Sweat, sunstroke, and superb music on offer at Bilbao BBK Live with incredible 2025 event

European festivals are far better than UK lineups. This has been a fact for the last few years, but both Øyafestivalen last year and Bilbao BBK Live this year show exactly how this came to be. The Basque Country is a beautiful place to host a festival, not least one where the festival organisers have the guts to stand behind the acts on the bill. Their unwavering dedication to those on the lineup is what makes it such a comfortable place to find a new favourite or, in the case of one sunburnt, heatstroke-suffering journalist, see an old favourite before being bedbound for three days. But there is much to learn even in the hotel room, which smells of fish any time the air conditioning is turned on. There, slumped over the cheap cuts of Spanish hams and chocolate brioche, is time for contemplation.  

Lucid for three days straight and on a diet of just pastries and meat does give the mind time to muse. Why are European festivals trumping those in the United Kingdom? Part of it may be the chase of clout. Leeds Festival has sprung for Chappel Roan a year too late, while Travis Scott feels to be a shot to the foot following the Astroworld documentary. If the world of sports entertainment is keen to wash its hands of the rapper, then soon too shall the music industry. Variety has never been a strong suit of festivals in the UK, either. Outside of Glastonbury Festival, the most sought-after in the world, there is little beyond the soft rock and art-adjacent indie scene on display. Wireless Festival had Drake headline three nights in a row, the audio version of waterboarding taking place in a London borough. The UK is failing to keep up not just with the reach of European festivals, but the hunger of fans in the region.  

Bilbao BBK Live is the perfect example. It has the strongest lineup of any festival this year and proves to be a truly beautiful time. Even just the one night up in the Basque Country, surrounded by those keen to see English Teacher or headliners Pulp, is enough to cement the festival as a must-attend event. It has the benefit of being compact like Øyafestivalen but with enough room to camp for those who do not fancy the winding bus ride up and down the mountain with seven beers sloshing around in their stomach. Festival prices are at play here, as they are at any fenced-off area where live music is at play. Like an aeroplane or a football match, the prices are hiked. What are you going to do? Drink beforehand and hope the buzz remains for several hours? No way. 

Instead, enjoy what is in front of you without the need for booze. There is no greater feeling at a festival than being able to relax. I’m twenty-five now, the time of staying out until five in the morning looking for the next open bar (7even in Sunderland was open, naturally, until seven) is well behind me. Bilbao BBK Live boasts a brilliant line-up, but also some natural beauty. Find yourself a spot on the hill in front of the festival sign and you have a direct line of sight to the festival stage. Great news for those wanting a relaxed Pulp experience, an in-form Jarvis Cocker and band provide a best-of selection featuring predominantly new album material.  

What else can the festival offer? I can only imagine it from my sickbed. Some parts are clear. Standing behind Kneecap, whose music is secondary to their message of global politics, is impressive given that the UK and its festivals have yet to do the same. Bilbao BBK Live is not a place for like-minded people to come together, but it explores the fundamentals of any great festival – the sharing of new ideas and different walks of life. Getting that from the festival is immediate, and it lingers long after your final time on the slopes of Mount Kobetamendi. Any festival which can bill Sparks and Kylie Minogue on the same day is an all-time great experience. I have never been so seething with rage to have missed two acts because my body could not hack the heat.  

But while Bilbao BBK Live was an early write-off due to what was either dehydration, heatstroke, exhaustion, or all of it, it is hard not to reflect on the experience, however limited. What Bilbao BBK Live has provided over the last decade is a place where the biggest acts across the globe can come together and lead the charge for those on the rise. Wunderhorse may have pulled out of their spot, but seeing their name, along with Fat Dog and English Teacher, on a line-up boasting Raye and Kylie Minogue is fantastic. Every festival can do this, but Bilbao BBK Live, considering its proximity between stages and the communal spirit that comes from a smaller area, matters more. It means more. You can walk for two minutes and check off all the stages, though I am a fast walker.  

Maybe it is the British man looking fondly at countries which have better modes of transport, reliable communities and cheaper food prices, but Bilbao as a festival host is a delight. “Tourists go home,” may be the spray-painted message on the walls of some buildings in Bilbao, but there is still a welcoming feeling across the city. There is still the embrace of cultures across the sea. Kneecap and their activism take centre stage on the Friday evening, while Japanese Breakfast and Damiano David begin to make waves, the momentum to do that right behind them and supported well by the crowds. David is an odd festival choice, but following his escape from Måneskin, we can only wish him the best.  

And we can wish Bilbao BBK Live the best, too. With my head in the toilet bowl, the effects of eating only processed cheese and meat sandwiches, and heatstroke at its peak, my only thought is when can I return? Bilbao BBK Live is a consistent festival. It knows how to draw the big names, has done so consistently for twenty years, and will do so again. To experience even a day of it is enough to get hooked. It offers something festivals like Leedsfest cannot. Community built on music, shared experiences in beautiful locations. Sunscreen is essential for next time, even with severe weather warnings blowing up the news app on Friday. It does not stop the atmosphere, the thrill which comes from being at Bilbao BBK Live.