In The Meadows 2025 review: A festival for the fans
Headlined by Iggy Pop and Slowdive, with a strong Irish presence across the three stages, In The Meadows 2025 was a day-long submersion in spine-tingling sound.
For a festival in its second year, In The Meadows found its niche incredibly quickly and with self-assured ease. It knows what it is, who its people are, and how to keep them satisfied. Positioning itself as “a one-day dive into music culture” had the potential to over-inflate expectations, but they followed through and did exactly what it said on the tin.
Taking place on Saturday, June 7, on the historical grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art at Royal Hospital Kilmainham, In The Meadows’ 2025 line-up catered to the post-punk, alternative rock devotees, with a strong presence of home-grown talent sprinkled across the line-up.
Set across three stages—East, West and Middle—the festival is all about harnessing raw energy and sending music lovers headfirst into the reverberations of the best returning acts and top new talent. In my book, the best thing about music festivals is coming away with a new favourite band, while ticking some favourites off your concert bucket list.
Headlining and curating this year’s festival offering was Iggy Pop, playing his first show back in Dublin in 17 years, and for the love of god, that man can perform. At 78 years of age, the godfather of punk remained standing and shirtless for the majority of his 80-minute set, and had the crowd wrapped around his finger throughout.
Having seen Iggy Pop at All Together Now back in 2023, it was already confirmed to me that there is no better place to find yourself than at the centre of a crowd during the chorus of ‘The Passenger’, but heading from that right into the opening chords of ‘Lust For Life’ was pretty exhilarating.
Bashing through all the hits: ‘Death Trip’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, ‘Sick of You’ and ‘Nightclubbing’, there’s no doubting this man’s stamina, and he closed out an evening of top-tier music on a soaring high. But what about the rest of the line-up he put together?
Over the years, Iggy Pop has championed a massive mix of bands and artists through his slot of BBC 6 Music, and his music appreciation brought together some of the very best in Irish and international alternative sound for one day only.
First up, the band I barely knew upon entry but the one that I’ve been rotating heavily on Spotify since: Warmduscher, a London-based post-punk six-piece that had this insanely interesting polyrhythmic sound that went in a million different directions and kept you wrapt throughout. Frontman Clams Baker Jr. brought the energy and got amongst the fans, knocking shoulders and crowd surfing while spitting the lyrics down the mic.
We managed to catch some of SPRINTS’ set, which was unsurprisingly incredible. Frontwoman Karla Chubb owns the stage and fires her lyrics like bullets, and brought out Phoebe Lunny of Lambrini Girls for ‘Little Fix’, before leaving the stage and heading down to join the fans in the mosh pit.
Meryl Streek, whose 2024 album Songs For The Deceased is a must-listen, and his live performance was just as visceral as his sharp, cutting and direct lyrics. Running from there to Gilla Band in a desperate attempt to squeeze in as much as possible, this set made me feel very smug about never leaving the house without my Loop Earplugs. Their wall of sound washed over us and though crowd interaction was minimal, the performance and sound quality was excellent.
Slowdive were number one on the agenda for the evening, which sadly meant that I was limited to enjoying just one song from Brighton-based icons Lambrini Girls, and their opener, ‘Big D*ck Energy’, was the best possible choice. Fun fact: Their album Who Let The Dogs Out was produced by Gilla Band bass player Daniel Fox, so it’s all just a big family affair.
Finally, the pièce de résistance: Slowdive. Pioneers of shoegaze sound, their set at In The Meadows was their third Irish show in just under two years, and the fuzzy, surreal, gorgeous sound fills up every sense, almost knocking you back onto the grass.
As expected, their much-loved tracks ‘kisses’, ‘Alison’ and ‘When the Sun Hits’ were goosebump-inducing and nostalgia-tinted, leaving you feeling inexplicably emotional while submerged in sound in a festival tent. They closed out their set with their rendition of ‘Golden Hair’, with a projection of Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett on the screen behind them.
Overall, In The Meadows is a festival by music lovers, for music lovers, with little to no distraction from what we’re all there to enjoy: the sound. It’s enjoyed by an older demographic, a crowd unperturbed by rain showers, exclusively invested in listening to the music and enjoying the moment.
There are fewer phones in the air, a real camaraderie amongst the crowd, and a genuine respect between performer and festival-goer. I am already eagerly anticipating the line-up for their third instalment in 2026.
Photography by Aron Cahill.
Also Read
