Over four sun-soaked days, Brockwell Park transformed into a rotating stage for London’s alternative musical soul. Wide Awake, Field Day, City Splash, and Cross The Tracks each claimed a day of the late May bank holiday, uniting indie outliers, Caribbean icons, jazz revolutionaries, and soul visionaries.
I attended Cross The Tracks, a festival that delivered a blend of reflection, celebration, and reckoning. With commanding sets from Michael Kiwanuka, Ezra Collective, and a rare appearance by Cymande, it offered a powerful, joyful soundtrack to a weekend caught in cultural and political crosshairs.
Taking the main stage like a quiet storm, Michael Kiwanuka turned the park into a silent congregation. Performing songs from his latest album Small Changes and earlier work, his spiritual steadiness grounded the set. Cold Little Heart and Love & Hate closed the day — their emotional weight deepened by the moment, leaving a somber note on an otherwise uplifting day.
In sharp contrast, Ezra Collective unleashed a raucous set that made jazz feel urgent again. From the first explosive drum kick to the final brass flourish, their performance was more than a show — it was a release. Fusing spiritual jazz with Afrobeat, and dub, they created something politically alive and sonically unstoppable. Amidst the horror and despair of the world, their music became a vessel of real, defiant joy.
Cymande — the legendary British funk band, too rarely seen live — took the stage with both control and abandon. Bra and Brothers on the Slide stitched generations together in grooves that refused to age, echoing decades of resistance and celebration.
Between sets, Jamiroquai’s Too Young to Die played softly through the PA. The 1993 anti-war anthem hit home. A festival built on joy, now slightly overshadowed by protest and political tension, paused for a moment that voiced what many had been thinking: How many have to die before things change?
To fully understand the mood of the weekend, you had to go back to Wide Awake two days earlier, where Irish rap provocateurs KNEECAP delivered one of the most talked-about sets. Mixing radical politics and absurdist humour, they tore through their performance like political pranksters on speed. Long outspoken in support of Palestinian liberation, KNEECAP didn’t hold back. They used their platform to speak out against the Israeli government and express solidarity with Palestinian rights, and announced they had donated their performance fee to Doctors Without Borders.
Cross The Tracks 2025 was never going to be simple. A recent High Court ruling found Lambeth Council had unlawfully allowed these festivals to proceed without proper planning permission. Add to that Superstruct’s ownership, and the controversy surrounding its parent firm KKR — which holds significant investments in Israel — and you’ve got a festival PR team I do not envy.
Still, musically, Cross The Tracks offered beauty, soul, and community in abundance — even if that beauty was overshadowed by contradiction. A contradiction that perhaps can’t be danced away. Yet in Kiwanuka’s restraint, Ezra’s fire, Cymande’s legacy, and KNEECAP’s provocation, the weekend held more than just music. And for once, festivals didn’t just reflect joy — they reflected truth.
For more info on Cross The Tracks visit www.xthetracks.com
Words by Woody Anderson
Photography Garry Jones, Khali Ackford, Luke Dyson, Jovan Bassral
