Kendal Calling reveals 2025 line-up

The founder of one of the UK's biggest festivals has claimed it is about "more than just music" while announcing the headliners for 2025.

Courteeners, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy and Kaiser Chiefs top the bill for the four-day Kendal Calling starting on 31 July next year.

Andy Smith described the growth of the festival at Lowther Deer Park near Penrith, Cumbria, as "quite extraordinary".

From just 900 attendees in its first year, it has expanded to welcoming approximately 40,000 in 2024.

Tickets went on sale in August and more than 70% have already been sold.

Other big names set to perform in 2025 include Sophie Ellis Bextor, Travis, The Wombats, Frank Turner, Maximo Park, Corinne Bailey Rae and Jason Manford.

Mr Smith set up the festival with friends as a teenager in 2006 when it was a two-day event in the quaint grounds of Kendal Castle.

The 36-year-old said: "It’s become a celebration for people who travel from all over and for the community we’re deeply rooted in.

"When we started, it was just a group of teenagers with this wild idea of bringing music and arts to the Lakes.

"Now, 20 years on, it’s grown beyond anything we could have imagined. Record ticket sales have poured in for next year and it’s honestly humbling."

An independent report found the festival's "impact extends beyond the hedges and walls of Lowther Deer Park", with the 2024 event raising almost £79,000 for causes like Hospice at Home, North West Air Ambulance and Cumbria Women’s Rugby Union team.

Speaking to Mike Zeller on BBC Radio Cumbria, Mr Smith said: "We never would have foreseen it grow to the size it has.

"Our ambition has only ever been to make next year's show better, and anything more than that felt like tempting fate.

"It's just always been about bringing good vibes to a good place and people have caught on to that."

Mr Smith added Blondie, Mumford & Sons, Snoop Dogg and 1975 have been his highlights over the years and he is most excited about seeing The Prodigy next year.

"The Prodigy have always been idols of mine," he said.

"We've tried to get them and Fatboy Slim for many years, they bring such a party atmosphere and are unlike any other acts you really see.

"To get them for the 20th anniversary, we couldn't have programmed that any better."

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