Yungblud promises fans ‘bigger, better and epic’ Bludfest at National Bowl

Bludfest will return to the Milton Keynes venue on Saturday, June 21, and today the singer-songwriter was joined by fans at The Craufurd Arms to talk about the festival and the forthcoming release of his new album Idols.

In a Q&A hosted by Radio X’s Sarah Gosling, Yungblud said: “It’s going to be bigger, it’s going to be better, it’s going to be epic.”

Yungblud will release his fourth studio album Idols the day before he returns to headline The National Bowl.

He said: “I think it's just gonna be a beautiful week. It’s gonna be great to share that, the album's going to have been out a day, so you’ve gotta all cram it into your brains the night before.

“I think the set is going to be so fun. This year at Bludfest we’re really bringing back a lot of the old songs with a lot of the new ones, there’s going to be a lot of guests.

“This album is really big. Sonically, I wanted to create a movie within a record and there was no better way to showcase it and the size of it then at Milton Keynes’ Bowl.”

Joining headliner Yungblud will be acts including Chase Atlantic, Blackbear, Denzel Curry, Rachel Chinouriri, JXDN, Peach PRC, Luvcat, Master Peace, Cliffords, Elin Hall, Nieve Ella and Reece Young.

Last year, thousands of fans attended the inaugural event which featured acts including Soft Play, Lola Young, Lil Yachty and Nessa Barrett.

This year, the festival will again be split across two stages, but the capacity of the second stage has been upped from 2,000 to 10,000 and there will also be a larger fairground.

Talking about picking the National Bowl for Bludfest, Yungblud explained that he had originally considered a venue ‘up north’ – but the capacity wasn’t big enough.

He said: “You put a mad idea into the world and you don’t know whether it’s going to work or not.

“I said to my team, ‘do you reckon we could do it at the Bowl because that would be lit’.

“I feel like a lot of people wanted it to fall flat on its face and it didn't - so for it to be back for its second year is amazing and it’s already going to be a lot bigger than last year.

“I just know how this community operates and it’s sometimes like banging your head against a wall trying to get through to people but I get it. I get what I want this year.”

At The Craufurd Arms, as well as fans, Yungblud was joined by Milton Keynes mayor James Lancaster and Cllr Shanika Mahendran from Milton Keynes City Council - cabinet member for planning, placemaking and culture,

The Doncaster native cited gigs by Green Day, David Bowie and The Prodigy as some of the iconic acts who have previously headlined the National Bowl and who inspired him to bring Bludfest to Milton Keynes.

Bludfest will be Yungblud’s only UK gig this year and there are also plans to take the festival worldwide.

Tickets for Bludfest cost £73.70 and are available via https://www.bludfest.com