Rock en Seine 2025 electrifies the ‘City of Light’
The iconic Paris-based music festival offered a stellar lineup, despite cancellations from two major headliners.
Photo: Louis Comar
French music festival Rock en Seine returned with a bang for its 21st edition, unfolding against the backdrop of Le Domaine national de Saint-Cloud, located just west of Paris. This beautiful setting, complete with stone statues, water features, and tree-lined avenues, welcomed a total of 89 acts who played over five days, across five different stages. The electrifying lineup, which included headliners such as Chappell Roan and Fontaines D.C., attracted some 150,000 festival-goers keen to attend one of the final music events of the summer festival season.
August 20th marked opening night: a lineup of leading ladies, including the likes of Luvcat, London Grammar and the highly-anticipated Chappell Roan, for her one and only performance in France this year.
Cowgirl hats, pink costumes and rain ponchos shimmied through the festival grounds. Suki Waterhouse also seemed to have received the outfit memo, strutting on stage in a fluffy pink cropped shawl — microphone in one hand, an umbrella in the other. “This has been my dream festival to play,” she told the crowd as, right on cue, the showers cleared. Waterhouse performed hits such as To Love and Blackout Drunk, which were especially well-received by fans, and even snuck in a cover of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger.
Over at the Horizons Stage, Sunday (1994) paired angelically haunting vocals with rocky guitar riffs. Spectators blew bubbles into the air, adding to the dream-like vibes radiating through the speakers. The group closed with their viral indie hit Tired Boy, which lead singer Paige Turner described as being “the reason why we are here”.
British indie pop group London Grammar took to the Main Stage for what felt like a rather poignant set: “France was the first place to really embrace our music. We were always so busy when we were in France. We kind of felt like rock stars, but back in the UK no one really knew who we were,” said lead singer Hannah Reid. The audience was certainly happy to see them back in Paris and erupted upon hearing the opening orchestral bars of Wasting My Young Years.
However, if there was one conclusion that I came away with after day one at Rock en Seine, it was that Chappell Roan knows how to put on a show. From the elaborate horror-fantasy castle scenery to the musically-choreographed on-screen animations, and not forgetting the multiple costume changes, her set felt almost like a theatrical production, in the best way possible. The crowd literally went wild. She delivered hit after hit, and even punctuated her setlist with a cover of Heart’s Barracuda, revealing an edgy rawness to her ‘character’. Roan truly set the bar for the days to come; her effortless vocals still echoing in my head long after the final note rang out.
Photo: Louis Comar
Day two of the festival began slightly later than anticipated, as it was announced that American rapper Doechii would not be able to make her headline performance. After some reshuffling, Montell Fish eased us into the evening with slow grooves and “sexy sad songs” on the Revolut Stage.
Folk trio Tors offered an upbeat contrast, setting smiles upon everyone’s faces with their feel-good tunes and cheeky audience interactions. For their final song Never Give Up, the group promised free tickets to their upcoming Paris concert for the best dancers in the crowd. Safe to say some seriously impressive boogie-ing ensued.
Back at the Main Stage, I caught the ethereal Enchantée Julia. Oozing cool charisma, sporting a feather boa and sunglasses, the chanteuse treated an eager crowd to a cocktail of R&B grooves and soulful song. She invited her husband, French rapper Prince Waly, to the stage to perform two songs together. Their cheerful aura and catchy tunes had me saving titles to playlists before the set was even over.
London neo-soul singer Greentea Peng was next up at the intimate Bosquet Stage. Her diverse set ranged from percussion-fueled beats to raw spoken-word-esque acapella tracks, which held the audience in a trance. Then, as night began to fall, Still Woozy appeared after a slight delay and some technical issues. Nevertheless, the LA group were determined to bring their self-proclaimed “weird” energy to the daisy-decorated stage. Top tunes such as Shotput and Goodie Bag got the audience jumping, and a Woozy gig would be incomplete without frontman Sven Gamsky climbing into the crowd for a little dance. Before bidding “bonne nuit, Paris”, the group made sure to give a special shoutout to “all the incredible people behind the scenes,” who work hard to make these festivals possible.
Photo: Louis Comar
Closing the Main Stage was American rapper Kid Cudi, replacing A$AP Rocky who was originally billed for the headline slot. Cudi was pleased to announce the imminent release of his album Free, playing new singles such as Mr Miracle. He promised a trip through his “whole discography” in a bid to see where “the real Kid Cudi fans” were. The most surprising moment of the set was a double rendition of Day N’ Nite, granted in response to chants of “one more time”. This, accompanied by lengthy monologues, meant the rapper overran his allocated time and was forced to cut his set short, skipping some of his most popular hits. Still, despite the slight disappointment, I left on a high after the electrifying Pursuit of Happiness played out day two of Rock en Seine.
After a couple days of down time, I was back to see Last Train hurtle full-steam-ahead into the final day of the festival. The French alt-rock group delivered powerful instrumentals and agitated vocals to the headbanging crowd. Singer Jean-Noël Scherrer highlighted the full-circle moment, reminiscing on their first show at Rock en Seine in 2015. The group originally showcased their potential via Avant-Seine, an initiative created by the festival to support and provide a platform for budding artists. Ten years later, they were back, playing on a much bigger stage to a much bigger audience — solid evidence of their well-deserved growth in recent years.
The Avant-Seine programme still exists today, and this year welcomed acts such as Twist of Lemon — a French rock band formed by three high-school friends with a musical style ranging from raw rock to mellow piano compositions. Later in the day, chest., who released their first EP All Good Things End earlier this year, brought a punk party energy that sent the crowd spinning.
Over at the Main Stage, the rain clouds of day one had been replaced by dust clouds as stamping feet kicked dry earth into the air. The sun was beating down when Wallows stepped out. The LA-based band were quick to describe the show as “bittersweet” as it marked the end of their Model & More tour. Vocalist and guitarist Dylan Minnette said he attended Rock en Seine to see The Libertines in 2015 and had wanted to play the festival ever since. They certainly gave a show to remember — the group’s rocky synth-pop sound sent us soaring, blending in and out of song and even rotating musical roles.
Next up was Stereophonics, where a crowd of daffodil hats and inflatables bobbed in time to the classic tunes played by this group of Welsh rockers. Their set evoked a refreshing wave of childhood nostalgia and wholesome vibes as audience members wrapped their arms around each other, danced with strangers, and FaceTimed friends to share big hits such as Maybe Tomorrow and the iconic Dakota.
Programmed at the same time were the Irish rap group, Kneecap, with quite the contrasting ambience. Despite being allocated a relatively small stage, they had attracted the largest audience I had seen there throughout the festival, with people spilling into the walkways and blocking vendors on either side of the green. It was uncertain whether the trio would be cut from the Rock en Seine lineup after the commune of Saint-Cloud (where the festival grounds are located) withdrew its €40,000 of funding, citing Kneecap’s presence as the reason. Rock en Seine’s organiser described this as “deplorable” and maintained the group’s booking regardless. However, this did not stop certain audience members from blowing whistles and holding signs as the group took to the stage. The pro-Israel protesters were quickly removed by security teams, with rapper Mo Chara saying, “I know we are angry and frustrated. Do not let these people feel that. We’re here for love, enjoyment and support.” What followed was an outpour of relentless, passionate, frantic lyrics, with tracks such as C.E.A.R.T.A and Get Your Brits Out summoning mosh pits and raised fists.
Photo: Olivier Hoffschir
Following the fluttering of Irish flags led me to Fontaines DC — a popular act, judging by the number of people wearing their merch. The inflated heart, taken from the cover of the group’s Romance album, hung overhead while camera effects warped the images projected onto screens. The atmosphere from the back of the crowd was slightly flat; however, the audience directly surrounding the stage were fully invested in the group’s hits. Frontman Grian Chatten even paused the show after noticing waving arms and requests for security. The problem was quickly resolved, and shortly followed by Bug and Starburster, while Favourite was dedicated to their “good friends” Kneecap.
Queens of the Stone Age rounded off the final day, bringing Rock en Seine 2025 to an explosive close. As the last bits of confetti fell to the floor and the strobes lights faded, I headed home firmly satisfied with my festival experience. Yet another year of top concerts, fantastic pop-ups, and timely round-table sessions open to music-lovers of all ages and walks of life. After attending two consecutive Rock en Seine editions, I can see this festival solidifying itself as an annual summer tradition.
Rock en Seine will be back next year from August 26th to 30th.