To the south of popular parkland the Meadows, Bruntsfield Links offers a quieter, calmer stretch of green, free of Big Top entertainment. Book a table at cute wine bar and cafe Margot for brunch and order french toast with ginger-poached pears and bay-leaf custard, or hot smoked trout with leek fritters. Later in the day stop by for oysters, small plates and natural wine by the glass. Bag a window-seat or a table outside to enjoy views of Arthur’s Seat, which at sunset seems to glow pink and gold. Sister restaurant LeftField on the same corner is gorgeous for an elegant dinner with the same incredible views.
Portobello beach
Space aplenty … Portobello beach. Photograph: Iain Masterton/Alamy
This is Edinburgh’s seaside so hardly a secret, and on hot days it does get busy. However, compared with beaches on the south coast, it might as well be the Hebrides. Only the middle few sections nearest the cafes get truly crowded and it’s such a long stretch that there’s plenty of space to find your own little sandy idyll. Head to Shrimp Wreck for a fishfinger sarnie, or pick up a slice of Civerino’s pizza and a local Bellfield beer. Unsurprisingly there’s excellent ice-cream to be found; try a scoop at Oscar’s Gelato. Lothian Buses 19 or 26 from Princes Street.
Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is the centre of the festival action, but even here there are quiet escapes, usually into a close, the narrow alleyways that make Edinburgh’s Old Town so unique. Dunbar’s Close is a favourite, off Canongate towards the bottom of the Royal Mile. It’s a 17th-century-styled formal garden with benches and one of the city’s most tranquil hideaways. Pick up a delicious direct-trade Brazilian coffee and pastel de nata from Santu Coffee and enjoy the peace, just steps from the party. Similarly, Lady Stair’s Close, home to the free Writers’ Museum, is ideal for a quick breather. You’ll find it just off the Lawnmarket towards the top of the Royal Mile.
The Shore, Leith
Scandi style … the Shore, Leith. Photograph: robertharding/Alamy
Often compared to Copenhagen, this is Edinburgh’s waterfront eating and drinking destination. Do what the locals do and sit by the river with a cold pint of local beer from Malt and Hops, or discover the tap room at Moonwake Beer Co. Try a huge takeaway sandwich from Domenico’s for lunch – pre-order for speed. Or for indoor dining, new seafood restaurant Barry Fish is the hottest reservation this summer. Edinburgh Trams to the Shore.
The Royal Botanic Garden and Canonmills
Art of horticulture … Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Photograph: Angus McComiskey/Alamy
A true jewel in Edinburgh’s crown, the lush Royal Botanic Garden spans 72 acres with a collection dating back to the 17th century. Catch your breath among the trees, and don’t miss the panoramic views of the Edinburgh skyline from the lawns of Inverleith House. Nearby, I rate Singapore Coffee House for kaya toast and slow-cooked eggs, or roti canai with pickled vegetables. Traditional cafe Betty and George is a cosy spot for tea and cake or a bowl of soup. For a more formal meal, The Tollhouse has a great set lunch and overlooks the river. Lothian Buses 9, 23 or 27 from The Mound.
Stockbridge
Cult bakery … Lannan.
This bustling neighbourhood is a home to many of the city’s best restaurants, yet escapes much of the festival madness. For a top-tier picnic head to Herbie of Edinburgh for deli treats, or Mootz General Store for freshly baked schiacciata sandwiches – the classic is mortadella, stracciatella soft cheese[added soft cheese because it confusingly is also soup and gelato] and pistachio pesto. If you can bear the queue, add perfect patisserie from cult bakery Lannan. Enjoy your wares in Inverleith Park, there’s a big pond with swans and ducks, mature trees, and if you’re travelling with children, a good playpark. You can also walk from Stockbridge along a pretty wooded stretch of the Water of Leith path. For a slap-up Italian trattoria-style lunch, try Sotto or the excellent value set lunch at Stockbridge Eating House. Lothian Buses 29, 33 or 37 from South Bridge.
Newhaven
Stay for sunset … Newhaven Lighthouse. Photograph: Angus McComiskey/Alamy
Take the tram to the final stop and discover Newhaven harbour. Walk along the waterfront to Wardie Bay, a tucked away beach and a favourite local swimming spot. Return to Newhaven and order fish and chips from The Fishmarket to eat outside watching the boats bob in the harbour. Maybe stay for the sunset with a cold glass of wine on the terrace, then it’s an easy tram back to the city centre. Edinburgh Trams to Newhaven.
Arthur’s Seat and Holyrood Park
Stick to the paths! Edinburgh Old Town seen from Arthurs Seat. Photograph: Craig Steedman Photography/Alamy
A city with a mountain in the middle? Pretty iconic, and also the perfect place to feel miles away from it all. The main route to the top can get busy, but there’s a network of paths around the park to explore. Check the noticeboards and do stick to the paths, there are steep drops. For an easy option, follow Queens Drive around the bottom of the mountain, taking in Dunsapie Loch and St Margaret’s Loch and giving 360-degree views of the city, across the Forth to Fife and to the Pentland Hills. It takes about an hour and a half to walk and is bike, buggy and wheelchair friendly. Pick up a sandwich from Alby’s Southside to take with you.
Union Canal: Fountainbridge
The canal and accompanying path goes all the way to Glasgow through Falkirk, so you can walk for miles if you feel so inclined. Start at Lochrin Basin, then stroll to Harrison Park (1.2 miles), past brightly painted residential houseboats and the Leamington Lift Bridge. For a longer walk, continue to Slateford Aqueduct (2.5 miles) which carries the canal for 152 metres above the Water of Leith and the road below. A path beside the bridge takes you to the Water of Leith Conservation Trust visitor centre, loos and a cafe. In the area, try welcoming Kafe Kweer for coffee, pastries and hearty vegetarian lunches, or The Fountain for pub food and pints before retracing your steps back along the canal, duly refreshed.
The Pitt, Granton
Appetising … Soul Water Sauna in Granton.
Newly reopened in a new location earlier this year, The Pitt is a street-food destination worth knowing about. It’s on the waterfront at Granton with views across the Firth of Forth, easily accessible by bike or a 10-minute walk from the bus stop. Vendors change but currently include Choola Nepalese street food and Lebanese wraps from Lazeez. There’s a big indoor bar area and regular events. On site you’ll also find Soul Water Sauna, with two saunas and cold water plunge pools: a unique way to work up an appetite. From here you can walk along the promenade to Cramond village (2.3 miles) and if the tides are right, even walk out to Cramond island over the causeway. Lothian Buses 22 from Lothian Road to Waterfront Avenue then a 10-minute walk. The Pitt is open Thursday to Sunday.
Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams are contactless, tap on and tap off, single fares are £2.20, capped at £5 per day. Download the Edinburgh Bus and Tram app to plan routes and track bus times.
Hundreds of residents gathered at a beach in Yokosuka city’s Kurihama area, south of Tokyo, over the weekend to pray for marine safety in a summer festival that fuses sacred ritual and seaside spectacle.
As a portable shrine called mikoshi, decorated with Shinto ornaments, was lifted onto bearers’ shoulders, the audience cheered.
The mikoshi had started from Sumiyoshi Shrine and was paraded through neighbourhood alleyways. Shrine priests paused to bless offerings and pray for good fortune for people gathered outside their homes.
When the procession reached the beach, the priests danced and chanted. The festival reached its climax when the bearers entered the water up to their necks, their sweaty faces splashed with seawater.
The procession made a final stop at the nearby ferry terminal, where the mikoshi was carried onto a vessel for prayers for its safe travels.
“Everyone has been looking forward to this day all year,” said Shuji Shimizu, head of the Kurihama Neighbourhood Association. “It’s a celebration of our own strength and unity. Please stay safe out there … and enjoy every moment.”
As evening fell, the mikoshi was carried back to storage at the shrine, until next summer.
Despite the continuous presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in cities around California, organizers in Riverside have decided to forge ahead with the third edition of the Mucho Gusto Music Festival, an event held in the downtown area that’s billed as “a celebration of music without borders.”
The announcement comes as other events catering to Latinx audiences across Southern California have been forced to implement extra security measures because of potential ICE raids, or have been postponed altogether. Levitt LA, which organizes an annual summer concert series at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park, announced earlier this month that it was prepared to change venues if needed. Festival Chapín de Los Angeles, a popular two-day celebration of Guatemalan culture held in the Westlake neighborhood, has been postponed from late August to mid October.
Authorities have arrested more than 2,700 individuals since the raids began in June, according to Homeland Security. Many of the immigration enforcement operations have been carried out in predominantly Latinx neighborhoods and cities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 54% of Riverside’s population identifies as Hispanic or Latinx.
“It’s important right now that we put our money within our local economy to support each other,” said Eduardo Valencia, Mucho Gusto’s artistic director and one of the founders of the festival.
“We [needed] a place to celebrate ourselves … to be in a space that really celebrates the fact that we are [a diaspora of] people, that we are people from other countries who immigrated [to the U.S.],” he added.
É Arenas headlined Mucho Gusto on Sept. 23, 2023.
(Veronica Lechuga)
This year’s all-ages festival will be headlined by two bands that blend cumbia rhythms with psychedelic melodies, Tropa Magica and Combo Chimbita, as well as jazz band Brainstory.
Cosme Cordova, owner of art gallery Division 9 and co-organizer of the festival, said that he believes the ICE raids are bringing people together.
“People are gathering and becoming stronger and more educated about the laws and the rules,” he said.
Mucho Gusto organizers are hiring private security and will have two officers on site to ensure a safe space for the community.
Quitapenas performed at Mucho Gusto on Sept. 23, 2023.
(Edgar Robles)
“2025 is the year of arts and culture in Riverside,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson told The Times.
“Riverside loves its festivals; they represent the heart of our community, bring people together, and celebrate the cultures that make our city unique. Our focus is, and will always be, on ensuring that all public events in Riverside, including Mucho Gusto, are safe, welcoming, and inclusive for everyone.”
In a Facebook post from June 12, the chief of police, Larry Gonzalez, said the department will not enforce immigration laws and is dedicated to “protect the members of [the Riverside] community.”
“The trust we’ve built with our residents and businesses matters deeply to us, and we remain firmly committed to your safety and well-being,” he added.
The Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Belgium was set to carry on as scheduled after a fire broke out at the site and destroyed the main stage. Photo by Olivier Matthys/EPA
July 17 (UPI) — Tomorrowland music festival is still on after a fire destroyed the main stage, organizers announced on Thursday.
Tomorrowland said in an update on its website that the doors to its DreamVille campsite had opened to campers at 10 a.m. local in Belgium on Thursday ahead of the start of the music festival on Friday.
“This wasn’t just a stage. It was a living, breathing world. From the very first sketch on a blank page, to countless hours of conceptual design, artistic collaboration, engineering, crafting, and building, every single piece of Orbyz carried part of our soul,” Tomorrowland posted on its website.
The fire took place on Wednesday, no one was injured and experts are working on finding the cause. By Thursday morning, the fire had been extinguished and firefighters had left the site.
Organizers worked with the local government and safety experts throughout Wednesday night to figure out a solution for the festival.
“Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do,” Jurgen Callaerts, Mayor of Rumst said.
The campsite Dreamville has been declared safe by the local fire service as it opened for the event.
Attendees expressed disappointment in the stage not being included in this year’s festival.
“The main stage is what gives the festival its atmosphere and is what makes it so special,” said Jules Adam, a ticket holder.
“The main event is the main stage,” Stjepan Grgic said. “It’s a massive loss.”
Tomorrowland started in 2005 and it became the biggest electronic dance festival in the world.
For much of the first 30-plus years of its existence, hardcore music was, for the most part, predictable. While there were outliers such as Bad Brains and Orange 9mm, many acts never veeredfar from the sound set in place by bands like Minor Threat in the early 1980s. Subgenres like metalcore (and other styles of music with “core” added) blossomed into their own scenes and sounds, but the central tenets of hardcore remained fairly constant — often with hordes of angry fans deriding anything that stepped too far in one way or another.
But over the last five to 10 years, the latest generation of musicians from punk rock’s slightly more aggressive cousin has expanded into new sonic territory. Bands like Baltimore’s Turnstile, Kentucky’s Knocked Loose and Santa Cruz’s Scowl have pushed the genre in new directions — gaining acclaim and popularity outside the hardcore scene, sometimes at the expense of its die-hard fans.
“It’s very awesome to be a part of that wave,” Knocked Loose vocalist Bryan Garris says. “I think there are a lot of bands that are bringing in new things and opening a lot of doors for everybody else. It’s like the generic saying, ‘A rising tide raises all ships.’ I truly believe there’s room for everybody to win, so it feels really good that all these brand-new opportunities are opening for everyone. You see younger hardcore bands really going for it right off the bat, and we’re very fortunate to be a part of the era that’s taking it to new heights.”
That’s why it’s only fitting for Knocked Loose to be headlining this weekend’s Sound and Fury Festival, bringing two full days of the best modern hardcore to Exposition Park. Since its inception in 2006, Sound and Fury quickly established itself as the event for hardcore and hardcore-adjacent music (from the heavier side of emo bands like Anxious to more extreme, metal-leaning acts) first in Los Angeles and then across the country. Just as the festival’s lineup and footprint has expanded both in size and musical variety over the years, Knocked Loose has seen its own popularity skyrocket as the band has continued to push the boundaries of what hardcore could be.
“From a sonic perspective, all these bands bringing in new influences to hardcore was pretty polarizing at first,” Garris says. “You had all these bands that toured and participated in the hardcore world but didn’t sound like a traditional hardcore band — and people really made that extremely controversial for an annoying amount of time. Once that barrier was broken, it allowed for so many unique artists and bands to bring new things to the table. Bills and touring packages became more diverse, and I think the coolest thing is when you put a tour package together that makes sense on paper but sonically makes no sense at all. It keeps things interesting and doesn’t create such a monotonous atmosphere at a show.”
Kentucky hardcore band Knocked Loose headlines this year’s Sound and Fury Festival
(Brock Fetch)
For Knocked Loose, one of the biggest steps outside of “traditional hardcore” it could possibly take was collaborating with pop-turned-metal artist Poppy on last year’s “Suffocate” — a gamble that paid off handsomely, introducing the band to a whole new audience and earning the group its highest-charting single and a Grammy nomination for metal performance. It’s a track that Garris still considers “definitely one of [his] favorite songs” while also allowing the band to get “weirder” and experiment in ways it might not normally consider.
While the band is already considering how it can continue to push the envelope even further without losing what makes Knocked Loose work at its core, the group is mindful of its history in the hardcore scene both as fans and artists. No scene is quicker to disown an act for its commercial success, and Garris (along with guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon, bassist Kevin Otten and drummer Kevin Kaine) is fully aware of the line the band walks.
“We’ve never been writing a song and felt like we had to check in with how [hardcore fans] would feel about it, but when it comes to how we present the band, that’s where we keep hardcore in mind,” Garris says. “That’s where we come from and what we’re used to. Even though we know the band is obviously not going to be playing crazy small DIY, no-barricade hardcore shows anymore, it allowed us to create an experience on a much bigger stage. Then we do things like play Sound and Fury or put hardcore bands that we like on our bills because we still feel very passionately about these things. We’re very fortunate to be able to play these massive shows and have conversations about [pyrotechnics] and lights, but we’re still hardcore fans and that’s never changed.”
With acts like Knocked Loose, Scowl and England’s Basement on the bill this year, Sound and Fury continues to show why it’s arguably America’s preeminent hardcore festival, bringing together dozens of rising bands with just enough nostalgia acts (such as this year’s Forced Order reunion and Poison the Well) to remind the younger generations of those who came before. It’s a lineup you won’t see anywhere else, with a DIY hardcore vibe that fit just as well when hardcore fans and artists Sean Riley, Robert Shedd and Todd Jones held their initial event at the Alpine in Ventura 19 years ago.
“There are a lot of festivals in the mainstream rock atmosphere where the lineups are essentially the same,” Garris says. “For example, two years ago or so, every major rock fest in America was headlined by Metallica. That’s no diss at all, but Sound and Fury is such a different thing and the lineups feel so organic and exciting. They’re very good about scratching an itch that you didn’t know you had.”
“I think [hardcore fans] are seeking more context than what they’re getting from the mainstream — and since most of the people here arrive through that filter, it makes for a very open and welcoming space,” Riley adds. “So whether it’s being straightedge and eschewing drugs and alcohol, or whether you are someone who likes wearing corpse paint in public, or you’re a person who likes to dance at shows, this is a place you can come and be yourself without judgment. Combine that with hardcore shows being, in my opinion, the rawest form of live-music experiences you can find, it’s a freeing experience.”
Although Riley is the only one of the three original founders still working on Sound and Fury — currently teamed with Martin Stewart and Madison Woodward — he’s made sure to keep it as true to the hardcore ethos as possible year after year. Despite numerous venue changes and growth that many corporate festivals could only wish to have, Sound and Fury today is as instrumental to and beloved by the hardcore scene in Los Angeles and beyond as it’s ever been. It’s found a way to speak to multiple generations of hardcore kids (and adults), and now some of its biggest fans are the ones onstage.
“[Sound and Fury] has never been our ‘day job,’ but more of something we do in our off time that can hopefully inspire people — knowing how empowering and meaningful this DIY world has been for us and our lives outside of this music scene,” Riley says. “We’ve seen attendees start bands that play the fest, put out zines that they sell at the fest, start businesses or become food vendors that operate at the fest, and even people who now help us run the fest and have actual ownership stakes in the festival. Seeing it grow year after year in a very organic way really validates our approach and hopefully means it’s serving its purpose.”
“When we were preparing our year, [Sound and Fury] was one of my most anticipated shows of the year because I am such a fan of the festival,” Garris adds. “I’ve gotten to watch the festival grow from a fan’s perspective, and I remember going to the fest when it was like 1,000 people total. To see what it is now is amazing. It’s setting the bar for hardcore every single year and taking it to new places, because it was never supposed to be that big. The people that put it together care so much to protect the festival and to scale it to these unimaginable places — all while keeping it feeling DIY and like a hardcore festival. We’re just so excited to be a part of it.”
Or, as Scowl vocalist Kat Moss put it, “I would argue Sound and Fury is the best hardcore festival ever.”
Glastonbury Festival will take a break next year – but when it’s back in June 2027, these are the big name music acts who could be taking the headline spots
12:41, 30 Jun 2025Updated 12:42, 30 Jun 2025
The next Glastonbury Festival is set to take place in 2027 – as 2026 is a break year (Image: Redferns)
Glastonbury 2025 has only just finished – but already bookies are placing bets on who will headline the next festival, which will take place in two years time.
Next year the festival will have a break to let the ground at Worthy Farm recover from the thousands of revellers who descend on it every year. This break happens every five years. This means the next Glastonbury Festival will take place at the end of June 2027. And bookies William Hill have already released the names of the music acts they think will headline it.
Geordie singer Sam Fender is 2/1 favourite to headline the Pyramid Stage. This is followed by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift – who are joint second place with odds of 3/1. While Beyonce, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Eminem are all on 4/1.
Though many fans will be hoping that rock band Oasis – who are about to kick off their reunion tour this week now warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher have patched things up – will perform. They are also 4/1 to headline Glasto in 2027.
Geordie singer Sam Fender is the bookies’ favourite to headline Glastonbury in 2027 (Image: WireImage)
Lee Phelps, spokesperson for William Hill, said: “The mammoth Glastonbury clear up might just be getting underway after this year’s festival, but there’s already speculation about who could be the next headliners.
“We make Geordie singer Sam Fender a narrow 2/1 favourite to step onto the Pyramid Stage as a headliner in 2027, ahead of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran (both 3/1) and a whole host of stars, including Eminem, Beyonce, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, priced at 4/1.
“This week’s hugely anticipated Oasis return could well set them up for major festivals in the coming years and we also make the Gallagher brothers 4/1 to headline Glastonbury in 2027.”
This year’s Pyramid Stage headliners included The 1975 on the Friday, Neil Young on Saturday and Olivia Rodrigo on Sunday. While the ‘Sunday legends’ slot was taken by Sir Rod Stewart, who brought pals Lulu and Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood on stage.
Nineties indie rockers Pulp were revealed as the mysterious ‘Patchwork’ band and performed on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night. Other acts who did surprise sets included Lorde, Haim and Fatboy Slim and his DJ son Woody.
His voice faltered as he told the crowd: “Glastonbury, I’m really sorry. I’m a bit annoyed with myself.” The crowd soon took over the vocals of his hit Someone You Loved.
Announcing he was taking a break from music to focus on his health, Lewis – who suffers from Tourette’s and anxiety – told fans: “I feel like I’ll be taking another wee break over the next couple of weeks. So you probably won’t see much of me for the rest of the year, maybe even. But when I do come back and when I do see you, I hope you’re still up for watching us.”
Lewis cried during his comeback performance as he began to sing his new song Survive, which he released yesterday. He said his one goal was to get back on stage at Glastonbury as he paid tribute to fans.
A team of volunteers have started the major clean-up of the site to prepare the land for a fallow year in 2026. Revellers were urged to take all of their belongings with them and to leave their campsite tidy.
People were encouraged to leave the site between 00:00 and 06:00 BST to get ahead of the queues and avoid the heat, as temperatures are expected to reach up to 31C (88F).
Those beginning their journeys later were advised to cover up with light, airy clothing, carry water and apply sunscreen regularly.
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The festival’s clean-up volunteers are working their way through thousands of discarded items left on the site, including paper cups and food containers.
They are also emptying overflowing bins and removing large items left behind, such as camping chairs, inflatable mattresses, slippers, flip-flops and shopping bags.
Reuters
Festival organisers encouraged people to start their journeys early to avoid crowds and the heat
At the scene – Tamsin Curnow, BBC Points West
It’s a warm and muggy morning on site.
There’s heavy cloud cover at the moment and it feels like a lot of people have heeded the festival’s advice to head off early to avoid the fierce heat this afternoon.
There’s been a gentle stream of people heading out of the main pedestrian gate towards the bus station, where extra water taps have been set up to make sure everyone can get a cold drink.
And of course as they head off site, it’s what they leave behind.
The piles of recycling and rubbish are growing – so far are several air beds and a suitcase!
Andy Bennett/BBC
Many of the bins on site are overflowing with rubbish
Glastonbury Festival is set to return in 2027.
Organiser Emily Eavis told the on-site newspaper, Glastonbury Free Press, she had a “huge list of things” to improve before then.
“We’re always looking to make it better. The detail is critical. Even just a small touch – like putting a new hedge in – can make a real difference.
“And that’s what fallow years are for: you lay the ground to rest and you come back stronger,” she added.
Ben Birchall/PA Media
Hours before the clean-up began, Olivia Rodrigo was performing on the Pyramid Stage
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum decries shooting at Irapuato festival as ‘deplorable’ and promises investigation.
A gun attack during a religious celebration in central Mexico has left 11 people dead and at least 20 others injured in violence-plagued Guanajuato state, local officials have confirmed.
The shooting erupted Tuesday night in the city of Irapuato, authorities said on Wednesday, during festivities marking the Nativity of John the Baptist. Witnesses described terrible scenes of panic and chaos as partygoers fled the gunfire.
“It was chaos. People put the wounded into their cars and rushed to hospital to try to save them,” one witness told the news agency AFP, speaking anonymously due to safety concerns.
Footage shared online shows the moment gunfire rang out as people danced and celebrated. Screams can be heard as the crowd scattered in panic.
Bloodstains and bullet holes were still visible at the scene on Wednesday morning. Among the dead were a 17-year-old, eight men, and two women, according to the Guanajuato state prosecutor’s office.
In a statement, Irapuato’s local government called the attack a “cowardly act” and said security forces are hunting those responsible. Psychological support is being offered to affected families.
A man cleans stains of blood after a shooting at the Barrio Nuevo neighbourhood in Irapuato, Guanajuato state, Mexico, on June 25, 2025 [Mario Armas/ AFP]
President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack as “deplorable” and said an investigation had been launched. At her daily news conference, Sheinbaum referred to the shooting as a “confrontation”, without elaborating on details.
Guanajuato Governor Libia Dennise also denounced the attack, offering condolences to the victims’ families and pledging justice.
While Guanajuato is known for its industrial growth and colonial-era tourism hubs, it has notoriously become renowned as Mexico’s most violent state in recent years.
Authorities blame much of the bloodshed on an ongoing turf war between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel.
Government figures show Guanajuato recorded more than 3,000 homicides last year — the highest in the country.
Since Mexico launched its so-called war on drugs in 2006, more than 480,000 people have been killed in criminal violence, with more than 120,000 listed as missing.
Glastonbury guests have been advised to pack their wellies as the annual music extravaganza kicks off tomorrow with the ‘wettest weather’ on the way after the heatwave
Wet weather is winging its way to Glastonbury on Wednesday according to the latest forecast (Image: Getty Images)
Wet weather is winging its way to Glastonbury on Wednesday according to the latest forecast before the annual music festival kicks off. Revellers can’t wait to camp out at Worthy Farm in Somerset to see the likes of Charlie XCX and The Prodigy take to the stage, however, they should pack their wellies – despite the country’s recent heatwave.
After the glorious sunshine we’ve been enjoying, Wednesday will see “the wettest weather” according to the BBC. Warning there may be heavy rain and thunderstorms, its forecast says: “Westerly winds have now pushed the heat and humidity away, temperatures have dropped and it feels fresher. Maximum temperatures for the next few days will be around 22C and overnight temperatures will be typically down to 12C. Unfortunately, on Wednesday is when we could see the wettest weather.”
Glastonbury guests have been advised to pack their wellies (Image: Getty Images)
It continues: “Warm and muggy air from the Bay of Biscay could combine with a band of rain coming in from the Atlantic to bring heavy rain and thunderstorms into the evening. At the moment it is a risk.”
The good news is that after Wednesday night it should be dry and it is possible that any storms seen tomorrow will be further east and so the rain won’t amount to much.
Thursday and Friday may be windy, but there will be some sunshine at times.
However, the best weather looks like it’s reserved for the weekend as the forecast predicts: “South-westerly winds will become lighter and with more sunshine it will be warmer. Temperatures could be a very pleasant 25C.”
Rain or shine, Glastonbury fans will be there in their droves, partying the day – and night- away as they descend upon the West Country for the star-studded festival.
Ahead of the shenanigans, one keen festival lover sparked a flurry of invaluable advice on a Glastonbury Festival Reddit thread after asking, “Give me your most unique/useful items on your packing list. Something that you swear by…” resulting in a whole host of savvy suggestions for this summer’s event.
Giving their tips for the festival, which is predicted to attract a whopping 200,000 ticket holders, one reveller replied: “Change of clothes to be left in the car. There’s so much joy in a fresh t-shirt and socks to drive home in.”
Another fan shared: “Not sure if this is my main answer, but today I’ve decanted some liquid soap into a little travel bottle so I don’t ever have to use that grim sanitiser stuff at the toilets (which apparently doesn’t kill things like norovirus anyway)”.
And offering an ingenious organisational hack, a third advised adding a “bedside table” to their Glasto gear for camping convenience.
They replied: “Small collapsible boxes from Ikea for keeping stuff organised in the tent. They’re fabric and super lightweight.
“Sooo helpful to stop me losing things somewhere on the tent floor every 5 minutes”.
EVEN on a bad headliner year, Glastonbury is the best music festival in the world.
The mix of music and other activities… and general vibe of the place makes it like no other place on earth.
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The Sun’s Bizarre, health and travel teams share their top tips for Glastonbury festival
But it’s also very large and very busy – it covers 1,100 aces (around 500 football pitches) and has a capacity of 210,000 people – more than twice the population of nearby Bath.
It’s also famously temperamental weatherwise – in my eight Glastonbury festivals, I’ve had everything from torrential rain and mud baths to scorching heatwaves.
So failing to come prepared has the power to make or break you weekend, which is why we’ve compiled a list of all our favourite Do’s and Don’ts for Glastonbury… to make sure you have the best time.
Caroline McGuire, Head Of Travel – Digital (pictured bottom right, above)
Beg whoever you know who owns a camping trolley (from £20 at Decathlon) to borrow it for the weekend – the site is enormous and you’ll be carrying all your belongings a long way before you set up camp.
Make sure to experience some of the unique areas that make Glastonbury so special – the theatre and circus fields, the Healing Fields, the Lost Horizon Nomadic Spa (aka secret nudist area with sauna, massage parlour and plunge pool).
Speaking of which, don’t just buy your food from the nearest vendor – make sure to make a pilgrimage to Permaculture, a shaded haven near the middle of the site that serves delicious food made from produce grown in their own garden on the site.
Finding your tent can be tricky, especially when it’s dark and you’ve had a few drinks – memorise some notable things near your pitch, like a flag or a gazebo.
It’s possible they’re placebo, but my friends and I swear by Happy Tuesdays – vitamins that support your body’s natural recovery while they sleep. We’re convinced they help us deal with the post-festival blues far easier.
Finally, stick a plastic bag or bin bag in your bumbag, so you always have something to sit on when it’s a muddy and rainy weekend.
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Bizarre’s Jack Harwick, Ellie Henman and Howell Davies are Glastonbury pros
Don’t over-pack your schedule. You won’t be able to see half of one set and half of another – and you’ll spend the whole time walking, only to get nowhere near the stage.
Don’t wear uncomfortable shoes, even if they do look trendy. You should expect to walk a minimum of 25,000 steps a day and the last thing you want is blisters.
Do plan individual outfits for each day, and pack them separately so that you’re organised and not scrambling for pants or matching shorts.
Do go off the beaten track to explore the activity away from the Pyramid Stage. That’s where the maddest memories will be made.
Ellie Henman, Bizarre Editor (pictured centre, above)
Do scope out the best food places. You don’t want to be stuck eating burger and chips every day, and there are genuinely amazing places to eat when you’re there.
Don’t put up your tent near a path, at the bottom of a hill, or next to the loos – you won’t get a wink of sleep with the banging of the doors, let alone the stench.
Do pack an eye mask and ear plugs. You don’t want to be woken up by the sun streaming in through your tent at the crack of dawn, having only just gone to sleep.
Do walk up to the Glastonbury sign at least once. As well as spectacular views, there is a bar near the top.
Jack Hardwick, Senior Showbiz Reporter (pictured left, above)
Do make sure to carry spare toilet roll with you. Getting caught short miles from a toilet is no fun.
Do take a refillable water bottle – there are loads of water points around the site These camping water pouches come with hooks so you can clip them onto your bag – fill some with water and two with booze.
Don’t leave it until mid-morning to leave on Monday. Getting off the site will take hours, so either get up early, or have a long lay-in and lunch before going.
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Vanessa has been to the festival three times, and has finessed how not to lose your friends in the busy site
Vanessa Chalmers, Assistant Head of Health, The Sun
Take a flag. They are incredibly useful for finding friends in a sea of people – or for them finding you – as there is rarely phone service. Most flag poles bought online can be shortened, so you can easily carry it around with you when moving between stages.
Drop any expectation at all that you will see who you want to see, especially if you are in a large group as it’s hard to find your group again once you are split up. Choose one or maybe two acts you simply must see, and stick to your guns.
Make something in the healing fields, or buy a souvenir, to take home! There is so much on offer. My friends and I have made a silver ring each year we have been. It takes about two hours.
Follow @secretglasto on X, formerly known as Twitter, and turn on notifications. If you are lucky to get service, you might just be in the right place at the right time for a surprise set. We saw Fatboy Slim at Greenpeace completely randomly one Sunday afternoon, standing right underneath him in ‘the tree’.
There is no shade at Glastonbury. Well, certainly not enough for the number of people – there are so many crammed under the singular tree at Pyramid stage. So wear a hat! But if you are desperate, there is a hammock area in Park stage – near lots of camping – which is quite shaded.
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Jamie Harris has the best tech tips for the festival
Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
Definitely use Vodafone’s new Glastonbury Festival app, as this will help you keep all the acts and locations organised – allow the notifications as well, as they’ll let you know about surprise acts.
This year they’ve added a handy feature to find your friends on the map if you lose each other.
A power bank is a must but if you forget, you can buy a fully charged battery pack from the Vodafone tent.
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Sophie shares her packing tips – including bringing the kitchen sink
Sophie Swietochowski, Assistant Travel Editor
You’ll save cash and time queuing by bringing your own booze. There’s a no glass rule and cans take up too much space. So fill a cool bag with boxed wine (ditch the box and take just the pouch). Or decant your favourite spirits into plastic bottles with a bit of mixer.
I always pack a collapsible sink from The Range that costs a few quid. It‘s the most-used item among my pals at Glasto – when a pal fell in the mud, when I got sticky ketchup in my hair, and for clean hands when removing contact lenses.
Pack a small bag, so you don;t have to venutre back to the tent for more supplies.Cram it with everything you need for the day: water, a portable charger, sunglasses, SPF, a jumper for when the sun goes down.
Food for £6. It used to be ‘food for a fiver’ but this is nearly as good. Many food vendors commit to selling meal deals and dishes for £6. The scheme ran last year and although they haven’t announced anything yet for this year, keep your eyes peeled on the blog posts.
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Will reveals how to beat the crowds late-night at Shangri-La
Will Hagerty, Associate Editor at The Sun
If you intend going to Shangri-La on Friday or Saturday night, skip a headliner and head up there early, or you might not get in for hours. It’s a long walk and they often close the area because it gets so crowded.
Take something to sit on if it’s likely to be muddy. I take a genius umbrella which doubles as a shooting stick stool.
Go up to the Crows Nest, high above the Park Stage, for the best view of the site and the odd secret gig
FORMER Love Island star Anna Vakili has pulled out all the stops – and tan lines – and flashed a saucy bit of skin in a slashed dress.
The reality TV contestant dared to bare in a figure-hugging cut-out number at Manchester‘s Parklife Festival.
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The striking star showed off her hip tattoo in the barely-there dressCredit: Getty
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The Love Islander displayed a white tan line in the show-stopperCredit: Getty
The brunette bombshell showed off her intimate tattoo in the revealing black cut-away dress as she enjoyed her day out.
Held at Heaton Park, the Love Island star, 34, looked high-fashion at the two-day event where acts including 50 Cent, Charli XCX and Rudimental performed.
The podcaster wore her long dark highlighted hair slicked back into a chic ponytail with gold hoops earrings.
Wearing natural glossy make-up, the star looked more red carpet primed than down-and-dirty festival ready.
Reality star Anna was joined at the music spectacular by reality stars Matilda Draper and Demi Sims at SHEIN‘s VIP party.
She was joined by her sister Mandi who looked equally glam in a strapless blue mini dress and trainers.
They mingled amongst fellow Love Islanders including Nicole Samuel, Jessy Potts, Kaz Crossley and Matilda Draper.
Also on hand were Towie’s Frankie and Demi Sims looking dressed to impress.
Vakili shot to fame after appearing on Love Islandin 2019 – but she failed to find love in the villa.
Love Island star SPLITS from boyfriend just months after getting back together
However, they’ve recently split shortly after getting back together.
Earlier this year, she revealed that she’d dropped out of the last series of All Stars Love Island at the last minute.
She explained that even though she went through the whole process to appear on the ITV2 show – including multiple meetings and STD and drug testing – it wasn’t for her again.
Looking for serious love, she told fans that she decided against it saying ‘the kind of man I want to settle down with wouldn’t really want a woman that’s going on Love Island’.
Anna recently posted a photo in a hospital gown, and revealed she’d completed her first round of egg freezing.
The pharmacist admitted that although appearing on the 2019 series changed her life for the better financially, returning to the show would be “greedy”.
“The guy that I would want to marry now, would look down on that ‘why you on there snogging different guys in a bikini’.
“I’m a 34-year-old woman.”
It comes after Anna spoken candidly about a series of botched procedures she had in the hope of getting her ‘perfect’ body.
She also revealed how much money she has wasted and what she has had done including three BBLs [Brazilian Bum Lift] and a boob job.
Along with her sister Mandi, the pair host the popular podcast Sisters In The City.
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Anna and her podcasting sister Mandi looked glam at the festivalCredit: Getty
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The newly-single star posed up a storm at Heaton Park VIP areaCredit: Getty
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Anna joined a host of reality star at the Manchester festivalCredit: Getty
OJAI — You can’t escape nature in Ojai. That meant that flutist Claire Chase, this year’s Ojai Music Festival music director who is often called a force of nature, fit right in.
Chase is the proudest flutist I’ve ever observed. And the most expressive. She holds her head high whether playing piccolo or the 6-foot contrabass flute, as if her instrument were a magic wand used to activate her voice in the highest registers and the deepest.
The activism is more than an analogy. Chase is also a joyous and entrepreneurial music activist, MacArthur “genius,” educator, founder of New York’s impressive International Contemporary Ensemble and commissioner of a vastly imaginative new flute repertory in her ongoing Density 2036 project. The current surge of interest in Pauline Oliveros is largely her doing.
For Ojai, Chase collected concerned composers on a quest for a kind of eco-sonics capable of conjuring up the pleasure of nature and, in the process, saving our sanity. Over four days of concerts mostly in the rustic Libbey Bowl, the names of many of the works gave away the game.
“The Holy Liftoff,” “Horse Sings From Cloud,” “How Forests Think,” “Spirit Catchers,” “A Grain of Sand Walked Across a Face, on the Skin of a Washed Picture,” are a few.
The festival’s proudest moment (30 minutes to be precise) was the West Coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s “Sky Islands.” It was the last work in a resplendent Sunday morning program that Chase described as “multi-spiritual” and “multi-species.” The sun found its way through the trees as the composer and percussionist Levy Lorenzo stood in front of the stage and began with a ceremonial pounding of bamboo poles.
“Sky Islands” evokes the magical Philippines upper rainforests, where sounds scintillate in a thinned atmosphere that gives gongs new glories, where animals capable of great ascension exclusively live, where the mind is ready for enlightenment. Ibarra wrote the score for her Talking Gong Trio (which includes Chase and pianist Alex Peh) along with added percussion and a string quartet, here the Jack Quartet.
To the head-scratching surprise of the music establishment that has thus far paid little attention to Ibarra, “Sky Islands” won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for music. A Filipino American from Anaheim who is now based in New York, Ibarra is best known as a percussionist in experimental jazz and new music with a strong interest in environmental sound installations and Indigenous music.
The head scratching stopped in Ojai. In the three works by Ibarra on the program, she proved a capacious sonic visionary. She is a superb mimic of nature’s aural realm — the sounds of animals, of a river, of trees in the wind, of rocks falling down a hillside. She stirs spirits with the barely heard whooshes of drum brushes waved in the air. She connects with the underground as a resonant gong master. She stops to smell whatever there is to smell. She’s often funny.
Mainly, though, she simply entrances, whether she spread her percussive wares in “Kolubri” or writing for other musicians in “Sunbird” on a misty early morning at Ojai Meadows Preserve. Her lovingly sly Haydn-esque wit came out in the premiere of “Nest Box,” a duo for her and Wu Wei on sheng, the Chinese mouth organ.
Steven Schick (percussion), from left, Wu Wei (sheng) and Susie Ibarra (percussion) perform Annea Lockwood’s “bayou-borne” in Libbey Bowl at the 2025 Ojai Music Festival.
(Timothy Teague / Ojai Festival)
Gauging by the audience response, “Sky Islands” was the clear favorite of more than three dozen new or newish works. It is a complex piece that appears to set off on a well-apportioned journey led by Chase into the unknown. But at every turn, the music surprises with a melody that feels familiar until it suddenly doesn’t.
Ibarra leaves room for improvisation as a way for the performers to react to what they are encountering. Chase and Ibarra may, for instance, begin a dialogue as nervous chit-chat with staccato flute interjections with drummed responses that soon turn to broad expressions of wonder. At the end the musicians pick up percussion instruments and leave the stage in a slow, winding procession of dance steps, as if marching into the unknown.
Chase brought together other composers from all over. And she brought together superb musicians from L.A. (particularly members of Wild Up) and New York. The music was all of our time with the exception of three small pieces of early music, but even that was modernized. There was long-winded indulgence and lovely itty-bitty works, over in a flash but suggestive of a full and lovely life, like that of an insect.
The spirit of the Ojai festival need not be conveyed by a laundry list of composers and works or by value judgments. At its best, the event is a musical wilderness, like no other festival of its caliber. The audience goes on a walk in the woods, with nature calling for discovery.
Around every corner you encounter a different musical voice. Hawaiian composer and violist Leilehua Lanzilotti rocked. Cuban composer Tania León added dollops of exciting modernism. Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir commanded long stretches of empty landscape. Brazilian composer Marcos Balter conjured up the mythological Pan in a sometimes outrageous nine-part theatrical extravaganza for Chase.
New Zealander Annea Lockwood offered a 90-minute journey down the Housatonic River captured by loudspeakers in surround sound. In contrast, Australian Liza Lim, in raw instrumental outbursts, revealed the less agreeable possibilities of what forests may think (of us?).
And then there was, at long last for Ojai, the elephant in the minimalism room, the iconic California composer Terry Riley. His “In C” is the one piece Ojai has previously programmed. As Riley now approaches his 90th birthday (June 24), Chase unveiled three parts of an epic cycle of uncategorized pieces Riley has been working on since moving to the mountains of Japan five years ago.
“Pulsing Lifters,” in an arrangement for two pianos and harpsichord, is like a delicate dew. “The Holy Liftoff” realized by Samuel Clay Birmaher for flute and string quartet, opens with Chase on all five of her flutes, one played live, the others prerecorded. The effect is that of being submerged in a lush wash of beauteous flute chords. Riley then softens the spectacularly rigorous Jack Quartet with Ravel-like melody.
In “Pulsefield” pieces numbered 1, 2 and 3, Riley returns to the modular roots of “In C” a half century later. Here repeated rhythms are overlayed by a large ensemble featuring all the festival performers in ecstatic elaborations.
If this, one of the best and truest Ojai festivals in recent years, is meant not for explication but discovery, please do so. The festival has been slowly evolving a system of outdoor amplification, and it captures excellent audio on streams of the Libbey Bowl concerts. They remain archived on the OJai festival YouTube page.
Next year Esa-Pekka Salonen will return for the first time in a quarter century.
AN INTERACTIVE tool can show you the best budget festival near you this summer.
This handy tool shows how you can max out your festival experiences – on a budget.
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Gen Z’s ideal summer would include five festivals a survey revealedCredit: SWNS
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An interactive tool has made it easy to find budget summer festivalsCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Input your postcode and your favourite partying partner’s, and it will show all the summer shindigs you could be going to.
From comedy to music fests of all genres – the tool has it all.
It comes after research of 2,000 adults found Gen Z’s ideal summer would consist of five festivals and four trips abroad – but they have less than £1,000 to spend.
They would like to have a day at the beach seven times and go on four staycations during the three hottest months of the year.
And visiting a theme park is a summer must for 23 per cent.
But 79 per cent aren’t sure they’ll be able to afford everything they’d like to do – so, nearly four in 10 are planning to find cost-effective ways to travel to make the most of their budget.
Despite this, 23 per cent insist on tickets to at least one music festival this summer and a holiday abroad with pals is a ‘non-negotiable’.
But 24 per cent won’t compromise on comfortable and reliable travel to any events they go to.
As three quarters believe quality transport between events is important, because they want to be comfortable on long journeys (46 per cent) and want to get their trip off to the best start (44 per cent).
John Boughton, commercial director for National Express, which commissioned the research, said: “While the appetite for adventure is sky-high, the reality of rising costs means many young people are having to balance their dreams with what’s actually doable.
Here’s how to do festival looks on a budget – and save the planet
“As our tool shows, we are lucky enough to have hundreds of festivals and events around the UK at our fingertips, but a big blocker is the cost of an entertainment-filled weekend in a field – the prices can be well into the hundreds.
“That’s why we’re seeing Gen Z getting smart with their spending—being selective, savvy and seeking out ways to make the most of their money, with the travel there and back being key.”
The research also found Gen Z would like to attend six BBQs this summer and have fish and chips by the beach six times, while 29 per cent would love to spend more cash on dining out or takeaways, to save the strain of cooking.
And one in five have made plans to splash out on one or two key things this summer, but 17 per cent admit they’ve barely thought about it.
However, 72 per cent now feel as though having fun in the summer is a ‘luxury’, according to the OnePoll.com figures.
Although 43 per cent still say it’s more important to have fun in the sun – compared to the 15 per cent who reckon being sensible is a better option.
John Boughton, commercial director for National Express, added: “Ultimately, Gen Z aren’t prepared to sit the summer out.
“They’re finding clever ways to stay in the moment, prioritise what matters most, and still have an unforgettable time and it is encouraging that they are looking for affordable, reliable and comfortable travel to get the most out of their summer.
“This is a generation that thrives on fun, freedom and flexibility—and they’re making it work, one plan at a time.”
Grupo Firme was unable to show up for its previously planned June 1 set at Napa’s La Onda festival.
The Tijuana band announced the cancellation Friday afternoon on social media.
“Currently, the visas of Grupo Firme and the Music VIP [Entertainment] team are in an administrative process by the U.S. Embassy, a situation that makes it impossible for Grupo Firme’s performance at La Onda Fest to go on as planned,” the band wrote in a statement posted on its Instagram stories. “We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding and, above all else, the love from our U.S. fans.”
Grupo Firme is the latest international musical act facing visa issues since President Trump took office for his second presidential term. Many of these have been música Mexicana artists.
The group’s news came only a week after Mexican singer Julión Álvarez postponed his May 24 show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, after he claimed his work visa had been revoked.
The 42-year-old musician alleged in a May 23 Instagram video that he had received the news of his work visa revocation that day, leaving him and his band unable to travel to Texas for their planned performance. He also claimed he didn’t have a full sense of clarity regarding the ongoing status of his visa and was limited in what he could dispel about the situation.
Also in May, Chicago’s Michelada Fest, a Spanish-language music festival that had programmed several Latin American acts was canceled due to concerns over artists’ visas.
“Due to the uncertainty surrounding artist visas and the rapidly changing political climate, we’re no longer able to guarantee the full experience we had dreamed up for you with all your favorite artists,” the festival’s organizers explained in a statement. “Although we tried to push through, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to deliver the full lineup as planned.”
The organizers would go on to write that, as an independent outfit, Michelada Fest “can’t afford to take on a big risk with so much uncertainty ahead.”
Grupo Firme, Anitta, Danny Ocean, Tokischa and Luis R. Conriquez were scheduled to perform at the July festival.
During their March 29 show at the University of Guadalajara, the band put an illustrated depiction of Cervantes — a key player in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG — on a mega-screen while playing their song “El Dueño del Palenque.” Videos of the incident were captured on socialmedia.
“I’m pleased to announce that the State Department has revoked the band members’ work and tourism visas. In the Trump Administration, we take seriously our responsibility over foreigners’ access to our country,” said Christopher Landau, the U.S. deputy Secretary of State in April. “The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists.”
Outside of the world of Latino artists, British singer FKA twigs announced in April on Instagram that she had to cancel series of concerts for the month in North America — including a slot at Coachella 2025 — due to “ongoing visa issues.”
To help you parse through the offerings, here’s a list of 10 films not to miss at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, which kicks off Wednesday.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, has been awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The dissident has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran for his filmmaking, which served as inspiration for his award-winning work.
Leave it to Kelly Reichardt, who turned Michelle Williams into a seething sculptor with frenemy issues in “Showing Up,” to make the gentlest, most self-deprecating heist movie imaginable. As such, she’s invented a whole new genre. The year is 1970 but don’t expect anything Scorsesian to go down here. Rather, this one’s about a half-smart art thief (Josh O’Connor, leaning into loser vibes) who, after snatching canvases of a lesser-known modernist from an understaffed Massachusetts museum, suffers grievously as his plan unravels. Reichardt, herself the daughter of law enforcement, is more interested in the aftermath: hypnotically awkward kitchen conversations with disappointed family members who won’t lend him any more money and would rather he just clear out. (The exquisite period-perfect cast includes Alana Haim, Bill Camp, Hope Davis and John Magaro.) Danny Ocean types need not apply, but if you hear skittering jazz music as the soundtrack of desperation, your new favorite comedy is here. — JR
The film is inspired by dissident director Jafar Panahi’s own experience in jail.
An Iranian thriller film that explores corruption and state violence in the country has won the the Palme d’Or, the coveted top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
It Was Just an Accident, directed by dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was crowned at the world-famous festival on Saturday, hours after a power outage briefly threw the event off course.
The festival’s crowd burst into a roaring standing ovation for Panahi, who has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran due to his provocative cinema, often produced in secret. He had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.
“Art mobilises the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was the future of his country.
“Let us join forces,” Panahi said. “No one should tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do.”
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner, shakes hands with director Hasan Hadi, Camera d’Or award winner for the film, The President’s Cake, on stage during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24 [Benoit Tessier/Reuters]
Partly inspired by Panahi’s own experience in jail, It Was Just An Accident follows a man named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri), who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer, and then decide what to do with him.
Critics have praised the film as a clever, symbolic exploration of justice that blends dark humour with its intense themes.
Iraqi film “The President’s Cake” wins Best First Film
The festival’s Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, his lauded follow-up to The Worst Person in the World.
Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Brazilian political thriller, The Secret Agent, won two big awards: best director for Fihlo and best actor for Wagner Moura.
The jury prize was split between two films: Oliver Laxe’s desert road trip, Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama, Sound of Falling.”
Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister, Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.
Cannes also honoured Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake with a best first film award, marking the first time an Iraqi film has won an award at the festival.
Director Hasan Hadi, Camera d’Or award winner for the film, The President’s Cake, and Alice Rohrwacher, president of the Camera d’Or Jury, pose after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24 [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]
The Cannes closing ceremony took place after a major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday, knocking out traffic lights and forcing businesses to close along the main shopping street in the Alpes-Maritimes holiday region. Police suspect arson as the cause.
Geopolitical tensions were also a constant backdrop at the festival, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and US President Donald Trump’s proposal of tariffs on foreign-made films fuelling discussion.
More than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter denouncing the genocide in Gaza, according to the organisers.
A power cut in southern France caused by suspected sabotage has disrupted screenings on the final day of the Cannes Film Festival.
About 160,000 homes in the city of Cannes and surrounding areas lost power early on Saturday, before supply was restored in the afternoon.
Officials said an electricity substation had been set on fire and a pylon at another location damaged.
Organisers of the international film festival say the closing ceremony will go ahead as planned as they have an alternative power supply.
Prosecutors say a first power cut occurred when a substation in the village of Tanneron, which supplies Cannes, was attacked by arsonists in the early hours.
At about 10:00 (08:00 GMT) the legs of an electricity pylon near the town of Villeneuve-Loubet were cut, triggering a second outage.
In Cannes, shops and restaurants struggled to operate.
“Another hour and I’ll throw everything away,” Laurent Aboukrat, who owns Cannes’ Jamin restaurant, told the AFP news agency. He said his fridges had been off since the morning.
“Cannes is in a total slowdown, meltdown, there’s no coffee anywhere, and I think the town has run out of croissants, so this is like crisis territory,” Australian producer Darren Vukasinovic told Reuters news agency.
Several screenings were interrupted by the cut in the morning, before festival organisers were able to switch to private generators.
Saturday is the last day of the festival. French actress Juliette Binoche and her jury are set to announce the winner of the Palme d’Or – the highest prize awarded at the festival.
FESTIVAL fans are being urged to go green on Glasgow Green this summer with more sustainable fashion choices.
Every year Brits throw away 300,000 tonnes of fabric waste, which ends up slowly decomposing in landfills.
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TRNSMT is all about the music – but also the fashion
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Victoria has curated fest collections in storesCredit: MARK GIBSON
And to do their bit, the team behind TRNSMT is encouraging festival-goers to choose second hand style when it comes to their outfits.
Bosses are launching a Sustainable FestivalFashion Trail, which kicks off this weekend.
Tomorrow, TRNSMT will take over the Barras Market, Off The Rails at VEGA Glasgow and will pop up at vintage stores where shoppers can explore unique finds and festival picks curated by Scottish Stylist of the Year Victoria Lee.
The Glasgow-based preloved fashion fan said: “It is my job to encourage people to step away from fast fashion and choose more sustainable routes when it comes to topping up their wardrobes.”
Getting a look right for a festival can be tricky, especially in our unpredictable Scottish weather.
But what Victoria hopes is that music-lovers will avoid buying fast fashion items that get tossed aside once the party weekend is over in favour of vintage pieces that will last a lifetime.
Victoria, who ditched her own fast fashion business when she discovered the unethical roots of her on-sale items, said: “I love the uniqueness of it.
“When you’re shopping, you can have those unique pieces that other people aren’t wearing.
“You can really focus on your personal style. I think when you’re more slow and more intentional about what you buy, it pays off more in the end as well.”
While the average lifespan of an item of clothing is three years, many people who consume fast fashion find their clothing only lasts a few months.
We’re sizes 10 & 18 and did a New Look winter haul – it’s a burgundy dream & boots pass chunky test
But some of the preloved pieces in second hand and vintage stores have been worn for decades — and are still going strong.
Victoria said: “I think a lot of people panic buy for festivals and also we’ve become a little bit too accustomed to viewing our clothes as disposable.
“So the fashion trail encourages people to buy more staple pieces. The pieces in the collections will all be pieces that you can hopefully style around other things. Normal life, not just festivals.”
SUSTAINABLE STYLE
WE are self-confessed clothes addicts.
But, despite our love for all things fashion, choosing a fest outfit still foxes us — especially with our different ages and sizes.
In our YouTube series For Everybody, we test out outfits from the high street to see who is winning when it comes to being inclusive.
Katy is 34 and a size 18 while I’m a tummy-conscious size ten 45-year-old. So could Victoria choose gorgeous, preloved festival outfits that rocked both of our worlds?
She scoured the rails at Glasgow’s West Vintage for two looks that could go from day to night at TRNSMT.
And she played a blinder.
For Katy, Victoria chose a flowy, brightly-coloured, tie-dyed maxi skirt paired with an over-sized sports T-shirt, all for just over £40.
For me, she chose a classic denim waistcoat and a layered white mini, with a handbag scarf for a pop of colour all for £50.
These pieces can be worn for years to come, making cost per wear a snip — music to our ears.
And her top tip for what to wear this summer? The style pro said: “I’d say the most fashionable thing you can do is just go with your own personal style and express yourself and who you are. Get those pieces that are staples that you’ll be able to wear again and again.”
On Sunday, the day will kick off at the Barras Market in Glasgow’s East End, where from 12pm fans can browse curated rails of pre-loved fashion, discover upcycled gems and get styling tips from sustainability champions.
From there, fans can head to Kings Court, stopping at vintage favourites including Mr Bens Retro Clothing, Minted and West Vintage for even more unique finds picked out by Victoria.
The day wraps up at VEGA Glasgow with a special festival edition of Off The Rails, a quarterly pop-up that celebrates independent brands.
There will be live performances by artists from this year’s BBC Introducing line-up and Radio 1 Dance Stage DJs at both The Barras and VEGA, bringing the festival buzz to the city.
There will also be the chance to win festival tickets to this summer’s Glasgow Green music extravaganza on July 11 to 13, with ten golden labels hidden along the trail as a reward for those who choose pre-loved summer festival outfits.
A TRNSMT Festival spokesman said: “Planning a festival outfit is a priority for so many fans. We wanted to create something that shows how sustainable fashion can still be exciting, creative, and fun, especially in a city like Glasgow that’s full of legendary vintage and second-hand options.”
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West Vintage has curated fest looks on offerCredit: MARK GIBSON
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Lynn and Katy loved their looksCredit: MARK GIBSON
