LIDO Festival Day 2: Jamie xx Headlines with The xx Reunion (Review)

SATURDAY 7 JUNE: The new LIDO Festival‘s second day saw a reunion on stage of all the members of The xx as East London star Jamie xx curated a day bulldozing genre divisions, showcasing cutting edge music in 2025.

Jamie xx’s picks for the bill included Arca, Sampha and The xx colleague Romy, along with other trailblazers reshaping the worlds of electronic music and pop.

Celebrities in the crowd for the festival’s second day included Harry Styles and Sharon Horgan. The audience was treated to as good a sonic experience as you can get, thanks to the brand new Martin Audio system, supplied by Solotech.

A decade and a half after his debut album, In Colour, Jamie xx’s position is assured as a UK dance institution. Before the solo success, he found fame as a member of the Mercury Award-winning The xx, and on Saturday he reunited on stage with band mates Romy and Oliver Sim.

The three, collaborating once again, came together during his hit ‘Waiting All Night’, followed by an emotional hug. “We love you, London,” said Romy.

Elsewhere, Jamie xx’s set spanned dance genres – the history and future of east London’s vibrant clubland scene. The depth of his music was fully on show. The industrial breaths of ‘Gosh’ expanded into a scream from the future, while the set was littered with classic drum ‘n’ bass, house and dubstep.

The fans, who have followed him and grown with him, featured heavily, their faces plastering the big screens, while footage picked out dancers dotted around the park.

“You deserve to be happy,” purred ‘Breather’ from this year’s In Waves. It is darkly euphoric stuff.

In Colour has its own classics including a thunderous ‘Loud Places’ and his collaboration with The Avalanches, ‘All You Children’, was a natural crowd-pleaser.

Romy’s voice emerged again on ‘Loud Places’, and Robyn’s on their hit ‘Life’. featuring Romy’s voice, is an old school house banger. Elsewhere were snatches of Mazzy Star’s ‘Into Dust’ and Ramzy Bailey ‘I Hate Hate’

But ‘Let’s Do it again’ had the field shaking and it was Jamie xx’s day, fuelling a non-stop dancefloor.

Earlier, he and Skrillex kicked things off on the main stage, pulling in a massive crowd and setting the tone for the festival. A B2B first, their sets were packed with high-energy remixes, including a wild reworking of the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Apache (Jump On It)’ and the timeless anthem ‘Jump Around’ by House of Pain. At one point, Skrillex hyped the energy even higher, shouting: “Yo, good morning good afternoon — make some noise for Jamie!”

“This is my local park so hello,” said John Glacier facing down the rain. The poet, rapper and producer embraced the challenge, kicking off her boots to perform barefoot, with fans, including Sampha, appreciating her left-field tunes. “Oh I finally won you over? Thank you for staying in the rain as well. There’s a lot of you,” she said.

Panda Bear‘s set brought some indie jangle to the day, including a stomping ‘Defense’ and the gorgeous Fleetwood Mac-like groove of ’50mg’. But Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox led a shimmering, upbeat festival set into a deep psychedelia.

A genre-crossing modern icon, Sampha‘s set ranged from jazz percussion to euphoric disco, all the while feeding the audience good vibes. Tracks like ‘Suspended’ and ‘Can’t Go Back’ demonstrated his prowess as one of the most daring songwriters around. “It’s a pleasure to play for you,” he said. “Today’s a day that really builds character!”

The rain stopped in time for Venezuelan icon Arca to take the stage, demanding raucous cheers and screams from a willing audience. Her thrumming electric songs sent the crowd into uproar, with the lyrics to favourites like ‘Rakata’ and ‘Prada’ being rallied back at her as she strutted around the stage. She urged the audience to purr along with her and joked that their body heat would keep each other warm, showing the humour that helps make her and her performances so iconic.

DJ Villager opened Stage 2, treating a pumped up, rave-ready crowd to a heart-pumping set, featuring an irrepressible remix of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’.

Tim Reaper filled the junglist dancefloor ahead of the day’s second B2B with the legendary Shy FX, whose ferocious drum’n’bass set had the crowd skanking from start to finish. The atmosphere was electric – pure vibes from the “ultimate jungliest”. Just when it felt like the energy couldn’t go any higher, he closed the set with ‘Original Nuttah’, sending the crowd into a full-blown frenzy.

One of the most anticipated B2Bs of the day saw the headliner taking to the decks with Nia Archives, who said: “I’m playing Lido Festival for the first time. I’m super excited because it’s in my local area and it’s really exciting to go back to back with Jamie xx because I don’t really get to do many back to back. I really loved the way he’s curated the festival.
It’s just really tasteful, super cool artists and I’m really excited to watch some of the performances.”

The stage’s final B2B featured electronic music legend Todd Edwards and genre bending garage DJ bullet tooth, before Jamie’s fellow The XX star, Romy, took to the stage. Clearly excited by the occasion, it was an animated performance with bangers like ‘Enjoy The Life’, ‘Lifetime’, ‘Always Forever’ and ‘The Sea’, ending in ‘Strong’. It was a euphoric set, disco heaven via east London indie.

Jamie xx’s curated day at LIDO featured The Floor, with DJ sets from Stresshead, Shy One, livwutang, Wookie and a killer 3 hour set from DJ Harvey. Inspired by Jamie xx’s celebrated series of intimate club residencies, Jamie brought guests and a custom sound system into an intimate setting within Victoria Park. The Floor started as a huge 10-day residency at Venue MOT in South London, featuring surprise appearances from Charli XCX and George Daniel, Daphni, 2ManyDJs, Jockstrap, DJ Python and more. It has since expanded to the US with five consecutive nights in New York and another residency in LA.

Jamie xx’s bill followed an opening bill topped by a rare performance from Massive Attack on Saturday 7 June. Next weekend brings OUTBREAK Fest (Friday 13 June), Charli xcx‘s own party girl festival (Saturday 14 June) and London Grammar (Sunday 15 June).

LIDO is putting artists first and handing them control, for a festival entirely programmed by the headliners. They will bring their favourite artists, collaborators, newly tipped artists and their own style to each day. From the acts to the artwork and stage design – every aspect is personal to them. Named after Victoria Park’s Lido Field, the 10-day event will offer hand-picked music line-ups with a strong focus on sustainability, as well as community events during the week.