Tramlines Festival returned to Hillsborough Park (Sheffield) from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July for another weekend packed with the best in both established and up-and-coming music, comedy, and entertainment.
Headlined by Sheffield icons Pulp, Rotherham indie success story The Reytons, and one of the UK’s best live acts this century in Kasabian, Tramlines delivered another stellar lineup in 2025.
The festival followed the sad news the The Leadmill, who run a stage at Tramlines and are big advocates for the festival, would be closing its doors following a long legal battle.
But this festival was defiant in its response to one of its city’s iconic venues moving on. And it felt in 2025 more than ever before, Sheffield was celebrated for the music hotspot and cultural breeding ground it has been for many years in the UK.
Below, we highlight five of the top moments from a sensational Tramlines Festival in 2025.
JOHN COOPER CLARKE DELIVERS UNIQUE SET
Tramlines prides itself on delivering a diverse lineup. If you look for it, you’ll find something a bit different to supplement your dosage of indie rock and pop across the three days. A great example of this is John Cooper Clarke, the punk poet, who performed a special guest on T’Other Stage Live.
John is a cultural icon up in the north of England, but holds special ties with Sheffield due to an unlikely collaboration with Arctic Monkeys. Their 2013 track ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ derived from a Cooper-Clarke poem of the same title, and festival-goers were able to witness the man himself deliver it on stage in the Steel City.
PULP SUMMER – THE HOMECOMING CHAPTER
As we said above, Tramlines strives to be unique in a crowded festival market by offering something that little bit different to its competitors. And not only did Pulp headline on Friday night, but the homecoming heroes also curated the whole Friday lineup, which featured the likes of Baxter Dury and Spiritualized on the main stage.
Pulp of course brought their acclaimed live show to close the opening night, which featured a mix of classic hits and tracks from their critically revered comeback record ‘More’. As a nod to their home, Pulp performed ‘Sheffield: Sex City’ for the first time in 13 years, and even brought out another Sheffield music icon in Richard Hawley to perform four songs.
A POP PARTY WITH NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
The majority of Tramlines-goers will pride themselves on their love for, and knowledge of, indie music. However, an injection of pop to a festival afternoon is becoming a vital ingredient for a successful weekend, and noughties icon Natasha Bedingfield provided this on Saturday afternoon.
With big boots to fill after Sophie Ellis Bextor’s triumphant performance in the same slot last year, Bedingfield brought the pop fix to a packed out main stage. With hits such as ‘These Words’ and ‘Unwritten’ sang back by thousands, it was another great call by the Tramlines booking team in 2025.
CMAT – DO BELIEVE THE HYPE
Alex Turner famously said “don’t believe the hype” at the start of Arctic Monkeys’ career, but with CMAT we are telling you to do the exact opposite. Glastonbury was a career-defining moment for the Irish artist, whose breakthrough was propelled into a new level of attention throughout the music world. And Tramlines was just around the corner…
Sometimes the stars just align, and as CMAT enjoyed her moment, so did the packed out crowd who flocked to see her on the final day of the festival. CMAT managed to get a whole Tramlines crowd to two-step from side-to-side in sync, and with a strong set oozing personality and talent, showed herself as the megastar in the making many are predicting her to become.
TRAMLINES DELIVERS THE LIONESSES EUROS VICTORY
Music and sport go hand-in-hand, and it can often be hard to predict when booking a festival whether it will clash with your favourite sports team playing an important match. However, fans of the Lionesses needn’t worry, as with the Kasabian staging all set up on Sunday evening, Tramlines organisers pulled it out of the bag for 40,000 England fans by playing the Euros Final on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage screens.
With many already kitted out in England jerseys, flags, and football attire, it was a jubilant atmosphere at Hillsborough Park as fans came together to watch the victory in quite unique circumstances. A real feeling of joy and togetherness swept through the festival. One they’ll remember for a lifetime, and followed by a Kasabian headline set. Not bad!
Tramlines 2025 was a roaring success (not just because of the Lionesses) and will return once again next year. A must-attend festival for UK music fans!
…
Follow us here:
You can check out all episodes of The Northern Chorus Podcast on Spotify, Apple and YouTube, including interviews, reviews, rankings, music chat and more!
