The city welcomed some huge stars over a number of months
17:20, 31 Aug 2025Updated 17:23, 31 Aug 2025
The crowd at Liverpool Celebrates Party On The Pier(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Liverpool hosted well over 1m people this summer as major events took over the city centre. Taking place across a number of months, the city played host to the likes of Pride, the Cunard 185th anniversary, Liverpool Celebrates and Salt and Tar’s Music Weekender.
The city welcomed the likes of Sam Fender, Sugababes, Tate McRae, Mumford & Sons and Becky Hill, to name a few, for numerous events. This year also saw the return of On The Waterfront festival, Celebrating Castle Street and the first Hope Street Blend festival also took place – with the ECHO photographers capturing them all.
BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend alone saw around 100,000 fans in attendance. The festival may have ended but the memories will last a lifetime with headliners including industry heavyweights, up-and-coming musicians, and a few surprise acts for good measure.
Notable names included Tom Grennan, joined by Mel C and KSI, Ed Sheeran, who played a surprise set, and headliners Sam Fender and Jade. Despite a few showers across the weekend, the rain failed to put a dampener on the sprits of festival goers.
Liverpool’s Pride march making its way through Liverpool city centre (Image: Liverpool Echo)
The park was filled with music, dancing and laughter as fans embraced the elements to watch their favourite artists. Festival staples such as riding boots, cowboy hats and colourful outfits were in abundance, while a few unusual fashion trends were spotted in the crowd.
Some came dressed in Newcastle United tops as a nod to Toon Army fan Sam Fender while international pop star Tate McRae ushered in a sea of football jerseys.
The fun also continued at Anfield with the football stadium with Dua Lipa, Lana Del Ray and Bruce Springsteen delivering stellar performances.
One particular stand-out moment came when Dua Lipa wowed her Anfield crowd with a career-first during her show. The 29-year-old performed the final of two Radical Optimism tour shows in L4 on Wednesday, June 25.
Dua Lipa performs onstage during her Radical Optimism tour at Anfield on June 25, 2025(Image: Katja Ogrin/Getty Images)
After sharing a series of touching interactions with fans on the barrier, and then performing Levitating and These Walls, Dua addressed the Anfield crowd with a special message for Liverpool.
She said: “Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your energy. Thank you for your love. Thank you for dancing. Thank you for singing. Thank you for bringing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. This is such a dream to be here. Not one night, but two nights in your city, so thank you from the very bottom of my heart.
“It’s been a massive dream of mine to one day be able to play here, so thank you for giving me that opportunity. This next song I’m going to sing for you guys, every night on tour I’ve been doing a different song by a local artist and so I feel like tonight I can’t come to Liverpool without doing this song.”
The star then began a soulful rendition of Hey Jude by The Beatles, with the crowd joining in and swaying along. As Dua belted out the song’s famous outro, fans waved their arms in the air and chanted “NA NA NA NA” along with her.
Bruce Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney on stage at Anfield(Image: Rob DeMartin)
As the song came to an end, Dua said “I love you Liverpool, let me hear you”, before an image of the Liverpool FC crest appeared on the screens surrounding the stage.
Another highlight was at the M&S Bank Arena when Kylie Minogue came for the last leg of her tour. The singer halted her performance to have a emotional moment with a young fan.
It was an unbelievable night of music, sequins and confetti, with Kylie opening the incredible show with Lights Camera Action, followed by hits In Your Eyes and Get Outta My Way. But throughout the night, there was plenty of interaction with the crowd and a number of special moments.
Fans enjoying the sunshine ahead of the Kylie Minogue concert(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
For the third act, the 56-year-old Australian superstar danced through the crowd in a red sequin jumpsuit to get to a stage further back in the arena, giving more fans a closer look at the performances. It was here that Kylie spotted one Liverpool couple who have been married for decades and dedicated one of her songs to them.
The camera panned into the crowd as Kylie spoke to Geoff, who told the star he will be celebrating his 75th birthday this week. In the beautiful moment, captured on camera by the ECHO, Kylie sat down on the edge of the small square stage and sang her cover of Where the Wild Roses Grow.
During the song, Geoff smiled and teared up and the lovely tribute as the crowd sang along and cheered for the couple. At the end, he wiped a tear away and Kylie laughed and responded: “We’re all crying.”
Geoff then gave Kylie a nod and said thankyou for the moment. This wasn’t the only incredible fan interaction from the night, as during the same act, another incredible moment was captured on camera by the ECHO, when Kylie spotted a young fan in tears in the crowd and brought her up on stage with her.