A new music festival aiming to spotlight emerging talent will take place in Victoria Park over two weekends in June 2025.
LIDO was announced in October, by AEG Presents, the company behind All Points East, and intends to showcase a varied line up of British and international artists.
Electronic artist James Thomas Smith, also known as Jamie xx, will headline the festival, bringing his latest album In Waves to the LIDO stage.
In a recent Instagram post, he said: “It’s always an exciting prospect playing in my home town.”
Jamie xx will curate a stage called ‘The Floor’ at the ‘artist-led’ festival, named after his club residency at Venue MOT in May this year.
Other artists on the line-up include staples of the British electronic scene Romy, Sampha, and Shy One.
Introducing LIDO’s first ever headliner, Jamie xx ⚡️
— lidofestival (@lidofestival) October 29, 2024
Jamie xx will be joined by @arca1000000, @sampha, Romy, @pandabear, @djayharvey, John Glacier, DJ Gigola, Shy One, @Wooxstar, @livwutang on Saturday 7 June in London’s Victoria Park.https://t.co/0bT30kQD1E #LIDO #Jamiexx pic.twitter.com/R31kd9EODh
One of LIDO’s key aims is to spotlight emerging artists with new names set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Festival creators hope that a partnership with East London Arts and Music school (ELAM) will be an exciting initiative nurturing a new generation of creative talent.
LIDO will offer music students at ELAM opportunities to perform and learn festival production skills.
The goal is to show the accessibility of a creative career by allowing these students to learn and grow alongside the festival itself.
Tower Hamlets’ Councillor for Culture and Recreation, Kamrul Hussain, said: “This new festival, coming to our multi award-winning Victoria Park, has the potential to provide more opportunities for residents to benefit from cultural events.”
Hussain added that LIDO is likely to have a positive economic impact on the borough through increased visitation and income to support council services in the maintenance of their parks and open spaces.
Anouk Menpes-Smith, 23, has lived in Tower Hamlets all her life and is thrilled that a new festival is coming to the area.
She said: “All Points East is such a huge success in Victoria Park each year, it totally makes sense to have more events.
“The lineup looks so exciting and is already making me look forward to the festival season starting again!”
LIDO Festival is set to increase the borough’s reputation as North East London’s cultural centre, showing that there is a renewed demand for live music.
LIDO Festival begins on June 7 2025 and tickets are on sale now on the LIDO website.
Follow LIDO Festival on social media: X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
Featured image credit: martin vmorris used under creative commons license.
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