Barnsley Live 2025: Everything You Need to Know About the Town’s Biggest Music Festival

Lee Barber
Jun 15
2 min read

Barnsley Live returns this weekend with a day of music in the heart of the town centre.

As one of the UK’s biggest multi-venue music festivals, it’s set to transform the town once again into a vibrant hub of over 200 live performances — all it’s all for a great cause!

Barnsley Live 2025 is nearly here, and it’s bigger and better than ever! Taking place across over 30 venues and stages, all within walking distance in Barnsley town centre, the festival will feature over 200 bands, musicians, and DJs performing throughout the day.

To help festival-goers plan their day, the official Barnsley Live app launches this Friday. The app will include performance times, venue locations, and live updates — making it easier than ever to catch your favourite acts and discover new ones.

New for 2025 are two vibrant pop-up spaces: Mandela Gardens (behind the Civic) and the Graham’s Orchard car park opposite Eaden’s Bar. Both will offer food, drinks, and DJ sets throughout the day.

There’s also fresh faces on the venue list this year with both House of Indie and Vault 27 making their Barnsley Live debut, both expected to play a big role in the future of Barnsley’s live music scene.

The day will kick off in style with a parade by Frumptarn Guggenband, starting at Mandela Gardens and winding its way to the Glass Works. There, the mayor will officially open the festival with a speech, with music beginning shortly.

Barnsley Live is keeping on trend with the return of one of world’s biggest bands, sorting you out with an Oasis tribute band headlining the Civic at 8:00pm. All performances across the festival will be wrapped up shortly after 9:00pm.

Festival merchandise is already available, with the official Barnsley Live t-shirts, possibly the most affordable festival merch around, on sale now via their website. Programmes will also be available to purchase by the end of this week.

Barnsley Live is a family-friendly event, and all participating venues welcome families. However, if things get crowded, organisers recommend seeking out one of the quieter venues to enjoy the music comfortably.

And of course, the Best of Barnsley team will be out and about capturing all the highlights from the town’s biggest party. If you see us, be sure to stop and say hello!

Like every year, it’s all for a good cause with Yorkshire Air Ambulance being selected through a public vote to be the 2025 beneficiaries of the festival.

Organised by the Barnsley Live team, a Community Interest Company (CIC) powered by more than 50 volunteers, the event once again aims to showcase the best of local music from around the region.