stage crowd of the day.
From there, it’s back to the Acoustic Stage for James Walsh of Starsailor, who wryly notes that Donny Fest is the first gig he’s ever done with a flower arrangement at the front of the stage. It’s a touch that is typical of the day, with the infrastructure and organisation perfect throughout. Walsh begins with an emotive run through of Starsailor classic ‘Good Souls’ before offering a career-spanning set that takes in a new song (‘Tulips’) as well as a beautiful stripped-down version of ‘Alcoholic’ that inspires pindrop silence, and a tender cover of ‘Days’ by The Kinks. Walsh is one of the UK’s most underrated songwriters, and it’s a pleasure to see him in full flow here.
Simon and Oscar follow Walsh on the Acoustic Stage as half of Ocean Colour Scene, with Oscar’s son, Leon, also filling in on drums. The band have such a strong back catalogue to choose from that the show feels like a hit parade with the inspired chorus of ‘So Low’ (“We laugh, and we drink, and we teach ourselves not to think”) seguing effortlessly into ‘Profit in Peace’ and ‘Robin Hood’. By the time ‘The Day We Caught the Train’ closes things out, everyone has sung, danced and clapped themselves into a frenzy. It’s a timeless track from a band whose music is woven into the very fabric of the UK indie rock scene.
Tom Meighan, erstwhile frontman of Kasabian, appears to have put his demons behind him now, and he bounces onto the Main Stage ready to tear it all down. Meighan always plays every show like his life depends on it, and this one is no exception, with classic singles ‘Days Are Forgotten’ and ‘Club Foot’ laying waste to the Main Stage in front of the biggest crowd of the day. Solo songs ‘Rise’ and ‘Movin’ On’ slot in effortlessly alongside more established cuts ‘Where Did All the Love Go?’ and ‘Underdog’ in what is a compelling and infectious set. Traditional set closer ‘Fire’ sees Doncaster unite as one in a sweaty mess of limbs, festival food and cider contained in plastic cups. It’s quite the scene and a fitting end to a sensational day of music. While DMF 2025 feels like a celebration of everything the festival has achieved over its seven-year run, it also feels like the start of something, too. With early bird tickets already on sale for 2026, I can’t wait to return next year.
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