Forever Now Festival Review

Forever Now Festival, National Bowl, Milton Keynes, 22 June
★★★★☆

The summer festival season can be a difficult time for those with a leaning to the dark side, as heritage and mainstream events can seem all too shiny and bright. But like a bolt from the black, Forever Now – sister to California’s Cruel World Festival – stalked onto the stage promising a one-dayer packed with “many of the greatest pioneers of new wave, post-punk, psychedelia and alternative rock”.

Following hot on the heels of Yungblud’s Bludfest on Friday and Saturday catering to a younger generation of those on the edges, Forever Now’s Sunday spread across the impressive main stage in Milton Keynes’ huge amphitheatre, the second stage in a somewhat dusty field and a quirky interview tent – the Echo Chamber. CP hit the ground early with Theatre of Hate opening to a busy field on the Other Stage with a tight, brooding set. Stan Stammers prowled the stage as Kirk Brandon delivered booming vocals before closing with a rousing Do You Believe In The West World.

We took the easy five-minute walk back to the main stage for The Psychedelic Furs and a foppishly dressed Richard Butler charming the crowd in playful mood. While President Gas was the first but not last track of the day to reference political circumstances on a weekend when the United States bombed Iran, Heaven and Love My Way soon wrapped fans back in the warmth of the Furs.

The Echo Cave provided a calm respite from the rock with a polished Richard Jobson delighting fans with anecdotes from his ever-so-youthful days with The Skids, and a more diffident Kirk Brandon tracing his post-punk gestation through The Pack, Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny.

Anger Is An Energy

Meanwhile, John Lydon was in imperious form commanding a huge audience in a field not big enough for his charisma. Lacking a large stage screen, some colleagues were unable to enjoy Lydon’s disdain for the industry, officialdom and the “karaoke Sex Pistols” – the only thing he felt obliged to apologise for. The rapture for Public Image Ltd’s Rise and Chant confirmed it should always have been the Main Stage for this icon.

The Happy Mondays followed with a predictably chaotic but heartwarming set. Delivering arguably the grooviest, danciest mood of the day, the gang ran through all the favourites before organisers lost patience with the 20-minute overrun and pulled the plug while the Mondays kept playing.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Back on the main stage our tag team kept tabs on a delighted Johnny Marr who rewarded fans with a polished mix of his own solo material, The Smiths highlights, Electronic’s Getting Away With It and a cover of Iggy Pop’s The Passenger. Billy Idol struck perhaps the most discordant moment – for this festivalgoer at least – with his 80s metal/Vegas schtick feeling at odds with the day.

As dusk began to fall, The The fittingly took to the stage dressed for the lounge in black suits and shirts. Sweet Bird Of Truth and Armageddon Days Are Here (Again) brought the crowd back to the real-world politics of the weekend before Matt Johnson settled into a sentimental mood bringing Johnny Marr back on stage to share guitar duties. The friends from teenage years revelled in The Beat(en) Generation and Dogs Of Lust before Johnson and his polished band took us through their biggest favourites. He even brought a tear to this writer’s eye remembering how he penned I’ve Been Waitin’ For Tomorrow (All Of My Life) as an 18-year-old daydreaming his future as a plane flew past the window.

Fahr’n Auf Der Autobahn

The Other Stage rumbled on with The Damned, Jesus & Mary Chain and Death Cult giving heft to the post-punk/goth claims of the organisers, but CP only had eyes for Kraftwerk’s sole UK appearance of 2025. The iconic four keyboards emerged ahead of the band members one-by-one taking their positions. Then it was a tour-de-force of stunning visual, stomach-churning bass and electronic heaven for their legion fans. Computer World, Radioactivity and Autobahn all delivered with an epic Tour de France ensemble proving our highlight.

Forever Now wasn’t without hiccups on the Other Stage, but overall delivered massively with a memorable 10 hours for our group of one-time goths and misfits.

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