Parklife festival confirmed the news on social media with organisers saying it was “unavoidable”
Parklife Festival takes place every June at Heaton Park in Manchester (Image: Vincent Cole – Manchester Evening News)
We’re just a few weeks away from Parklife Festival’s grand return. The Manchester-born festival will see huge names including American rapper 50 Cent take to the stage alongside other international artists and homegrown acts.
The festival, which will take place at Heaton Park once again on June 14 and 15, is one of the country’s biggest music events – regularly drawing in more than 80,000 people over the weekend and this year marks its 15th year running.
At the end of last year, festival bosses unveiled Charli xcx, who made waves with her BRAT album, as the first confirmed headliner for the 2025 event.
Artists including Confidence Man and Antony Szmierek were also previously announced, with general sale tickets made available for fans in early January.
50 Cent will headline Parklife 2025 after performing at the festival in 2022(Image: James Speakman/Manchester Evening News)
The full lineup of more than 100 artists includes 50 Cent, who previously headlined Parklife back in 2022 and will be returning for a second time following huge demand for his set.
R&B singer Jorja Smith, who has previously been named British Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards, will also be performing at the festival.
However, it has now been confirmed that Lola Young, who achieved a number one for her breakout hit, ‘Messy’ will no longer be playing the Heaton Park festival.
It would have marked her biggest UK festival appearance to date at the Bury event, but an update on Parklife’s social media accounts yesterday (May 17) confirmed she would no longer be able to make the set.
The post on Instagram read: “Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict Lola Young will not be performing at Parklife 2025.
“We would like to apologise for any disappointment. Full set times will be published at 5pm Tuesday 20th May on the PL25 App where we will also be announcing some surprise additions to the weekend in the run up to the festival.”
Lola Young, who recently reached number one in the UK, will be performing at Parklife 2025(Image: Getty Images)
The songwriter from London is best known for her viral 2024 hit ‘Messy’, her first charting song, which topped the UK Singles Chart.
Young has received several award nominations. She was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star in 2021, for Best Pop Act in 2025, and placed fourth in the BBC Sound of 2022 poll.
Other acts who will be playing this year’s festival Peggy Gou, Rudim3ntal, Pawsa, Armand Van Helden, Bicep presents Chroma and Brit Rising Star 2023 winners Flo.
The full line-up will also see the likes of Skream & Benga, Steve Angello, Joy Orbison, Andy C, Overmono, Chris Stussy, Bou, Hedex and Marc Rebillet take to the stage.
They will join the previously announced DJ Heartstring, Jodie Harsh, Salute presents True Vision, Interplanetary Criminal, Prospa, Gina Breeze, Ki/Ki, Girls Don’t Sync, Bakey, sim0ne, and Chaos In The CBD.
This year, there’ll be a brand new stage, Matinée, which will feature a 360° DJ booth, as well as a new location for VIP & Backstage areas, which is set to be centred within the heart of the park itself.