2025/08/22 – 2025/08/24 – Camper Calling, Ragley Hall, Warwickshire
Review & Photos: G. Rossington.
Held over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Camper Calling 2025 brought together an eclectic mix of indie, pop, rock, dance, nostalgia and family entertainment. The headline billing was particularly strong, with Example, Clean Bandit and Razorlight taking centre stage on the Lakeside Stage, while Tom Meighan, The Charlatans and Pixie Lott provided the major attractions on the Arrow Stage. Around them was a programme deliberately designed to keep families, music fans and campervan enthusiasts entertained from morning until late.
And perhaps most importantly, the festival was blessed with the sort of weather organisers dream about. The weekend was hot, dry and gloriously summery, although the sunshine also meant that parts of the site became distinctly dusty. One festival-goer, writing on TripAdvisor after the event, specifically noted that the better weather made a significant difference compared with previous years, describing the atmosphere as friendly and family-oriented.
That combination of sunshine, a beautiful setting and an unusually broad programme created a vibrant atmosphere throughout the weekend.
Friday night belonged to Example on the Lakeside Stage, with the dance-pop star bringing the first major headline set of the weekend. His position as the festival’s Friday headliner was a smart choice: Example has the kind of catalogue that works particularly well in a festival environment, where familiar choruses and instantly recognisable beats can pull together an audience containing several generations. Camper Calling itself billed him as the artist “kickstarting” the 2025 festival, and that description proved appropriate.
The atmosphere around the Lakeside area was already building well before the headline performance. The Lottery Winners were a particular highlight earlier in the evening. Their infectious indie-pop, humour and energetic live show fitted the Camper Calling audience perfectly, and their set included favourites such as “Worry”, “You Again”, “Superpower”, “Much Better” and “Turn Around”.
There was even a wonderfully spontaneous moment during “Turn Around”, when two audience members were invited on stage and a marriage proposal took place. She said yes. It was exactly the sort of memorable, slightly chaotic and genuinely joyful moment that makes a festival set more than simply a sequence of songs.
Chesney Hawkes also delivered the sort of nostalgic crowd-pleaser that Camper Calling does particularly well. His presence helped set the tone for a weekend where there was no pressure to choose between generations or genres. One minute you could be watching a current indie act; the next, you could be singing along to a song that has been part of British pop culture for decades.
On the Arrow Stage, Tom Meighan provided a much rockier alternative. His set drew heavily on Kasabian material, including “Underdog”, “Where Did All the Love Go?”, “Empire”, “Shoot the Runner” and “L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)”, alongside solo material. The recorded setlist runs from “Shout It Out” through to “L.S.F.”, underlining just how much of his former band’s catalogue remains capable of creating a huge festival response. Meighan’s booking was not entirely without controversy, however, his set provided a substantial rock counterpoint to Example on the main stage.
Friday’s overall strength was that nobody was really left without an option. Whether you wanted dance, indie, classic pop, rock or family entertainment, there was somewhere to go.
Saturday was arguably the most musically diverse day of the festival, with Kara Marni, Sleeper, Sigala, The Charlatans and Clean Bandit all offering completely different takes on what a festival set can be.
Kara Marni brought soulful vocals and modern R&B to the programme, while Sleeper delivered a welcome dose of guitar-driven nostalgia. The latter’s 6.30pm Lakeside slot was followed by Sigala, whose set became one of the weekend’s major party moments.
Sigala was almost tailor-made for Camper Calling. His infectious dance anthems filled the site with energy and provided the perfect bridge between the daytime programme and the evening headliners. Contemporary coverage of the event similarly singled out Sigala as Saturday’s peak, describing the set as a collective release that brought festival-goers together through house beats and summery sounds.
Then came two very different headline experiences. On the Arrow Stage, The Charlatans demonstrated why three decades into their career they remain such a dependable live proposition. Their set was packed with songs from across their catalogue, including “Forever”, “Weirdo”, “North Country Boy”, “Can’t Get Out of Bed”, “Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over”, “One to Another”, “The Only One I Know”, “How High” and “Sproston Green”.
It was an excellent festival setlist because it did not rely on one era alone. Fans of the band’s early material were catered for, while later favourites ensured that the performance felt like a celebration of the entire Charlatans story. Tim Burgess and the band have the ability to make a large festival crowd feel as though it has temporarily become one giant indie club, and the Arrow Stage was a particularly strong place to experience that.
Meanwhile, over on the Lakeside Stage, Clean Bandit provided a completely different kind of spectacle.
Their headline set combined electronic pop with the classical influences that have always distinguished the group. The setlist was short but incredibly effective, featuring “Solo”, “Symphony”, “Rockabye” and “Rather Be”. Those four songs alone represent an extraordinary run of global hits, and each gave the audience another enormous communal singalong.
Clean Bandit’s appeal also suited Camper Calling’s broad demographic. Parents knew the songs, younger festival-goers knew the songs, and there was enough dance energy to keep the entire Lakeside crowd moving. Their ability to combine pop, dance, R&B and classical elements made them one of the weekend’s most distinctive headline performances. The festival itself emphasised that genre-blending quality when announcing them, highlighting the combination of electronic, dancehall, classical, R&B and pop influences.
Saturday therefore became the perfect example of Camper Calling’s greatest strength: you could spend the afternoon discovering something new, enjoy a nostalgia hit later on, dance with friends to Sigala and then finish the night with either The Charlatans or Clean Bandit.
Sunday might have been the most quintessentially Camper Calling day of all. The programme began with family entertainment before gradually building towards a pair of very different evening headliners. Mr Motivator was an inspired inclusion. His appearance embodied the festival’s willingness to embrace entertainment that sits outside the conventional music-festival formula, and his Sunday appearance was specifically highlighted by one returning festival-goer as a personal highlight.
The Lancashire Hotpots then brought their gloriously entertaining brand of northern folk-pop comedy to the party. Their set was a reminder that Camper Calling is not trying to be a serious, genre-specific music festival. It is much more interested in fun.
Dick and Dom added another layer of family nostalgia, ensuring that younger festival-goers were not simply tagging along while their parents watched bands. Their presence, alongside the children’s activities and wider family programme, helped make the festival feel genuinely intergenerational rather than merely “family-friendly” in the marketing sense.
The Levellers were another standout on Sunday. Their Lakeside set included “The Riverflow” and “Fifteen Years”, among other material, and their combination of folk, rock and festival-ready choruses fitted the setting beautifully.
Then came the final headline clash.
Pixie Lott headlined the Arrow Stage with the powerful pop vocals and big melodies that have defined her career. Her catalogue includes “Mama Do”, “Boys and Girls”, “Cry Me Out” and “Turn It Up”, and her 2025 festival appearance offered a different kind of finale to the weekend.
Over on the Lakeside Stage, Razorlight were given the responsibility of closing the festival’s main stage. It was an inspired choice.
Their set was a concentrated reminder of just how many enduring indie-rock songs the band accumulated during the 2000s. “In the Morning”, “Stumble and Fall”, “Golden Touch”, “Before I Fall to Pieces”, “In the City”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lies” and “Somewhere Else” all featured, before the encore delivered “Good Night” and, inevitably, “America”.
That closing run of “Good Night” into “America” was exactly what a festival finale should be: familiar, emotional, loud and designed to be sung by thousands of people at once. Contemporary event coverage also identified Razorlight’s nostalgic set, particularly “America” and “In the Morning”, as the triumphant singalong finale to the weekend.
For all the strength of the line-up, it would be missing the point to judge Camper Calling solely on its stages. The festival’s setting at Ragley Hall is a huge part of its appeal. The estate provides an unusually attractive backdrop, with the festival spread across the grounds rather than feeling like an anonymous field that happens to contain some stages. The official map describes the event as being set in the grounds of Ragley Hall, around 25 miles south of Birmingham.
The family programme was similarly extensive. Lake activities included kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, Mega SUP and SUP yoga, giving families and groups plenty to do during the daytime. There were also craft workshops, circus activities and children’s entertainment, reinforcing the festival’s identity as a genuine family weekend rather than simply a concert with camping attached.
The lake was particularly well suited to the hot, dry conditions. After a morning around the site, getting out onto the water provided a welcome way to cool down, while the surrounding grounds offered plenty of space to slow the pace before the evening music began.
And when darkness arrived, the Silent Disco in the woods offered one of the festival’s most memorable alternative experiences. A forum attendee specifically singled out the woodland Silent Disco alongside Razorlight, Levellers, Clean Bandit, Sigala, The Hoosiers and Example when looking back on their weekend. It is a small detail that says a lot about Camper Calling: the best memories do not necessarily happen in front of the biggest stage.
Food is another area where Camper Calling appears to understand its audience. The 2025 trader line-up included pizza, churros, doughnuts, fish and chips, poutine, kebabs, loaded flatbreads, waffles, crepes, curry and a range of other street-food options, alongside bars and drinks traders.
That variety matters at a festival where families might be spending several days on site. Nobody wants every meal to feel like an expensive compromise, and Camper Calling’s food offering encouraged people to wander around and try different options rather than simply eating whatever happened to be nearest the main stage.
The food and drink areas also contributed to the wider social atmosphere. Camper Calling felt less like a race from stage to stage and more like a temporary village, where people could sit down, have a drink, watch the children play and then wander off to catch another band.
Ultimately, the biggest compliment that can be paid to Camper Calling 2025 is that the atmosphere seemed to matter as much as the line-up.
The weather certainly helped. With hot, dry conditions throughout the weekend, people were able to make full use of the outdoor spaces, although the inevitable dust was a small price to pay for sunshine. The result was a festival that felt bright, energetic and unmistakably summery.
More importantly, the audience itself helped create the mood. Reports from attendees repeatedly emphasised the friendliness and family atmosphere. One long-standing visitor described it as a place where children felt safe among other families, while another T6 Forum attendee went even further, calling 2025 their best Camper Calling yet and another describing it as the best festival they had attended outside Glastonbury.
That friendliness is perhaps what separates Camper Calling from some of the UK’s bigger festivals. It is large enough to feel like a proper festival, but retains enough of a community spirit that conversations with strangers, children running around, people comparing favourite performances and spontaneous dancing all feel natural.
There was also a pleasing lack of musical snobbery. Example could share a weekend with The Charlatans, Clean Bandit with the Levellers, Pixie Lott with the Lancashire Hotpots, and nobody needed to choose which definition of “festival music” was the correct one.
Camper Calling 2025 was a hugely enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend that delivered on virtually every level.
The Lakeside Stage provided the major spectacle, with Example setting the weekend in motion, Clean Bandit delivering a polished and joyous Saturday night and Razorlight closing proceedings with a superb nostalgia-fuelled indie singalong.
The Arrow Stage was just as important, with Tom Meighan supplying the Friday rock, The Charlatans producing one of the weekend’s strongest heritage-indie performances and Pixie Lott bringing Sunday to a suitably colourful conclusion.
But the real winners were the acts that filled the spaces between the headline performances: The Lottery Winners, Chesney Hawkes, Sigala, Sleeper, Kara Marni, the Levellers, Dick and Dom, the Lancashire Hotpots and Mr Motivator all contributed to a programme that rarely felt predictable.
Then there were the lake activities, family entertainment, woodland Silent Disco, food, drink and the simple pleasure of spending a sunny weekend in the grounds of Ragley Hall.
Camper Calling 2025 ultimately felt less like a festival you attended and more like a temporary community you joined for a few days. The hot weather helped, the setting was spectacular, the music delivered plenty of memorable moments, and the friendliness of the audience gave the whole event a warmth that cannot be manufactured.
For families, campervan owners, nostalgic music fans and anyone looking for a festival where you can enjoy a great band one minute and something completely unexpected the next, Camper Calling 2025 made a very convincing case for coming back.
And with the final notes of Razorlight’s “America” ringing out over Ragley Hall, it was hard to imagine a more fitting end to a weekend built around sunshine, friendship, family and a very good excuse to sing along.
