YUNGBLUD announces BLUDFEST with Lil Yachty, SOFT PLAY, Lola Young and more

When YUNGBLUD invites you down to Camden Market for a secret announcement, you just know you can expect chaos.

By the time we arrive to meet the politest man in punk rock, thousands of fans are already lining the streets for what would be revealed as the launch of BLUDFEST; YUNGBLUD's very own festival at Milton Keynes Bowl this summer.

It's a sea of spikes and safety pins, all in single file. This is respectful chaos.

On Sunday August 11 2024, YUNGBLUD will be joined by Lil Yachty, SOFT PLAY, Nessa Barrett, The Damned, Lola Young, Jazmin Bean and more acts to be announced at his first-ever festival; something he plans on taking 'worldwide.'

Ahead of his big announcement, we caught up with YUNGBLUD to find out why creating a 'world' for every fan to 'find each other and form identities' is so important.

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YUNGBLUD! Congratulations on the launch of BLUDFEST. This is a pretty big deal...

It feels f***ing amazing.

I had the idea in November last year, I was thinking ‘what’s the next logical step, something we can do to represent who we are?’ Five years ago we dreamt of a YUNGBLUD world, and now we’re about to build one. A literal world you can enter, one you can touch.

This isn’t just walking into a venue for a night, it’s literally building a world.

This has been a mental journey for me, because a lot of people didn’t like me. They didn’t like the way I did things. But I built my community. It’s about reshaping an old, outdated idea. It’s about bringing people together. 

You've already booked some amazing artists the line-up, from Lil Yachty to Lola Young. How did you decide who to reach out to?

It was literally me sat in my bathroom, with a can of Stella, going through my phone. Calling friends up.

It was about artists who are completely in their own lane, haven’t had to suck the establishment’s d**k to get where they are; they’ve just done something different, strange and weird.

That’s the criteria. It blurs the lines of genre, that’s the new wave.

It's great to see such a diverse line-up, straight out of the gate...

I want it to show artists you don’t need to follow the same path. If the corporations ain’t in your favour, f**k them. You can do it yourself.

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You've go such a bond with your fans. What do you hope they take from BLUDFEST?

I want it to be a place they can come to, every year, and be utterly themselves. I want them to know it’s one day a year they can be completely themselves, annually. I want it to be an annual thing.

And you're headlining the whole thing, which is pretty special.

It’s gonna be crazy; the biggest show of my life!  The best thing you’ve ever seen us do. We’ve got a new album in the works, and this whole project is a masterplan. When I’m in the studio, I’ll put an iconic gig on the TV; an AC/DC stadium show or INXS at Wembley as inspiration. It’s gonna be mad.

New music? Tell us everything...

I’ll probably put out a mixtape first. I’ve been experimenting for a year, that’s how Lowlife, Happier, Hated, When We Die (Can We Still Get High?) came about. They were all so different. It’s so cool to experiment in real time. 

A lot of artists just sit on sh*t, but it’s sad to let art die on a hard drive. You can put music out without it always having to be your next artistic statement. Each of my albums is a project, but everything in between is fun; it’s where I’m at at that point in time.

Me and my fanbase get a lot closer because they see the inside workings of my head.

What other aspirations do you have BLUDFEST, beyond this summer?

I want to take it global. That’s my vision for BLUDFEST. I want it to be in America, Latin America, Australia, Japan. Why not? BLUDFEST worldwide. I owe everything to my fans, and I want to keep creating opportunities where they can find each other, make memories and form identities. 

That’s what it’s about. People coming together for one common reason; love.

Tickets for YUNGBLUD's BLUDFEST go on sale at 10am on Friday March 22.