BST Hyde Park 2025: Olivia Rodrigo
Hyde Park, London - 27/06/25
Cover Photo: Isha Shah
Photo Credit: Sophia Carey
BST Hyde Park
BST Hyde Park is one of the most iconic festivals worldwide, hosting a number of the biggest and best names in music since its inception in 2013, including legendary acts like The Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses and The Who. With the festival recording another stellar year in 2024, with headliners including Stevie Nicks, Robbie Williams and Stray Kids, the anticipation for this year's festival could not be higher. Luckily, the 2025 line-up is one of the best to date, featuring headline sets from the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Stevie Wonder, and Jeff Lynne's ELO's last ever show. However, the honour of headlining the opening night of this year's festival went to one of modern music's most compelling pop-rock artists, Olivia Rodrigo, making her BST Hyde Park debut.
Olivia Rodrigo
Whilst BST Hyde Park is a festival, with a full line-up of world-class musicians filling the day with blissful music, this particular day really did carry the energy of a build-up to a headline concert as opposed to a festival slot. A 65,000-strong crowd packed into the park, many arriving early to secure their spot for the main event, with Olivia Rodrigo’s signature purple tones and cowboy hats scattered as far as the eye could see. The excitement for the night's headliner was palpably growing throughout the day, meaning by the time Rodrigo's band took to the stage, Hyde Park felt ready to erupt. The band share all the skill and chemistry of a seasoned group who’ve spent years honing their sound on the road, flawlessly mastering their way through an extended instrumental introduction, backed up by a stage full of pyro. This instrumental would eventually transition into 'bad idea right?', cuing Olivia Rodrigo's entry to the stage. The second the field full of Livies caught site of the singer, the reception was deafening, giving Rodrigo a hero's welcome to her biggest ever UK show. Every word she sang was echoed back at full volume, the crowd's adoration showing more and more with each line, so much so that the infamous stop challenge ended almost as soon as it began, drowned out by the ecstatic screams of a capacity crowd.
'ballad of a homeschooled girl' came next, keeping the energy high, but it wasn't until the night's third song that the crowd slightly settled into the night, slowly coming to terms with the reality they were seeing someone who in two albums has already made themselves a defining voice of this generation. This settling calmed the excited screams slightly (although they were still quite rightly present throughout the rest of the night), allowing for a more harmonious singalong experience, as Olviia Rodrigo guided the mammoth audience through a powerful rendition of 'vampire'. The big singalongs would grow further as Olivia sat at her piano to take Hyde Park on a journey with 'drivers license'. Hearing 65,000 people singalong to this as if their lives depended on it was a truly breathtaking experience and is testament to the impact Rodrigo's music has had, not just on a younger generation, but on so many music lovers of all ages.
It is also a testament to Olivia Rodrigo's music how many 'big hitters' she was able to play early on in the night, with iconic tracks like 'traitor', 'obsessed' and 'love is embarrassing' coming next. The latter two songs provided Olivia with the chance to further flex her musical abilities, shredding a number of solos alongside her bandmates Daisy Spencer and Emily Rosenfield. Whilst I would not say Olivia Rodrigo falls into a pure rock category, she acts as the perfect gateway from pop music into rock music, and the heavier nature a number of her songs took on during the live performance only acted to enhance their brilliance. "However, on the odd occasion the night's headliner would also choose to strip back a song, allowing her vocals and acoustic guitar to shine through with a simple, unpolished charm, most notably with the acoustic version of 'pretty isn't pretty'.
Further big hits like 'happier' and 'favorite crime' would see the career-spanning setlist continue, which itself seems a ridiculous statement given Rodrigo has only been releasing solo music for four years, yet she already possesses a back catalogue that a lesser artist could spend a lifetime trying to replicate and still not be able to come close.
Photo Credit: Sophia Carey
At the start of the night, Olivia Rodrigo would hype the crowd up, saying she had "a really special feeling about tonight", a sentiment that only grew more accurate as the evening unfolded. However, if there was any doubt about how special an occasion this night was, it was surely put to bed when Olivia welcomed Ed Sheeran to the stage, declaring him as one of her "favourite Brits, and one of the best songwriters of all time”. Together, the pair walked to the front of the Great Oak Stage’s long runway, which Rodrigo had spent much of the night sprinting up and down, allowing as much of the audience as possible to get a close-up view of this special moment. Once stood at the runway's end, the duo would master their way through a beautifully harmonious version of Ed Sheeran's timeless class 'The A Team'. The magic of this moment was not lost on those in attendance, who, after singing along in full voice, would again erupt in a huge mass of applause.
It would take some song to follow such a moment, but luckily Olivia still had some real anthems in her locker, with a heartfelt version of 'deja vu' closing the main set out. I'm not sure if it was the effect the relatable lyricism had on the tens of thousands in attendance, the way the crowd were screaming every word back, or the vocal excellence Olivia Rodrigo performed it with, but somehow this song managed to transcend an already memorable night into arguably one of the most spellbinding Hyde Park has ever witnessed.
After calling upon an emotional ballad to close out the main set, Olivia Rodrigo and her band would kick things up a few notches, storming into a flame-backed encore with a gritty version of 'brutal'. It doesn't take long when listening to Olivia's music to work out the rock and punk influences she calls upon, but this encore proved she has everything it takes to be deservingly standing beside them. The enthralling version of 'brutal' swiftly turned into a riotous version of 'all-american bitch', backed by some guitar sections that genuinely wouldn't have seemed out of place in a much heavier setting. Midway through the song there is a section where Rodrigo encourages audiences to scream as loudly as they can, this time asking for a scream so loud they can "hear it in f**king Manchester". Naturally, the Hyde Park faithful more than met this command, unleashing one of the loudest audience responses I have ever been witness to.
The high-velocity encore, and in turn the festival’s opening night, was brought to an end by two career-defining songs, 'good 4 u' and 'get him back'. The energy these songs were performed with was as if they were the first two of the night, with both Olivia and her band pouring every last drop they had into this performance. This mindset was matched by the crowd who grasped at every last moment they had to sing and dance the night away.
In a time when streaming numbers and online presence contribute so much to how an artist is perceived, I still stand by there being no truer proof of an artist's ability than performing to a live audience. With this performance, Olivia Rodrigo proved herself as not just one of the greatest artists of this generation, but as someone who has all the makings of an all-time great, and that is not a statement I make lightly.
Photo Credit: Sophia Carey
Supporting Line Up:
Before the night's headliner took to the stage, the Hyde Park crowd were treated to a full supporting line-up of musicians across three stages, with the night's special guests The Last Dinner Party being the festival's penultimate act. The band have experienced a monumental rise over the past few years, and it only takes one song of their set to understand why. Being welcomed to the stage by the instrumental piece 'Prelude to Ecstasy', the band quickly moved into their opening track 'Burn Alive', which set the tone for what to expect for the next hour; a breathtaking baroque styling of pop-rock. The excellence of this set was not lost on the night's crowd who made the field in front of the Great Oak Stage was well filled to witness The Last Dinner Party triumphantly play through joyous hits like 'Nothing Matters' and 'Sinners'. However, it was actually the bands unreleased material that took me back the most, showcasing exciting future tracks like 'Big Dog' and 'The Killer', both of which will undoubtedly see The Last Dinner Party reach a whole new level of recognition upon their release.
The Last Dinner Party were preceded on the Great Oak Stage by girl in red, who delivered an emotional rollercoaster of a set that was enthralling from start to finish. Infectious anthems like 'we fell in love in october' and 'bad idea' got the Hyde Park crowd up on their feet dancing, whilst the poignant story of girl in red's battle with addiction before 'Hemingway' created a real intimate feeling, an impressive feat in a field this large. The Great Oak Stage line-up was completed by earlier sets from flowerovlove and BETWEEN FRIENDS. Both acts stormed the stage with the energy of a headliner, and by the time they had finished, they could well have gained a fanbase big enough to become one in the not-so-distant future.
The music on The Rainbow Stage, the fesitval's second biggest stage was kicked off by Ruti, who I unfortunately did not get the chance to catch live due to a set-clash, but heard rave reviews from so many audience members who left the stages' field after Ruti finished. I was however lucky enough to catch both Katie Gregson-MacLeod and Caity Baser's later sets on the stage, being blown a way by both artists. Gregson-MacLeod showcased some of the finest lyricism of all the artists playing, delivering her near poetic songs with the most stunning vocals. Throughout the set she would also impressively switch between keyboard and acoustic guitar, managing to keeping the crowd fully captivated despite being stood on a fairly large stage alone. Caity Baser continued this trend of impressive sets on The Rainbow stage with an electric set that had everyone dancing along. Her stage presence was extremely infectious, meaning even those that hadn't heard Baser's music before felt fully involved in the performance. The timing of this show could also not have been more perfect for Caity, coinciding with the release of her latest single 'The Story Of Her' on the very same day.
BST Hyde Park's third stage, The Birdcage Stage, provides the opportunity for festivalgoers to catch some of the most excting new names in music in an intimate setting. The stage was headlined by Irish rockers Florence Road, who came on after alt-rocker Aziya. Again, due to stage clashes, I was unfortunately not able to catch their sets, but did get the pleasure of watching Déyyess open the day. Their ethereal brand of indie-pop provided the perfect introduction to live music on this scorching day, with delicate songs like 'love u (from afar)' quite rightly captivating the passing audience, resulting in the crowd around The Birdcage stage seemingly doubling with every song. Alongside showcasing her stunning released music, Déyyess would also showcase some unreleased songs, including my personal favourite 'Lips Like Sugar'. There is no doubting the talent Déyyess possesses, and if the new releases continue to sound this good, there is no doubt in my mind they'll be back here very soon on an even bigger stage.