Skip to main content
Home FESTIVAL Cardiff Music City Festival 2025 dates announced

Boundary-pushing music and performance will fill venues, clubs and pop-up locations in Cardiff for two weeks this autumn as Cardiff Music City Festival soundtracks the city for a second year.

Play Play

Video footage from Cardiff Music City Festival 2024 courtesy of: Swn // Llais // Wales Millennium Centre // Gorwelian / Horizons / Beacons Cymru / Forte // Welcome To Wales // Welsh Music Prize / Gwobr Gerddoriaeth Gymreig // Mark James / Under Neon Loneliness // Ren Faulkner // Jamie Chapman // Pete Beckett // CULTVR // Orchard Media // On Par Productions

The innovative festival will run from Friday 3 October – Saturday 18 October 2025, bringing together musicians, promoters, and immersive tech specialists from far and wide to create unique collaborations and unmissable one-off events.

Established artists, underground heroes and breakout Wales-based stars will fill a genre-bending programme designed to thrill audiences alongside specially commissioned urban soundscapes, inspiring talks, and industry sessions.

Supported by Cardiff Council, the festival will feature a series of unique performances, gigs and unexpected happenings in the heart of the Welsh capital over fifteen music-filled days.

Proudly encompassing new music showcase Sŵn, Wales Millennium Centre’s international arts weekend, Llais, and the prestigious Welsh Music Prize which celebrates the finest music made in Wales or by Welsh people around the world, the 2025 festival programme promises to build on the success of last year’s inaugural festival and keep pushing the boundaries of music innovation, performance and technology.

STAY UP TO DATE

Sign up to Cardiff Music City to receive exciting updates relating to music, events, things to do and more from the team. The Cardiff Music City Festival is just one of many projects from Cardiff Music City, managed by Cardiff Council.

Sign Up Now

STAY UP TO DATE

Sign up to Cardiff Music City to receive exciting updates relating to music, events, things to do and more from the team. The Cardiff Music City Festival is just one of many projects from Cardiff Music City, managed by Cardiff Council.

Capture Form

Capture Form

Consent(Required)
You can unsubscribe or update your preferences at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For more information on how your data will be processed, please see our privacy policy. We use Mailchimp, a marketing automation platform in America, by clicking to subscribe you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Review Mailchimp’s privacy policies to consider any risks associated with providing personal information outside the EU.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.






The festival’s first year saw thousands of music fans enjoy performances from pioneering electronic artists Leftfield and Orbital and the barrier-breaking Ms. Lauryn Hill and The Fugees, an intimate homecoming show from legendary bass player Pino Palladino and riotous shows from Mercury music prize winners English Teacher, experimental post-punk outfit Squid and explosive Welsh talent like Mace the Great, LEMFRECK and Sage Todz.

Alongside the music, expect an industry conference and a series of inspiring sessions presented in collaboration with music sector leaders to add extra layers of wonder and wisdom.

Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said:

“Cardiff is such a vibrant city, full of music, artistic expression and innovation. The festival is an amazing opportunity to bring people together to celebrate that creativity and to showcase the city’s diverse and exciting culture to a wider audience.”

 

This festival is a key initiative in the Cardiff Music Strategy which aims to protect, promote and develop the city’s music sector.