Yungblud has announced details of his own festival BludFest ā taking over Milton Keynes Bowl this summer with a stacked line-up. Find details below, and see above to watch our interview with Dom Harrison as he tells us what to expect while weighing up his past, present and future.
After teasing fans with his “biggest announcement yet“, the Doncaster artist has now revealed that the inaugural BludFest will be headed to Milton Keynes Bowl on Sunday 11 August ā featuring a headline set from Yungblud alongside a line-up featuring recent collaborator Lil Yachty, as well as Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, The Damned, Lola Young, Jazmin Bean and many more to be announced.
Beyond the music, the “community” focussed event will also play host to include a āMake A Friendā tent, free photobooths, a Yungblud museum, and a recreation of Camdenās iconic The Hawley Arms ā the artist’s favourite pub.
Asked what it means to be headlining Milton Keynes Bowl in the footsteps of David Bowie, Queen, Green Day and Linkin Park, Yungblud told NME: “Wow! What the fuck? Thatās the fucking mad, isnāt it? BludFest is happening! Iām launching my own festival. I had the idea to do it last November. I just had fucking insomnia one night and thought, āWhatās the next thing we can do that is really a staple and just pushes the boundaries?ā
āThis whole thing has been about fucking with people. When press donāt write about us, when labels donāt want us, when festivals donāt take us seriously, when people donāt take my generation seriously, letās just poke the bear every time and piss everyone off to see if we can get away with it. Weāre a community, weāre getting bigger, weāre gonna do it anyway!ā

He continued: āWe were talking and I said, āWhere can we do it?ā People really got it excited about it and went, āDo you know what? Letās do it at Milton Keynes Bowl. Iāve got that photo of Bowie in his yellow suit from ā83 and I remember [live album and movie] āBullet In A Bibleā by Green Day. I was like, āWhat? Weāre gonna do it there?ā”
Harrison told NME that he was “excited to lean into the Britishness” of the festival, adding that “this country needs a bit of a kick up the arse, just in terms of mad concepts”.
“Weāre very set in our ways in terms of, āThis is how you do this and this is how you do thatā. But you know what? Fuck it,” he said. “Weāre gonna keep it really UK-themed and try to bring a bit of unity and love back to the Union Jack and try to re-define it a bit. It feels like a load of bollocks at the moment.
āItās all about unity, love and a place that people can come to. With Yungblud, we dreamt of a world five years ago and now Iām going to physically fucking build one. This is a place that you can come to and be utterly yourself with your mates, your family or completely on your own. If people donāt know who you really are and youāre hiding it, come to fucking BludFest and do it.”
Yungblud added: āMy plan is to eventually take it worldwide, but it had to start in the UK. Hopefully, itās going to be like something no one else has seen before because my mind is mental and I wanted to put that into a physical world. When youāre walking through those gates at BludFest, you are walking into a physical manifestation of Yungblud.”
Tickets will go on sale at 10am this Friday (March 22) and will be available here.
Watch above or read below for Yungblud sitting down with NME at the Hawley Arms to tell us about why he’s doing something so huge to say thank you to his fans, looking back on his career so far, that ‘feud’ with The 1975’s Matty Healy, and his larger-than-life Britpop-inspired new concept album.
NME: Hello Yungblud. You’ve been reflecting a lot on your life and career lately online. What led you to that?
Yungblud: āTo be brutally honest, itās the first time Iāve actually realised what the fuck has gone on. From being 18-years-old and starting this thing to the end of last year, Iāve just kept my head down and kept running. Iāve never been like, āWoah, what the fuck?ā. We played Wembley Arena last year and I wasnāt even there. All Iāve ever wanted to do was play a gig, meet people [on loop]. This has been the first moment to take stock on the good bits, the really bad bits, the fun bits, the really crazy bits and sat down with myself and thought, āWhat do I want to do next?ā
āIām 27 next, and Iāve been doing this since I was 18. Itās been like a fucking movie.ā
You canāt plan that…
āYou canāt plan it, no. A lot of people donāt realise that itās me and my mates and fucking 10 iPhones ā the whole time. I love the [Sex] Pistols, I loved The Damned, I love Siouxsie Sioux and I basically just studied how they belonged somewhere back in the late ā70s and early ā80s. I just put that on an iPhone to connect to people.
āThis has got bigger than any of us ever expected. How the fuck do you deal with that? We just needed to take a little bit of time off and be like, āAlright ā whatās the coolest thing we can do next? Whatās the thing that serves our fanbase the best andĀ remembers the people?ā Thatās what itās always been about: me meeting the people and loving them, and hoping that they love me back.ā

Even back in 2019 when we spoke, you referred to your following āThe Black Hearts Clubā as a “community” rather than “fans”…
āCommunity or family, always. āFansā puts you on a pedestal. All my life, I just wanted to be a part of something and never felt like I did. I wanted to matter. Itās the hardest thing in the world, feeling really small. Itās really fucking dark. All anyone wants to be is seen. People want to be seen for who they are. I wanted to build a space where people could say, āYo, I feel like you ā thatās sickā, or āWoah, I didnāt know you liked that tooā.
āEven if itās outside of Yungblud, it was more about creating a space than the music in the beginning. The music was more of a vehicle to be like, āHereās something that you can go too, to find each otherā. Then I got really big, and itās been mad.
“If anyone can ever be arsed to do a film about us one day, it would be mad to go into it.ā
Who would play you?
āBarry Keoghanās got the same nose as me. Put some eyeliner on him and tell him to grow his hair. Heās about the same height as me as well.ā
He loves getting his kit off as well
āI love it man, same!ā

And now you’re celebrating that community at BludFest…
āI get really buzzed off the fact that people are going to find relationships and make friends there. Itās a festival thatās all about the people and not corporate. We have the best festivals in this country, but as they get older they get more stale and less about the people. They become more about the transaction a bit fucking dated. I just want to vibe out a bit and create something cool.ā
What can you tell us about how you landed on this line-up?Ā
āI just wanted it to be artists that I think are completely real. No matter what, whatever people say, we are fucking real and person-to-person. Lola Young is one of my favourite artists from this country at the moment; I think sheās fucking rad. Sheās got her own thing going on, sheās different and weird. Itās a really exciting time for British music: from Central Cee to Lola Young, itās actually moving globally. Nessa Barrett is amazing too. I think sheās a songwriter for a new generation.
āLil Yachty is trying to do what Iām trying to do and push the boundaries as much as possible, whether people like it or not. I also had the idea to do āthe iconās slotā, for an artist that we pay homage to as one that inspired it in the first place. The reason Iāve got a white streak in my hair is because of The Damned. Every year, at about 7.30pm weāre going to have an icon.ā
Like the Glastonbury Legendsā slot?
āYeah, but my own. Weāll have the icon slot then Yachty then me. Itās going to be sick. There are many more to come, but I just wanted something that transcends genre, is defiant as fuck, and is all about inspiration and imagination. Itās a celebration of unity between artists and people.
There’s a certain ‘spiciness’ to the bill for sure…Ā
āItās a bit fucking naughty. These artists are not beholden to anything. I know how hard it is. People either donāt want to give you a fucking leg up because youāre too dangerous, people donāt believe you, people think itās fake, or people just think youāre a little too loud. Thatās what Iāve experienced. Iām looking at these artists and saying, āYouāre real as fuck, come and play my festival because my community and family will like you and what youāre saying needs to be heardā.ā
Will there be some big collabs on the night?
āProbably. Iāve got mental ideas. Some people are going to come out that are legends ā for my set and for other peopleās sets. Who Iāve got coming out with me is fucking mental.
Any clues you can share?Ā
āGlassesā¦ā
Cool. What can you tell us about the rest of the experiences on offer?
āIām not going to give it all away, but weāre going to have a āmake a friendā tent. All youāve gotta do is be inside that tent and youāre approachable. Weāre taking The Hawley Arms to the festival and are literally building it in Milton Keynes Bowl. Iām probably going to be watching bands and pouring lager, then at seven oāclock Iāll go have a shower, wash my winky and Iāll be ready to be fucking Yungblud. Thereās going to be a Yungblud museum, loads of stuff looking back on what Yungbludās done, weāll have a BludBurger; it will be full of experiences.
āI went to Glastonbury and I loved Glastonbury because itās all about the people, so I wanted to take a little bit of inspiration from that.ā

To see that many people there must make you feel invincible and unstoppable as a unit?
āIf you love Yungblud, if you hate Yungblud but are kind of interested, if youāve never had anything to do with Yungblud, if you loved it at 15 but outgrown it, if youāve come to it older ā I want to signify that itās going to be here forever for you.
āI am not ignorant that people come and go to fanbases. Iāve done it to many artists ā but I want Yungblud to be a constant in peopleās lives. If you want to turn to it and feel that feeling again, itās there all the time. Iām going to do this every year and I hope everyone comes from everywhere. Thatās why weāve kept the ticket prices as low as we can.
Ticket prices can be pretty heavy these days. This seems like a bargain?
āThatās what Iām saying: it’s about Ā£50 for 10 or more bands, all in. That is it; weāre not even making money ā weāre just doing it for the fucking tunes. Iām excited. Itās all about saying āthank for this momentā. Iāve had so many arguments about the price-point but thatās it.”
Youāre just here telling your truth and people who appreciate that truth come to you. So when something happens like Matty Healy having a go at you, or when someone attacks another part of your community, do you a grow a thick skin? How does that make you feel?
āHonestly, I donāt really care. That whole ā75 thing was funny to me. It was quite funny because we were in Manchester Arena, ironically, when that whole thing happened. It went on a little too long, and thatās why I found it funny. I like the dude. I think heās a bit of an idiot, but I like his fucking tunes. It was a pretty cool thing; I was like, āFuck it, right, some fuckerās talking about me, coolā. I thought about it for about two minutes before I went on stage, and never thought about it again since.ā
And it didnāt escalate to legendary beef status?
āI donāt think so, no. I think if we saw each other at a party, itās be like, āAlright, you fucking dickhead?āā
You both seem to stand for a lot of the same things.
āThatās what Iām saying; itās funny! Thatās the thing about being British. People like me, people donāt. Honestly, Iād be lying [if I said that] between the ages of 22 and 25 it didnāt get to me ā because it really did. This year, having a little bit of time out [has helped]. Itās all bollocks; itās all fucking entertainment. Iām just having a good time. I love my community, I love my fucking music. I fucking do, thatās all Iāve known up to now and itās got us to here.
āLead with your gut, love people, and I think youāll be alright. Thatās my motto.ā
When you started teasing BludFest, you said that in order to move forward, youāve got to look back. Is this the end of a chapter?
āIt is the end of a chapter. Iām going into new music, which I canāt wait for you to hear. Again, Iām 27 next and for a character to me itās either death or rebirth. This point has been amazing up to now. Iāll never lose what itās about in terms of Yungblud and the soul of it ā but musically, this next album is something Iāve been working on for two years and itās a fucking adventure. Itās a full concept that you can play from start to finish.ā
What can you tell us about that arc?
āItās been made in England. Itās been made in the North, and I flip the narrative where Iāve sung about darkness. This album is the light. Itās all about getting through it; itās positive. Itās that thing in your stomach when you listen to Oasis, or The Verve, or Bowie, or Suede, or Madonna. It makes me feel like I can get up today. It makes me feel like Iām invincible and that I can do anything ā thatās what this new album sounds like.
āStone Roses, Amy Winehouse ā everything that has fundamentally done work on my soul. Everything up to now has been about your heart and your head and making sure that Iām educated, that I use my voice. That I speak from the heart, meet people, be loud, be bratty, be unapologetic, be crazy. This is [me asking] āWhat does my soul want to say? What do I feel in my fingertips when you stick on [Oasis’] āLive Foreverā, [The Verve’s] āValium Skiesā or [Primal Scream‘s] āScreamadelicaā?
āItāll be a great āUrban Hymnsā or āScreamadelicaā. I know the old dudes are going to leather me in the comments for that but I donāt give a fuck because Iām going to go there. If you listen to it, then itās that from a new perspective.”
So if the world is a bin-fire, youāre just kicking the bin over and saying āLetās goā?
ā100 per cent. Itās all about unity and love in another way. As opposed to saying, āFuck you, this is the world weāve got to get toā, this is saying āCome together, look each other in the eye, be humanā.ā
Will you be using BludFest to launch new material?Ā
āItās all a little masterplan. Iāve got loads of songs. In the past year since my last album, Iāve been experimenting and dropping songs in realtime. āLowlifeā sounds completely different to āHappierā which sounds completely different to āHatedā which sounds completely different to āWhen We Die (Can We Still Get High)ā with Yachty. Where do I want to go? Itās all been about having fun with it. The answer came that Iām going to make this album that Iāve been trying to make for two years.
āThereās a mixtape of songs that Iāve written and love that might not make any sense but I think are fucking sick, so Iām just going to drop them, going into BludFest and in the meantime create a fucking opus.ā
Is this like your āBlack Paradeā?
āItās a āTommyā, itās a āQuadropheniaā [The Who]. Itās āA Night At The Operaā [Queen]. Itās a āBlack Paradeā [My Chemical Romance]. Itās an āUrban Hymnsā. Itās a thing thatās intended to be listened to from start to finish, and itās pushed me harder and made me gut myself harder than anything before.
āWe locked ourselves in a studio in Leeds and just felt. We shut the world out instead of asking, āWhatās popping on this?ā āWhatās the state of artā or whatever. Fuck that. Could this album have been written 50 years ago? Could this album be written in 50 years time? Fucking everything else. It just is.ā
That takes balls
āIāve always led from truth. We got fucking further than I ever thought we would get, and I can say that. Iām down. Itās all about each other. We might as well just try and reach for fucking Queen, Bowie and The Verve ā because they didnāt even know what they were doing at the time. I hope people like it, because itās fundamentally the most truthful Iāve been able to be since ā21st Century Liabilityā. Iāve approached this album like Iāve just started.ā
Watch our full video interview with Yungblud at the top of the page where he also tells us about breaking America, memories of Camden, the NME Awards, and much more.Ā
The post Yungblud tells us about his past, present, future and new festival BludFest appeared first on NME.