Festival Review: Noah Kahan - BST Hyde Park, London 04/07/2025
Noah Kahan’s Northern Attitude charms Hyde Park on a special night.
On a sunny evening at London’s iconic Hyde park, sold out headliner Noah Kahan draws huge crowds on the second weekend of the British Summertime festival, fittingly on the 4th of July to add to sense of patriotism and pride of the occasion.
A stacked bill sees FINNEAS on the main stage, wooing the audience with his evocative folk pop. Crowd favourite ‘For Cryin’ Out Loud’ is the first singalong moment of the day, with its evocative lyrics ‘The meaner you are, the harder to leave’. He makes it a family affair with his mother Maggie Baird supporting him on stage, in a truly heartwarming moment.
Paris Paloma is a draw on the intimate Rainbow Stage, with its bright colours giving a more playful, vibrant mood than the enormous main stage with its sense of majestic melancholy. The young singer songwriter wins over new fans with her song ‘Labour’ which is quickly becoming a feminist anthem challenging the concept of unpaid domestic labour.
Main support Gracie Abrams has become one to watch, having won over Glastonbury with her debut performance last week. Her stage presence is undeniable with catchy songs ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ and ‘That’s So True’ getting the crowd singing along. In a fitting collaboration, she invited Aaron Dessner of The National on stage to perform a brand new song they’d written together called ‘Crazy Girl’, enthusiastically saying: “It’s the first time we’ve ever played it”. With almost double as many monthly Spotify listeners as headliner Kahan and a profile steadily rising, surely she will be headlining festivals next year.
Noah Kahan is a charismatic performer and is met with rapturous applause, a week after playing the Glastonbury Pyramid stage, where he charmingly admitted he’d previously mispronounced a London landmark. “I lived in London for about a month by myself… I thought it was called the River Thaymes (with a soft ‘th’). I'm sorry”.
Starting his set with the anthemic ‘All My Love’, announcing “I came to London and played to 77 people and it was the greatest day. There’s a lot more here tonight… I love this city so much!”, sharing that today’s 65,000 strong crowd was the largest he has ever played for, his humility is truly admirable.
Kahan brought out hit after hit, including a stirring duet with Gracie Abrams ‘Everywhere, Everything’, which was an early set highlight. He acknowledged the crowd’s devotion saying “I’ve never been anywhere where everyone knows every word.. I’m gonna test you now with one of my oldest songs.. if you don’t know this security will escort you out!” launching into 2019’s ‘False Confidence’.
Bringing a personal touch Noah headed into the crowd, touching hands with his fans whilst heading to a second stage in the middle of the field to play two acoustic songs. The sight of Noah alone within the sea of people playing on his guitar was a moving moment, and he allowed the fans to request one of the songs, settling on the Hozier like ‘Strawberry Wine’.
Upping the tempo and back on the main stage ‘Dial Drunk’ is announced as “This song is about getting fucked up.. but you wouldn’t do that here would you?” It was recorded with Post Malone, with Kahan know for his collaborations, having also worked with Brandi Carlile and Sam Fender.
‘Call your Mom’ is dedicated to his mother who is in the audience tonight who he says “used to drive me all around to play to absolutely nobody. She got me through everything in life and my career. She would reassure me that one day I would have my chance”. He is joined for the heartfelt ballad by special guest Gigi Perez.
Coming on for the encore in a Chelsea shirt to a chorus of boos, the self proclaimed football fanatic launches into anthem ‘Northern Attitude’, a song “about being an asshole from the North”. The refrain ‘Forgive my northern attitude, I was raised on little light’ was bellowed out by the crowd, reaching fever pitch with surprise guest Lewis Capaldi joining Noah on stage. On the back of Lewis’s triumphant Glastonbury return and having just hit Number One in the Charts with new single ‘Survive’ this was a special moment.
Noah closed the set poignantly with ‘Stick Season’, based on his struggles living in his home town, referring to the period in Vermont between fall and the first snow, described as "The time of year no one really likes”. As fireworks lit up the night sky the breathless crowd sang along to every word, with ‘I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks’ ringing wistfully through the park on this glorious British Summertime evening.
Words by Brendan Sharp
Photo Credit: @sophiajcarey + @isahshahphotography
