YNOT: A Party in the Peaks
- Chesterfield Local
- Sep 22
- 3 min read
Words: Outside Organisation
A stunning Y Not Festival 2025 saw headline sets from The Wombats, The Prodigy, Courteeners and Madness in a weekend of crowd sing-alongs to pop, rock and indie classics.
Thursday: Headliners The Wombats were welcomed back to Pike Hall. The charismatic band were eager to “bring the energy." Kicking off with a timely ‘Sorry I’m Late’, the band rounded off their stellar set with indie favourites ‘Greek Tragedy’ and ‘Let's Dance To Joy Division’ to a buzzing main stage crowd.
Friday: A pulverising Prodigy headline set saw Maxim challenging the crowd to bring the rave and rock energy as the band delivered massive beats with hits including pounding opened ‘Voodoo People’, ‘Invaders Must Die’, ‘Out of Space’ and ‘No Good (Start The Dance)’. Mastermind Liam Howlett pulled the strings of a truly epic set from the dance legends.
The day saw stand out performances from Primal Scream, The Hunna, and Hard Life frontman Murray Matravers took to the stage on his festival homecoming, with Y Not revealed as the first festival he visited 15 years ago, as well as being his first ever gig in the open mic acoustic tent.
Saturday: Courteeners preempted a Sunday set from Madness with their own cover of ‘It Must Be Love’ in a raucous set that saw them asking for free tequilas and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to someone called Greg before launching into ‘Not Nineteen Forever’.
Brit Awards Best New Artist Last Dinner Party brought the theatre to the stage with their set decorated with ornate Roman columns. Lead singer Abigail Morris stepped out in a black trench coat over a long white dress. The band warmed up the packed main stage with opener ‘Burn Alive’ and, later, pulled off an incredible live debut of their new release, ‘Angus Dei’. The rockers wrapped up their set with their stomping anthem ‘Nothing Matters’.
Norwegian singer-songwriter Sigrid lit up Pikehall with familiar hits and her enthusiastic band. Blasting out optimistic tracks ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’, ‘Plot Twist’, ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘Don’t Feel Like Crying’, the young artist proved her vocal tenacity, hitting belting notes while keeping the crowd energised. With a superhero-style cartoon avatar hovering behind her on-screen, the singer launched into the final segment of her set, closing off with megahits ‘Mirror’ and UK top-ten chart single ‘Strangers’.
Other Saturday acts included Chesterfield rockers April Tapes who made their Y Not debut - earning their main stage spot as this year’s Apply To Play winners, The Twang, Daydreamers, Mr Motivator had the Y Not Festival crowd moving to Eminem remixes and punchy pop tunes – all at midday!
Sunday: “That was insane - that’s the best crowd I’ve ever seen,” a member of Madness was heard uttering as they left the stage before the encore. Singer Suggs led the band through a set packed with stone-cold pop classics ahead of their forthcoming Hits Parade Tour later year. ‘One Step Beyond’, ‘Baggy Trousers’, ‘Our House’ and, of course, ‘It Must Be Love’ - the crowd sang every word.
The day opened with tribute band Noasis, who had watched Oasis at Wembley the night before. The K’s stormed the Big Gin to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.
The day concluded with Shed Seven cracking out hits including ‘Chasing Rainbows’ and ‘Going For Gold’, indie legend Rick Witter said: “Y Not is an amazing festival. It's really safe.
It's very well run, it's clean, and it's full of lovely families, and we're going to rock it.”
Y Not Festival: Y Not Festival’s John Dell said: “Y Not Festival saw our biggest ever Thursday night with a set from the Wombats, a thunderous Prodigy headline and an anthemic Courteeners and a glorious Madness performance. An Oasis sing-along in the Derbyshire countryside was ideal for a Sunday afternoon. It’s Oasis summer after all!
“This year’s Y Not Festival has been the best ever, and we’re proud to bring the likes of The Last Dinner Party, Primal Scream, Sigrid and Maxïmo Park to the Peak District.
“The crowd has been immense throughout - thank you to everyone who made this the party of the year!”
Tickets for Y NOT 2026 are available to purchase here.
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