Some Parklife 2025 headliners had their sets pulled after a stage was closed due to safety concerns.
The Manchester festival took place in Heaton Park over the weekend (June 14-15), with 50 Cent, Charli XCX and Jorja Smith leading the line-up.
However, the festival’s final night on Sunday (June 15), was interrupted after organisers were forced to shut down the Matinee stage at 6:30pm, leading to the cancellation of two headline performances.
The decision came “as a result of crowd movement”, per a statement from organisers to Manchester Evening News, “on the advice of our safety team to remove the risk of any potential incidents”. The stage remained closed for the remainder of the final day.
One of the acts impacted was Dutch DJ Chris Stussy, who later took to social media to say he was “really gutted” over the incident, but that the area had to be shut down “due to safety reasons and the stage being overcrowded.”
DJ Josh Baker also said he was “deeply” sorry to his fans over being “unable to perform” in light of the situation, noting that the cancellation was ultimately for reasons “outside of [his] control.”
Parklife organisers said: “Unfortunately, it has been impossible to relocate Josh Baker’s and Chris Stussy’s performances to a new stage. Our teams worked quickly and diligently to address the situation, and the safety of our festival attendees is always our utmost priority.”
It was the first year that the Matinee stage had been included at the festival, and it featured a 360° DJ booth.
Despite the sudden closure of the Matinee stage, the rest of the festival continued as planned, with Charli XCX taking to the main stage later that night to close out the weekend.
Other acts playing over the weekend included Peggy Gou, roadblock star PAWSA, electronic duo Overmono, and former NME Cover star Lola Young.
