Pitchfork Music Festival London is bigger than ever in 2025, with five days of thoughtfully curated shows that range from major exclusives (Australian psych titans King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard playing a special show alongside the Covent Garden Sinfonia at the Royal Albert Hall) to a venue takeover of Hackney Wick’s Colour Factory by lauded US hip hop label 10k Global.
“The idea [for the festival] has always been a physical manifestation of the website – having an exploration of all different kinds of genres, from huge artists to really new and exciting ones,” festival director Dan Monsell tells Broadsheet. “We have lots of chats with Pitchfork’s editorial team, who are letting us know what they’re excited about, but then a nice flip is that we’re able to give it a bit of a UK slant because we know what works well here in terms of the live space.”
Monsell calls out French electronic pop breakthrough Oklou, who’s headlining Camden’s Roundhouse on Friday, and a special show from veteran avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, supported by similarly revered experimentalists Lonnie Holley and Maria Somerville, in the same space the following night.
The London edition of the festival launched during the pandemic and is as much about supporting venues as it is about supporting artists. At a time when small venue closures are still rife, it actively directs people to some of the city’s lesser-known spaces. “It was all borne out of this idea of ‘Let’s celebrate venues. Let’s celebrate ways of using them differently,’” Monsell says.
On Saturday, there’ll be a full Dalston takeover, with venues as diverse as Earth, the Shacklewell Arms and Cafe Oto featuring a host of international stars including Boygenius collaborator Jay Som and underground hyperpop hero Underscores. “It’s nodding to Pitchfork’s weekly editorial playlist and turning it into more of a showcase,” Monsell says. “We like the idea of having things that are a bit more grassroots-y, alongside the bigger institutional takeovers of the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican.”
Since its inception back in 1996, Pitchfork has become a bible for a certain type of music aficionado: discerning and, sure, sometimes a little lofty. But it’s a byword for an alternative outlet with its finger on the zeitgeist and one eye always trained on the next breaking star.
“Pitchfork Music Festival London is growing every year, and this year we’ll welcome 20,000 people over the week,” Monsell says. “We just hope people come and find something exciting and new.”
Pitchfork Music Festival London runs from November 4–8.
