What went down at Glastonbury 2025’s Block9 

After Charli unsticks her tongue from the floor of the Pyramid Stage and Doechi flies off like a comet blazing her trail into pop legend, the crowds swarm towards Block9. It’s the defiant heart of Glastonbury, a late-night playground of huge art installations, underground music and queer culture. It’s also a site that has long championed political engagement, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds with its ‘Moustaches Save Lives’ campaign. 

This is the energy that electrified Glastonbury 2025, with thousands chanting “Fuck Keir Starmer” during Kneecap’s set and Palestinian flags flying everywhere. Here’s just some of what went down with the triple measure of party, protest and politics on tap at this year’s festival.

Block9 collaborated with the political campaign group Led By Donkeys to create a provocative piece of art which took aim at our tech bro overlords. Back in May, 98-year-old World War II veteran Ken Turner ran a tank over a Tesla with a “fascism” license plate. The squashed electric car now sits on the Glasto site, with a massive shipping container bearing the Block9 logo on top of it. “We crushed fascism once and we’ll do it again,” promises Stephen Gallagher, one of the founders of Block9.

A giant billboard declares, “Send them to Mars… while we party on Earth”, as Elon Musk appears in the rocket window in an orange jumpsuit that blurs the line between astronaut and inmate, arm raised in a fascist salute. Lining up for the ride are billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and recently married Jeff Bezos, next to Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu. A day into the festival, the mural is already covered in graffiti and expletives. The message is clear: fuck off to Mars, the lot of you. And don’t come back. 

IICON is one of the festival’s most iconic stages, its towering concrete skull laced with graphics inspired by the human genome. For Nia Archives’ set, the face comes alive through video mapping. Stephen describes this collaboration as a natural fit: “Nia Archives x IICON was the perfect booking for Sunday Night at Block9. IICON has its own unique visual language, so we deconstructed the visual world we made for Nia’s live show – elements like dot-matrix graphics and vintage rave footage – and rebuilt it in a very abstract, IICON-specific way.” The result, he says, was “a bespoke, audiovisual trip that matched the energy of Nia’s music to the scale and darkness of IICON’s architecture.” What would they want Trump to hear, if they could play loud enough? Stephen replies, “It’s got to be ‘Off Wiv Ya Heads’ by Nia Archives. Your time will come Donald, and heads will roll.”

Block9 has long been the festival’s late-night haven. But this year, it extended its reach into daylight with a twin-venue day party across Genosys and famed NYC Downlow. The huge dreamscapes provided a backdrop for DJs such as Derrick Carter, Jayda G, Hot Chip, Don Letts and more; notably, Fat Boy Slim marked a milestone with his 100th performance at Genosys. And just as the revelry was drawing to a close, Jamie xx performed a surprise set, splicing hits with underground cuts as the dancing crowds were eaten by the sun. 

NYC Downlow remains one of the most elusive and electrifying corners of the festival. Queues snake around the replica meatpacking warehouse and I am told – repeatedly and emphatically – that it’s the best gay club in the world. At the entrance, a dazed Tilda Swinton welcomes us into the smoky swirl. Inside, the air is thick with sweat and steam, lasers slicing through the haze as DJ Disciple and Deep Dish command the room. After a secret set at the Woodsies stage, Lorde wraps up her night dancing and dripping with the queens.